Birds of New England 2027 — Wall Calendar

The cover bird and August are both double-crested cormorants — one of my favorite birds. I've seen them all summer here, and I visit them on my morning walks at the pond near my house.

Loons have always felt like a bird from a story to me. I've never seen one in person. I spent the last seven years in New Orleans, and it turns out many loons spend their winters along that same Gulf Coast, so we may have been closer than I knew. In May they move through Connecticut in their black-and-white breeding feathers, heading north to nest. I hope to finally see one.

Last Christmas I was on Cape Cod with my mom, driving to the grocery store, when I spotted a snowy owl sitting in a nest. "Mom, pull over right now!" We stopped traffic, I ran across the street, and I circled that tree looking up, only to find it was just a clump of snow. I still haven't seen one, but snowy owls are one of my favorite birds, and I'm hoping this is the winter I finally do.