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Description
Lighthouse Point Park is a 82-acre waterfront park. It contains stands of deciduous forest, some open park habitat with sparse trees, coastal saltmarsh and sandy beach. A mix that produces a high diversity of birds, particularly during fall migration. The woods at the north end of the park can be very productive for warblers, vireos, thrushes and other migrating songbirds in the early morning, with migration peaking in mid-September. Favorable weather conditions can produce a notable dawn flight at the edges of these woods and into the nearby neighborhood.
The more open habitat and trails through the rest of the park can also hold songbirds, particularly during migration, and limited viewing of nearby saltmarsh and estuary habitat can be good for marsh birds and ducks. Gulls roost on the sandy beach at the south end of the park, mostly Ring-billed Gull, American Herring Gull and Great Black-backed Gull but seasonally joined by Laughing Gull, Bonaparte's Gull, Iceland Gull or rarer species. Seawatching from the beach in winter can reliably produce Common Goldeneye, Long-tailed Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, Common Loon, Red-throated Loon and Horned Grebe, and occasionally rarer sea ducks or alcids.
The large field in the center of the park hosts a yearly hawkwatch, which occurs daily from 1 August - 1 December, and is the most productive hawkwatch by species & number in the northern Atlantic coast north of Cape May. Common migrating species include Northern Harrier, Cooper's Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Merlin, American Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Bald Eagle, Turkey Vulture and Osprey. Scarcer species including Golden Eagle, American Goshawk and Rough-legged Buzzard are recorded annually in small numbers. In November this site can also be good for late-migrating songbirds including Purple Finch and Pine Siskin, occasionally joined by rarer finches, as well as flocks of blackbirds (mostly Common Grackle and Red-winged Blackbird) numbering in the tens of thousands.
Details
Access
Lighthouse Point Park is located in New Haven at the eastern tip of New Haven Harbor. Lighthouse Point is easily accessed by bicycle or car. In summer (the least productive time of year in the park), there is an entry fee for non-residents. The park can also be accessed by the 206 bus line from New Haven. Press a P in the map for directions to a parking.
Typically 2 hours are required to view the entire park, but this is highly variable depending on migration conditions for particular species or groups. Productive mornings in autum can last from pre-dawn until nearly midday.