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A large canvas of my bear photo hung in the BC Legislature. Our local MLA claimed it helped pursued the Premier to totally ban Grizzly Bear trophy hunting in BC. Keep shooting photos, they can make a difference !

While doing a Herring Gull study on Little Leg kisland, We observed between 700 and 1,000 Red Knots feeding on Horseshoe crab eggs along the surf line. Mixed within these flocks were Ruddy Turnstones, Semipalmated Sandpipers, and Dunlin.

This male mountain lion - a migrant from South Dakota - was infamously struck 41-miles east of Greenwich, CT. This was the first verifiable documentation of a cougar in Connecticut since the 1890s. The attributed location and time is from where it was struck by a car. There is no breeding population of cougars in New England, though they historically occupied every continental US state.

Photos supplied with permission from the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (CT DEEP), Wildlife Division, courtesy of Cyndy Chanaca.
Individual photo credentials: Paul J. Fusco/ CT DEEP-Wildlife

Further reading:

• Mountain Lions in Massachusetts: Distinguishing Fiction from the Facts by Tom French
• Confirmed Reports of Mountain Lions in Massachusetts by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife (archived from the original)
• Genetic Testing Reveals Mountain Lion Killed in Milford Originated in South Dakota by CT DEEP (archived from the original)

The plant was located for us by staff on the site, so this is not my find, but it is my report. According to the former NY state botanist, this species hasn't been seen here in 100 years. I suspect the plant has returned due to the frequent prescribed fire in this area. Apparently this is the first Inat report of this plant in the Northeast.

Very rare on the east coast, seen with many others and photographed through a spotting scope. This is the Eastern Pacific mew gull; it has recently been elevated to species status. Associating with ring-billed gulls, the North American counterpart to the mew gull complex, but also strikingly distinct. Note the following: dark mantle, dusky brownish shawl on the head and neck, very long primary projections (wingtips), and white tertials creating a bold white crescent just before the primaries. With better views a short, greenish yellow bill with no black band would also be visible.

Near a reedy pond. The five-petaled yellow flowers were all about 1/2 inch wide, perhaps a bit more. The petals are fringed on the margins. Opposite leaves, very narrow, hugging the stem. L. ciliata also has fringed petals, but that plant has egg shaped leaves.