Here's an American Oystercatcher female sitting on a nest incubating eggs earlier this season. She was nesting on one of our regularly monitored beaches, and you can see beachgoers walking between me and the Oystercatcher.
The bird watches closely as the people pass by, keeping an eye on each individual as they move down the beach. Imagine if there were no protective string fencing in place here as even the most well-intentioned people might accidentally flush her off the nest nonstop. This nest and most others would assuredly fail, and our endangered beach-nesting birds would have little to no success anywhere in Connecticut.
This video also serves as a good way to see where our monitors should ideally be positioned on the beach. Remaining in the area of wet sand by the water allows you a great view of the dunes while being even less of a disturbance than the average beach visitor. Low tide creates an ideal monitoring situation at most beaches. The bird never looks at me because I am so far away, and binoculars, spotting scopes, and long lenses make it easy for us.
Thankfully, we have had considerable success so far this year despite some difficult tides, storms, disturbances, predation, and more. The next month and a half of monitoring will help more of our Piping Plovers, American Oystercatchers, Least and Common Terns finish nesting and successfully fledge more young. Thank you all for doing everything you can in helping us share the shore.
Scott Kruitbosch
AAfCW Volunteer Coordinator
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