Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds update #11

This is the eleventh update by the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds (AAfCW) for the 2012 season. It includes reports of Piping Plover, American Oystercatcher, Least Tern, and Common Tern received from 12:00 p.m. on May 21 through 12:00 p.m. on May 29 with sightings of birds spanning May 21 through May 28 by our staff and volunteers.

Informational updates:

Thank you all for your extra efforts over this holiday weekend! While all of us were in the field for extensive hours totaling into the hundreds by AAfCW staff alone, we are still calculating some of the data, writing up disturbances, examining our efforts, talking to state and federal agencies, looking at some photos and video, and so on. With that said, losses seem to have been minimal despite wonderful beach weather and heavy traffic in many places. We cannot do this without you, and we need you on the beach as much as possible still going forward, so thank you all once again.

Please bear in mind that the data below does not represent our full coverage in the last several days. We are often monitoring sites but not surveying them fully, or have not yet entered it all into our database. Watching over the birds and talking with beachgoers sometimes took precedence over recording data at all. Essentially, if you do not see a site listed below on a given day it definitely does not mean that we were not present, and many times our staff took repeated trips to a given place, made a series of quick visits to multiple locations, or spent several hours in one spot even if they did not collect data. There are also some repetitions resulting from double or triple coverage (which is a good thing for monitoring the birds and collecting accurate data).

Survey and monitoring updates:

Piping Plover
Volunteer and staff surveys:
1 adult, 1 nest at East Broadway Milford on 5/21
10 adults, 5 nests at Milford Point on 5/21
10 adults, 4 nests, 1 chick at Bluff Point on 5/21
2 pairs, 1 adult, 3 nests at Long Beach on 5/23
5 pairs, 2 adults, 3 chicks, 5 nests at Milford Point on 5/23
5 pairs, 1 adult, 2 chicks, 5 nests at Sandy/Morse Points on 5/23
2 pairs, 6 adults, 5 chicks, 2 nests at Bluff Point on 5/23
2 pairs, 1 adult, 3 nests at Harkness Memorial State Park on 5/23
2 pairs, 6 adults, 5 chicks, 2 nests at Bluff Point on 5/23
3 pairs, 3 adults, 1 chick, 5 nests at Sandy/Morse Points on 5/23
1 pair, 3 chicks at East Broadway Milford on 5/24
5 pairs, 4 chicks, 3 nests at Milford Point on 5/24
2 pairs, 6 adults, 1 chick, 4 nests at Sandy/Morse Points on 5/24
4 pairs, 3 adults, 8 chicks, 3 nests at Bluff Point on 5/24
1 pair, 1 adult, 2 nests at Harkness Memorial State Park on 5/24
1 pair, 1 adult, 3 chicks at Milford Point on 5/25
4 pairs, 1 adult, 4 chicks, 4 nests at Milford Point on 5/25
1 pair, 3 chicks at East Broadway Milford on 5/25
1 pair, 3 chicks at East Broadway Milford on 5/25
1 pair, 4 adults, 3 chicks, 4 nests at Milford Point on 5/25
3 pair, 2 adults, 3 chicks, 5 nests at Long Beach on 5/25
1 pair, 3 chicks at East Broadway Milford on 5/25
1 pair, 3 adults, 3 chicks, 3 nests at Milford Point on 5/25
2 pair, 2 adults, 3 chicks, 2 nests at Long Beach on 5/25
5 adults, 2 nests at Harkness Memorial State Park on 5/25
12 adults, 8 chicks, 2 nests at Bluff Point on 5/25
1 pair, 1 adult, 3 chicks at East Broadway Milford on 5/26
1 pair, 7 adults, 3 nests, 4 chicks at Milford Point on 5/26
1 pair, 3 chicks at Long Beach entrance only on 5/26
1 adult at Stratford Point on 5/26
5 pairs, 8 chicks, 3 nests at Milford Point on 5/26
1 pair, 3 adults, 2 chicks, 2 nests at Long Beach on 5/26
3 adults, 2 nests at Harkness Memorial State Park on 5/26
5 pairs, 11 chicks, 3 nests at Milford Point on 5/27
1 pair, 3 chicks at East Broadway Milford on 5/27
1 pair, 3 adults, 3 chicks, 3 nests at Milford Point on 5/27
1 adult, 3 chicks at East Broadway Milford on 5/27
2 pairs, 1 adult, 4 chicks, 2 nests at Milford Point on 5/27
1 pair, 3 chicks at East Broadway Milford on 5/27
2 pairs, 2 adults, 4 chicks at Long Beach on 5/27
3 pairs, 3 adults, 2 chicks, 4 nests at Long Beach on 5/27
17 adults, 1 chick at Griswold Point on 5/27
1 pair, 3 chicks at East Broadway Milford on 5/28
2 pairs, 2 adults, 5 chicks, 1 nest at Milford Point on 5/28
1 pair, 3 adults, 2 chicks, 3 nests at Long Beach on 5/28
4 pairs, 8 chicks, 1 nest at Milford Point on 5/28
1 pair, 3 chicks at East Broadway Milford on 5/28
2 pairs, 3 adults, 6 chicks, 1 nest at Long Beach on 5/28
1 pair, 3 chicks at East Broadway Milford on 5/28
2 pairs, 2 adults, 4 chicks, 2 nests at Harkness Memorial State Park on 5/28
6 pairs, 12 chicks, 2 nests at Bluff Point on 5/28

