Flagged and Banded Birds

We are elated to be hosting several flagged and banded Piping Plovers and American Oystercatchers in Connecticut for the 2017 season. We are monitoring these birds closely and reporting their information to the appropriate parties. Here is a photo of one such Piping Plover, pink flagged 5E, photographed on the day she was found earlier this month with her mate.

This Piping Plover was banded in the Bahamas in March 2017 through research being conducted by the National Audubon Society, Virginia Tech Shorebird Program, Bahamas National Trust, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and more partners all working to study and aid the species. For now we will not be posting the birds' specific sites and locations, and we ask our monitors and birders who meet them to do the same. These little celebrities could attract a crowd of interested onlookers, and we want to ensure they have the space they need to raise a family.

Our friend 5E is being featured on National Audubon Society social media, in an anonymous way to ensure her safety, so be sure to see all the love she is getting there. You can read more information about Audubon's work in this PDF file. We will certainly be reporting extensively on the life history and the Connecticut success of these birds after our season concludes in a few months. Fingers crossed that we have wonderful stories to tell! If you want to learn more or find a flagged/banded Piping Plover please see this previous blog entry on what to do, and when reporting it be sure to include CT DEEP's Laura Saucier (Laura.Saucier@ct.gov) and us at the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds (ctwaterbirds@gmail.com) as well - and thank you!

AAfCW 2017 Volunteer Update #3

This is the third weekly update by the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds (AAfCW) for the 2017 season. Today's update includes reports of Piping Plover and American Oystercatcher through 2:00 p.m. on April 24 with sightings of birds by volunteers and staff since the previous update on April 17.

Informational updates:

Identification badges are currently being received by monitors if you signed up at training. For those who did not your forms will be ready soon and then you can submit them to CT DEEP at which time they will mail you a badge. Please see the PDF "2017 Piping Plover Monitoring Program" in the right-hand column of this blog as a refresher if you were at training and as required reading for those who were not. It includes a program overview, how to be a good witness, various contact information, dog laws, and more. The second PDF to note is a CT DEEP volunteer time form that you can fill out and return to DEEP at the end of our season in August if you are a registered monitor.

Our beaches are filling up with birds and nests are beginning to be discovered now. Please remember whether it is a marked bird, a disturbance of note that however does not reach "take" status, a new nest, and other significant information, please email CT DEEP (Laura.Saucier@ct.gov and Rebecca.Foster@ct.gov) and AAfCW directly about it with all the information you can as soon as possible.

Both Least and Common Terns begin returning to Connecticut usually right around May 1, so do not expect to see any for another week or more. Remember, if the temperature is below 50, it is raining, or it is especially windy, you should stay home on these stressful days for the birds.

Survey and monitoring updates:

Piping Plover
2 pairs, 2 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/17
3 pairs, 1 adult at Long Beach on 4/17
4 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/17
1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/17
8 pairs at Milford Point on 4/17
1 pair at Pleasure Beach on 4/18
3 pairs, 2 adults at Long Beach on 4/18
5 pairs, 6 adults at Milford Point on 4/18
7 pairs at Long Beach on 4/18
1 pair, 1 adult at Long Beach on 4/18
2 pairs, 3 adults at Long Beach on 4/18
1 pair at Long Beach on 4/19
6 pairs at Hammonasset on 4/20
6 pairs, 1 nest at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/20
2 adult at Long Beach on 4/20
4 pairs, 2 adults at Milford Point on 4/20
5 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/20
3 pairs, 2 adults, 1 nest at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/20
1 pair at Short Beach on 4/22
1 pair at Short Beach on 4/22
1 adult at Greenwich Point Park on 4/22
2 pairs at Long Beach on 4/22
1 pair, 4 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/22
3 pairs, 2 adults at Long Beach on 4/22
6 pairs, 2 adults at Long Beach on 4/23
1 pair at East Ave, West Haven on 4/23
1 pair, 7 adults at Long Beach on 4/23
1 pair, 8 adults, 1 nest at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/23

