- Griswold Point's fencing date is actually Wednesday, April 5 and we ask volunteers to meet at Griswold Point in Old Lyme at 9:45am or the I-95 exit 70 commuter parking lot by 9:30am to carpool over.
- Sandy/Morse Point's fencing date is Monday, April 3 at 10:00am in West Haven with a rain date of 4/6. We will meet in the parking lot.
- Stratford's Long Beach fencing date is Friday, April 7 at 10:00am with a rain date of 4/10. We will meet in the far west end of the parking lot.
- Bluff Point State Park in Groton has a fencing date of Thursday, April 13 at 10:00am and a rain date of 4/18. We will meet in the parking area and CT DEEP will shuttle people out to the beach.
We will notify you ASAP if these dates are to be postponed. Remember that any and all volunteers are welcome including those who are not monitors. Volunteers should bring: work gloves, water, a snack, appropriate footwear, sunscreen, sunglasses, hats and whatever else you may need avoid too much sun. These locations can either be quite cool or very warm depending on the day so dress for any weather. A pocket knife or multi-tool can be handy and a sledge hammer or mallet can be helpful to bring. Plan for heavy lifting and toting, but be mindful of your safety. Less intensive work needed includes stringing posts and putting up signs. Please email us at ctwaterbirds@gmail.com if you can make it to any or all of these dates, and thank you!
Other important notes today include...
- We are awaiting the additional volunteer documents from CT DEEP for those who did not receive them at training or signed up recently. They will be coming from DEEP soon, and we'll send them out and post them when received.
- Scheduling continues, and if you have not yet scheduled your monitoring this year, please do so now! We are about to start our season.
- Were you unable to attend training and need extra help? Please consider attending the volunteer field training for new monitors at Sandy/Morse Points in West Haven on Sunday, April 9, 10:00am-12:00pm. Additionally, we can set you up with a member of our field staff to meet you on the beach - please let us know!
- A video of our March 4th training will soon be made available so that you can view it as a refresher or as a monitor who was unable to attend the session. We will email a link to it when it is ready.
- Are you a monitor at Sandy/Morse Points in West Haven, or will you be helping us there later with fireworks coverage or fencing removal? Please let us know and email us at ctwaterbirds@gmail.com with your snail mail address and vehicle license plate information so that we can submit it to West Haven. They will send you a parking pass that can be used only for monitoring purposes. This parking pass is necessary as staff at a kiosk will need to see it or be paid a fee which we cannot cover beginning later this year.
- Keep in mind that rising and high tides at Griswold Point and Milford Point can cut the beaches and sand bars off from the mainland. Please be aware of this when venturing out and that it is often better to visit near low tide for the safety of the birds as well.
- Also please remember that with the continuing often inclement early spring weather conditions we want to stay home if the temperature is below 50 degrees, it is quite windy, or if it is precipitating.
- Lastly, it seems Optimum email accounts are rejecting all of our emails. If you or a friend have not received them this is why. We will be contacting you otherwise and potentially you can use another email to receive information. However, rest assured that your emails are being received on our end, and that you can still submit data this way or by the electronic form while reading all of these updates in our blog.
Thank you all, and as always, please reach out to us at ctwaterbirds@gmail.com for anything. We hope to see you at a fencing date soon!