American Oystercatcher
Volunteer and staff surveys:
2 pairs at Milford Point on 5/21
1 pair, 1 nest at Bluff Point on 5/21
2 pair, 2 nests at Sandy/Morse Points on 5/22
1 pair, 1 nest at Milford Point on 5/22
1 pair at Long Beach on 5/22
1 pair, 1 nest at Bluff Point on 5/23
1 pair at Ram Island Mystic on 5/23
1 pair at Griswold Point on 5/23
3 pairs, 2 nests at Menunketesuck Island on 5/23
2 pairs, 1 adult, 2 nests at Cockenoe Island on 5/23
1 pair, 1 chick, 1 egg at Bluff Point on 5/23
1 pair at Long Beach on 5/23
3 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 5/23
1 pair, 2 chicks at Bluff Point on 5/23
3 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 5/23
1 pair at Bruce Johnson Marina Branford on 5/24
2 pairs at Milford Point on 5/24
1 pair at Long Beach on 5/24
2 pairs at Milford Point on 5/24
3 pairs, 1 possible chick at Sandy/Morse Points on 5/24
1 pair at Bluff Point on 5/24
1 pair, 2 chicks at Bluff Point on 5/25
1 adult at Milford Point on 5/25
4 adults at Milford Point on 5/26
4 adults at Milford Point on 5/26
1 pair at Long Beach on 5/26
1 adult at Harkness Memorial State Park on 5/26
1 pair at Stratford Point on 5/27
2 pairs at Milford Point on 5/27
1 pair on Long Beach on 5/27
1 adult on Long Beach on 5/27
4 adults at Griswold Point on 5/27
2 adults at Milford Point on 5/28
2 adults on Long Beach on 5/28
2 pairs, 2 nests on Cockenoe Island on 5/28
1 pair, 1 nest on Long Beach Island on 5/28
1 pair, 2 chicks at Bluff Point on 5/28
2 pairs, 2 nests at Mumford Cove Bluff Point on 5/28

Least Tern 
Volunteer and staff surveys:
20 adults at Milford Point on 5/21
16 adults at Bluff Point on 5/21
48 adults at Long Beach on 5/23
41-50 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 5/23
17 adults at Bluff Point on 5/23
6 adults at Harkness Memorial State Park on 5/23
30 adults at Bluff Point on 5/23
25 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 5/23
6 adults at Stratford Point on 5/24
24 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 5/24
19-29 adults at Bluff Point on 5/24
4 adults at Harkness Memorial State Park on 5/24
1 pair at Harkness Memorial State Park on 5/25
1st egg noted by staff at Sandy/Morse Points on 5/25
4 pairs, 10 adults, 1 nest with 2 eggs and likely 2 more nests at Long Beach section 1 only on 5/26
18 adults at Pleasure Beach on 5/26
5 adults at Stratford Point on 5/26
4 adults at Milford Point on 5/26
38 adults, 2 nests at Long Beach on 5/26
4 adults at Harkness Memorial State Park on 5/26
4 adults at Milford Point on 5/27
3 adults at Stratford Point on 5/27
76 adults at Long Beach on 5/27
52-62 adults at Long Beach on 5/28
1 pair at Harkness Memorial State Park on 5/28
40 adults at Bluff Point on 5/28

Common Tern
Volunteer and staff surveys:
2 adults at Bluff Point on 5/21
500+ adults at Cockenoe Island on 5/23
15-20 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 5/23
2 adults at Bluff Point on 5/23
9 adults at Stratford Point on 5/24
20 adults at Pleasure Beach on 5/24
4 adults at Milford Point on 5/24
4 adults at Bluff Point on 5/24
6 adults at Long Beach on 5/26
17 adults at Stratford Point on 5/26
8 adults at Milford Point on 5/26
6 adults at Milford Point on 5/27
69 adults at Stratford Point on 5/27
1 adult at Silver Sands State Park on 5/27
6 adults at Long Beach on 5/27
5 adults at Milford Point on 5/28
8 adults at Long Beach on 5/28
3 adults at Long Beach on 5/28
100+ pairs, 200+ nests, 600+ adults at Cockenoe Island on 5/28


This concludes update #11 through 5/29/12 as of 4:00 p.m.


Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds, Audubon Connecticut and the Connecticut Audubon Society partnering to improve conditions for coastal waterbirds in Connecticut.

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