American Oystercatcher
2 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/17
2 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/17
3 pairs at Milford Point on 4/18
1 pair, 1 adult at Long Beach on 4/18
2 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/18
1 pair at Pleasure Beach on 4/18
1 pair at Silver Sands State Park on 4/18
3 pairs at Milford Point on 4/18
2 adults at Compo Beach on 4/18
1 pair at Long Beach on 4/18
1 pair, 1 nest at Lewis Island, Thimbles on 4/18
1 pair at Governor Island, Thimbles on 4/18
1 pair at Island # 18, Thimbles on 4/18
1 pair, 1 adult at Grass Island on 4/19
1 pair at Chaffinch Island on 4/20
1 pair, 1 adult at Horse Island, Joshua Cove on 4/20
2 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/20
1 pair at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/20
1 pair at Hammonasset on 4/20
2 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/20
3 pairs at Milford Point on 4/20
1 pair at Short Beach on 4/21
1 adult at Greenwich Point Park on 4/22
3 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/22
1 adult at Greenwich Point Park on 4/23
3 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/23
1 pair at Silver Sands State Park on 4/23
1 pair at Long Beach on 4/23
3 pairs, 1 adult, 1 nest at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/23

This concludes update #3 through 4/24/17 as of 5:30 p.m.

Clean Our Shores

As our waterbirds season enters the nesting period here on the Connecticut coast we ask that when you visit a beach you please keep in mind the same ideals that you do whenever you are immersed elsewhere in nature - leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but memories. We successfully share the shore with the various endangered nesting species, such as this Piping Plover, each year without closing off entire beaches for months as some other states do. Our work, and the health and success of our birds, is helped greatly by beachgoers taking their trash home with them. It reduces the number of predators attracted to the beach and the threat of garbage directly injuring or killing birds. Our volunteer monitors and staff remove many bags of trash every week. If you can clean up a few pieces of garbage - safely and outside of string fenced areas - that may have been left by someone else or have washed up onshore, then we will love you all the more! Pass it on and protect our plovers...and thank you!

Scott Kruitbosch
RTPI Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
AAfCW Volunteer Coordinator

AAfCW 2017 Volunteer Update #2

This is the second weekly update by the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds (AAfCW) for the 2017 season. Today's update includes reports of Piping Plover and American Oystercatcher through 1:00 p.m. on April 17 with sightings of birds by volunteers and staff since the previous update on April 10.

Informational updates:

Thank you all very much for your help with spring fencing dates. CT DEEP and AAfCW staff will continue to finish up fencing and signing a few more beaches, and all will be set for the soon to be nesting birds. If your beach does not have any Piping Plovers or American Oystercatchers yet then you can keep monitoring for now to see if any do show up. If in the next few weeks we still not do have any then switching to a busier beach would be best. However, please do submit "negative" data from any monitoring you conduct where you find none of our focal birds. The importance of this is outlined in detail here in our blog: http://ctwaterbirds.blogspot.com/2017/04/submit-negative-data.html

Identification badges are currently being distributed by CT DEEP and are going out to be mailed tomorrow. Paperwork for those who did not get a chance to sign up at training in March will be ready later this week and sent via email as well as posted publicly in our blog. When you submit this information DEEP will mail you a badge.

Once again please remember to provide your license plate and mailing address by email to ctwaterbirds@gmail.com if you are going to monitor at Sandy/Morse Points in West Haven and do not have a resident sticker. We will be submitting the list to the City soon! If you do not submit your information you will have to acquire and pay for a sticker directly from West Haven.

There are a few banded and flagged Piping Plovers at our beaches, and more could still be found. Whether it is a marked bird, a disturbance of note that however does not reach "take" status, a new nest, and other significant information, please email CT DEEP (Laura.Saucier@ct.gov and Rebecca.Foster@ct.gov) and AAfCW directly about it with all the information you can as soon as possible.

Both Least and Common Terns begin returning to Connecticut usually right around May 1, so do not expect to see any for a couple of weeks. Please keep monitoring as usual during conducive weather, and we should have mostly great days to be at the beach this week.

