Memorial Day Weekend is behind us, and summer is just ahead! Thank you to all of those who spent extra time monitoring beaches during the holiday weekend. Your hard work helped to protect multiple locations across the shoreline where this year's American Oystercatcher and Piping Plover chicks are just beginning to hatch. While many birds will now tend to their young, some will continue to incubate their eggs, and others will be attempting to renest after recent nest failures or predation events.
Some friendly reminders:
As summer rapidly approaches, beach crowds will also begin to grow. Remember that we always want to educate beachgoers with a kind, positive attitude. If somebody is not interested in productive conversation, it is best to move on.
With chicks running around on many of the beaches, now it is even more important to ensure that we are monitoring effectively. Walk below the high tide line whenever possible and be aware that Least Terns may nest in or near the wrack line. If you find a nest outside of the string fencing areas, please make note of the location and email laura.saucier@ct.gov, rsuzf@hotmail.com, and ctwaterbirds@gmail.com as soon as possible.
Piping Plovers may renest up to three times after losing their nests to predation, disturbance, or weather events. Remember that it is very important to continue monitoring the "quieter" beaches because some birds may now choose those beaches for a renest attempt.
Do not linger near any exclosures, nests, chicks, or adult birds. Remember that the birds will tell you when you are too close by doing broken wing displays, alarm calls, or by dive-bombing. Bird safety is always most important!
There are many other shorebirds foraging and resting on the shoreline this time of year. For a review of additional species that you may encounter while monitoring, check out this online guide to shorebirds of New England created by Soheil Zendeh in Massachusetts: https://www.birdobserver.org/NESG
Thank you for your continued hard work throughout the beginning of the season. We have enjoyed meeting many of you in the field, and we greatly appreciate your dedication to protecting nesting shorebird populations across Connecticut. As always, if you have any comments, questions, or concerns please contact ctwaterbirds@gmail.com.
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Here is a summary of all volunteer-collected data submitted between May 13th and May 29th, 2025.
- Number of volunteer reports submitted: 108
- Total volunteer monitoring hours: 164
- Number of beachgoers engaged in conversations about birds/conservation: 177
**Please note: Each graph below displays the numeric range of birds observed by volunteers at major monitoring sites across the state. These ranges are based on the minimum and maximum number of birds reported at each site in our online data submission form. Click on each graph to view a higher resolution image.**
**Also note: Chicks have begun to hatch at a number of sites across the state, but in the interest of bird safety, we will not be sharing chick counts by site. Questions can be directed to ctwaterbirds@gmail.com**
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| Piping Plover. Photo: Sarah Devlin/Audubon Photography Awards |
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| American Oystercatcher. Photo: Walker Golder |
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| Common Tern. Photo: Tom Reichert/Audubon Photography Awards |
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| Least Terns. Photo: Robert Blanchard/Audubon Photography Awards |
