Of Robins and Blackbirds... two hundred plus years ago, when the avifauna of this continent was being newly described to Western science, the describers were all European. They looked for similarities to what was familiar to them, and here's what we got... They had a robin so we got a robin (unrelated), they had a blackbird so we got a blackbird (unrelated). However OUR robin is related to THEIR blackbird. The family to which their robin belongs does not live in the Americas and the family to which our blackbird belongs lives ONLY in the Americas. Fun stuff. (Sizes are fairly accurate)

UL: European Robin, Erithacus rubecula; UR: American Robin, Turdus migratorius
LL: Red-winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus; LR: Eurasian Blackbird, Turdus merula

Jorge has been having pretty good luck in his mini-quest to photograph all of the raptors of Horsebarn Hill. This one, however, was a big surprise. The Peregrine Falcon is not a regular visitor to the hill, though it is certainly found in many places in Connecticut. When it was up in this treetop, nothing else moved - even the starling flocks were quiet - the supreme aerial predator had arrived...

Peregrine Falcon, Falco peregrinus, Horsebarn Hill, Storrs Connecticut