Survey and monitoring updates:

Piping Plover
3 pairs, 3 adults at Bluff Point on 4/10
1 pair at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/10
2 pairs, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/10
1 pair at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/11
4 pairs at Milford Point on 4/11
5 pairs, 3 adults at Long Beach on 4/11
3 pairs, 2 adults at Long Beach on 4/12
4 pairs, 5 adults at Long Beach on 4/12
3 pairs, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/12
3 pairs, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/12
5 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/12
2 pairs, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/13
3 pairs at Milford Point on 4/13
5 pairs at Bluff Point on 4/14
2 pairs, 2 adults at Long Beach on 4/14
1 pair, 7 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/14
7 pairs, 4 adults at Milford Point on 4/14
1 adult at Long Beach on 4/14
1 pair at East Broadway, Milford on 4/14
2 pairs, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/15
3 pairs, 6 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/15

American Oystercatcher
1 pair at Bluff Point on 4/10
1 pair at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/10
4 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/10
1 pair at Hammonasset on 4/10
3 pairs at Milford Point on 4/11
1 pair, 1 adult at Long Beach on 4/11
1 pair at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/11
3 pairs, 1 adult at Milford Point on 4/11
2 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/12
1 adult at Silver Sands State Park on 4/12
4 pairs at Milford Point on 4/12
1 pair at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/12
3 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/12
2 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/13
3 pairs at Milford Point on 4/13
3 pairs at Milford Point on 4/14
1 adult at Bluff Point on 4/14
2 pairs, 2 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/14
2 pairs at Milford Point on 4/14
1 pair at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/15
2 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/15
3 pairs at Milford Point on 4/15

This concludes update #2 through 4/17/17 as of 5:00 p.m.

Submit Negative Data

Please remember that we want to hear from you at ctwaterbirds@gmail.com after every trip you take to your beach during volunteer monitoring. Even when you make a visit to the shore and do not see any Piping Plovers, American Oystercatchers, Least Terns or Common Terns - or any other notable waterbirds - we need this "negative data". Knowing about a lack of birds is just as important as an abundance of birds.

Negative data is important to us in several ways. It lets us know that you were there on the beach at your scheduled time and that birds were simply not there instead us thinking you may have had to miss your monitoring that day and wondering what was or was not present. We can still learn from you about any disturbances and human activities on the beach even if there are no birds to report. We will target our field staff to sites more appropriately with a more complete picture of what is or is not going on. We can also add to historic data from past years - for example, if a given beach now has no Piping Plovers during the entire 2017 season and this is the third year in a row after decades of the species breeding there then we will know with even more certainty that there is a problem that needs to be addressed at that site.

Please remember this throughout the season and send us a report each time after you monitor. While we would much rather read a wonderful account of so many of our species being recorded by all of you we still need to receive monitoring data even when no birds are found whatsoever. That negative data goes a long way in helping us understand, protect and help Connecticut's coastal waterbirds.

Fencing Completed at Pleasure Beach

While we have a few public string fencing and signage dates - including at Bluff Point State Park in Groton on Thursday, April 13 at 10:00am which all are welcome to attend and help with - we also have our staff hard at work doing the same at other locations. Today we completed Pleasure Beach in Bridgeport, getting it all set for the birds that we were fortunate to find already there.

 
This male Piping Plover was with his mate on the western end of Pleasure Beach, and hopefully we will have a pair nesting there once again this spring. They looked as if they were making the spot their home, and while we only saw them foraging along the water we noted plenty of tracks in the dune. 
 

Three American Oystercatchers, two males competing for one female, were also very vocal and seen throughout our time on the beach. We are hopeful our Bridgeport WildLife Guards will have plenty to watch at Pleasure Beach later this summer, and that you visit us all in a few months!

AAfCW 2017 Volunteer Update #1

This is the first weekly update by the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds (AAfCW) for the 2017 season. Today's update includes reports of Piping Plover and American Oystercatcher through 1:00 p.m. on April 10 with sightings of birds by volunteers and staff since our official start day on April 1.

