AAfCW Late April Updates

Good afternoon!

We have finished scheduling for the AAfCW for the 2022 season, and nearly all monitors now have badges and lanyards with CT DEEP waiver forms submitted to Laura. We are actively monitoring our beaches as nests have started to appear across CT. Please continue to submit all data to the electronic form. Please also email us and CT DEEP directly if you find a new nest or see a notable disturbance or problem (such as downed fencing). Refer to the volunteer training session and paperwork for reminders about protocols. A data update with sightings will be sent out soon and regularly as we move through the season. Additionally...

• The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is informally tracking the impact of marine debris on listed species habitat and does not have much information for Connecticut beaches. If you observe marine debris from aquaculture (commercial nets, lobster traps, ropes, buoys, etc.) please document it (describe what you discover, where, and take photos) and email it to Laura.Saucier@ct.gov with the subject "Aquaculture Marine Debris".
• If you have not yet picked up a badge in Stratford, Milford, or Old Lyme, we will be putting a few last badges at each site. Please plan to get yours ASAP or contact us.
• All vehicle and mailing address information was submitted to West Haven a few weeks ago for both our staff and our monitors. We have been told the City is printing and mailing them this week. If we have any more information, we will pass it along to you. We hope they will be received soon.
• If you have questions on identifying our focal species, please feel free to ask here at ctwaterbirds@gmail.com, refer back to the YouTube training sessions, or see more in our blog and its documents. If you need to correct a report you have submitted, please email ctwaterbirds@gmail.com and we can correct it on our side. Previously submitted data cannot be edited by volunteers. 
• Please keep in mind that string fencing and signage is erected as a bare minimum. Landowners, from private property to state or municipal parks, typically seek to maximize open recreational space. We work to make it possible to share the shore and permit beachgoers to visit while still protecting our endangered species. This is why we need all of your help! It also means we will have to enlarge fencing at times for birds nesting outside of it, and that birds frequently forage, rest, and so on outside of fencing. Fencing cannot go into the water as it will be damaged and washed away, and this would also be outside of where birds will nest. Please do not go near or into the fenced areas at any time. Prioritize the safety of the birds at the expense of data. 
• Exclosures will be put over most Piping Plover nests once they are complete (with four eggs), and this will help in seeing them. However, we do not need egg counts or close looks. We do not need photos unless there is a specific purpose (e.g. to show a disturbance).
• Only Piping Plover, American Oystercatcher, Least Tern, and Common Tern sightings should be put in the electronic form as they are our four focal species. We do not need to record the negative data for terns until May as they return slowly beginning around May 1, but PIPL and AMOY negative reports should be made throughout the year.

Thank you all for your help! 

Scott Kruitbosch
AAfCW Volunteer Coordinator