Informational updates:

In this first weekly Monday update for our season you will find pertinent information and reminders plus data from our volunteers and staff members that have already hit the beach this year.

We have one more spring fencing date open to the public at Bluff Point State Park in Groton on Thursday, April 13 at 10:00am with a rain date of 4/18. We will meet in the parking area and CT DEEP will shuttle people out to the beach. Please RSVP if you can make it to help out if you have not already. 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. Our beaches 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.

Identification badges are currently being distributed by CT DEEP. Paperwork for those who did not get a chance to sign up at training in March will be ready soon and sent via email as well as posted publicly in our blog. When you submit this information DEEP will provide you with a badge. Thank you to all the new monitors who attended field training this past Sunday, and if you could not attend or still require extra help please let us know. Additionally, if we were waiting to schedule you with your flexible availability, or you have only recently signed up, please finalize your monitoring schedule as soon as you can.

Also please remember to provide your license plate and mailing address by email to ctwaterbirds@gmail.com if you are going to monitor at Sandy/Morse Points in West Haven and do not have a resident sticker.

It should be a beautiful week to start monitoring! Birds are being seen copulating and nesting should commence in the near future. Enjoy your time at the shore and please let us know if you have any questions.

Survey and monitoring updates:

Piping Plover
5 adults at Long Beach on 4/1
3 adults at Hammonasset on 4/2
2 pairs, 2 adults at Milford Point on 4/2
1 pair, 2 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/2
1 adult at Long Beach on 4/2
3 pairs, 3 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/3
3 pairs, 3 adults at Bluff Point on 4/5
3 pairs, 2 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/5
4 pairs at Long Beach on 4/5
2 pairs, 8 adults at Long Beach on 4/5
2 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/7
5 pairs, 4 adults at Milford Point/NWR on 4/8
8 pairs at Milford Point on 4/9
5 adults at Milford Point on 4/9
2 pairs, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/10

American Oystercatcher
1 pair at Hammonasset on 4/2
2 pairs at Milford Point on 4/2
3 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/2
2 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/3
3 pairs at Milford Point on 4/5
1 pair at Griswold Point on 4/5
1 pair at Bluff Point on 4/5
1 pair at Long Beach on 4/5
2 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/5
1 pair at Long Beach on 4/5
1 adult at Pleasure Beach on 4/7
5 pairs at Milford Point/NWR on 4/8
1 adult at Silver Sands State Park on 4/8
3 pairs at Milford Point on 4/9
3 pairs at Milford Point on 4/9
2 pairs, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/10

This concludes update #1 through 4/10/17 as of 5:00 p.m.

Fencing Continues

Thank you so much to everyone who volunteered to assist us with string fencing and signage for our waterbirds at Sandy/Morse Points in West Haven on Monday and at Griswold Point in Old Lyme today! We now have two public dates left and could still use your help at:

• Stratford's Long Beach on 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 on Thursday, April 13 at 10:00am with a rain date of 4/18. We will meet in the parking area and CT DEEP will shuttle people out to the beach.

Please RSVP if you can make it to help out at one or both events if you have not already. 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.

Here are some photos from Monday's work...

 

 

Our season is getting underway now as Piping Plovers and American Oystercatchers continue to arrive and breeding activities commence. A huge thank you once again to those who have helped, will be joining us at an upcoming date, or at working hard at monitoring your beach. New monitors, don't forget to join us at Sandy/Morse Points in West Haven this Sunday, April 9 from 10am-12pm if you would like additional field training.

Fencing Reminder

Good morning all! This is a reminder that we have three fencing dates coming up this week plus one next week:

• 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.
• Griswold Point's fencing date is Wednesday, April 5 in Old Lyme at 9:45am. To minimize vehicles traveling to the Point it is best to meet the group at the I-95 exit 70 commuter parking lot by 9:30am to carpool over.
• 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.

Please RSVP if you can make it to help out at one or multiple events if you have not already. 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!