Preparing for the 4th of July
We are one week out from what will likely be the busiest weekend of the year on the Connecticut shoreline. Our staff will be monitoring during the July 4th weekend, in addition to managing crowds during various fireworks displays across the state. Many sites have highly mobile Piping Plover chicks beginning to fledge, which means that we need all of the help that we can get to limit human disturbance to nesting areas during the holiday weekend.
If you are available to do any extra monitoring next weekend, we would greatly appreciate it! Holiday monitoring does not need to be scheduled in advance. If you currently monitor at a site that does not have any nesting shorebirds and you would like assistance choosing a site with active nests/chicks to monitor during the holiday weekend, please email ctwaterbirds@gmail.com
Important note! Expect the Connecticut Audubon Coastal Center and Milford Point parking lot to be closed to all visitors (volunteers included) during the July 4th weekend. This annual closure is to help limit what would otherwise be extreme traffic on the property. We will share exact dates/times of the closure as soon as they become available. If you were planning to monitor at Milford Point and would like assistance choosing an alternative site to monitor next weekend, please email ctwaterbirds@gmail.com
Special event tomorrow: "Birds of the Marsh" Day at Hammonasset Beach State Park
Visit Hammonasset Beach State Park tomorrow between 10am-4pm to celebrate salt marsh biodiversity! Attend a bird walk, marsh visit, and a presentation on Saltmarsh Sparrows by UCONN researcher Frank Gigliotti. Don't forget to stop by the AAfCW table to say hello!☺
A full itinerary for "Birds of the Marsh" Day can be found HERE
Volunteer Spotlight!
Continuing with our spotlight series, I would like to introduce this week's amazing volunteers: Steve and Charla Spector!
A special note about the Spectors from Rebecca Foster, CT DEEP Wildlife Division:
Stephen and his wife Charla are legendary at Milford Point. All of our field staff know that we will regularly meet them on the beach and we look forward to getting a report from Steve and catching up on the latest status of all of the birds there.
When I first started as a plover research assistant for CT DEEP, I learned so much about plover behavior from talking to Steve. He showed me plover mating "goose-stepping" and territorial "parallel running" and he has always been really patient, even though he knew far more about our shorebirds than I did. The birding community is so lucky to have Steve and Charla as amazing mentors for the next generations of birders.
Get to know Steve and Charla below as they answer questions about their experience with AAfCW.
When did you begin volunteering with the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds?
We started monitoring around 2000 for the DEEP and US Fish & Wildlife, which transitioned to the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds. We are currently monitoring Milford Point. In the past we have also monitored Shell Avenue Beach, Myrtle Beach, and Silver Sands Beach in Milford, CT.
What is your favorite part of volunteering as a shorebird monitor?
We are monitoring because we hope our collective efforts can help save these endangered birds. We love seeing and photographing the behaviors of the American Oystercatchers, Least Terns, and Common Terns. We are especially fond of the Piping Plovers who arrive in March and immediately begin parallel walking to establish territorial boundaries, then begin nest making with their symbolic nest "scraping," and finally perform their highly choreographed mating. Often we become absorbed by individual birds: an adult Oystercatcher who took an hour encouraging her chicks to swim across a channel of water that separated the main sandbar from what we then called the Francis Street spit--she swam back and forth until they finally followed. In 2014 we were saddened but impressed by a Piping Plover chick who developed a disfigured leg: we watched him fledge; then he progressed from his natal nest near 75 Shell Avenue in Milford to the other side of Silver Sands State Park; we saw him next at the west end of the main sandbar at Milford Point, and finally at Statford Point. And in 2017 we followed the progress of the first banded Piping Plover we had seen, the amazing female with the pink flag 2E as she raised 4 chicks on Shell Beach. Amazingly, she has returned to Connecticut every year since then, and she is now at Milford Point with a single chick about to fledge. We think her genes are well represented in the Piping Plovers of Southern Connecticut.
We are happy at Milford Point now because we have Matt Joyce and Johann Heupel providing their excellent work as rangers, covering extensive protected areas with daily attention to exclosures. We have appreciated a long line of people who have devoted themselves to our shorebirds, including many dedicated volunteers and outstanding administrators like Julie Victoria, Laura Saucier, and Scott Kruitbosch. And a special thanks to Rebecca Foster.
What do you do outside of your volunteer work?
We are both retired and living in Milford, but Charla has continued to do Artwork for the past 60 years. She's a Member of the New Haven Paint and Clay Club which just celebrated its 125th Anniversary. Her Artwork is concerned with a love for the beauty of the Animal kingdom, (of which we are a part), and with whom we share the planet. As such she is an activist for animal rights. Steve, a long-retired English Professor, has been a compulsive birder since 1969 when the sight of Connecticut birds rekindled a love of birds that began when his parents started birding (then called "bird watching") with the help of Roger Tory Peterson's famous "Field Guide." Our favorite birding destinations outside of the United States have been Australia and Costa Rica.
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| "Pink Flag 2E" Female Piping Plover in 2017 and 2025. Photo: Stephen Spector |
If you would like to nominate a fellow volunteer for an upcoming volunteer spotlight, email us at ctwaterbirds@gmail.com!
Latest Monitoring Data
Here is a summary of all volunteer-collected data submitted between June 13th and June 27th, 2025.
- Number of volunteer reports submitted: 73
- Total volunteer monitoring hours: 124
- Number of beachgoers engaged in conversations about birds/conservation: 110
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| Piping Plover. Photo: Matthew Filosa/Audubon Photography Awards |
Piping Plover Data Summary
Piping Plover Pair Observations
There were Piping Plover pairs observed at Sherwood Island, Pleasure Beach, Long Beach, Milford Point, Silver Sands, Sandy Point, Griswold Point, and Bluff Point between June 13th and June 27th.
Sites with Piping Plover nests:
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| American Oystercatcher. Photo: Katherine Westover/Audubon Photography Awards |
American Oystercatcher Data Summary
American Oystercatcher Pair Observations
There were American Oystercatcher pairs observed at Compo, Sherwood Island, Pleasure Beach, Long Beach, Milford Point, Sandy Point, Griswold Point, Waterford Town Beach, and Bluff Point between June 13th and June 27th.
Sites with American Oystercatcher nests:
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| Common Tern. Photo: Michael Rickershauser/Audubon Photography Awards |
Common Tern Data Summary
Adult Common Tern Observations
There were Common Terns observed at Sherwood Island, Milford Point, Sandy Point, Griswold Point, Waterford Town Beach, and Bluff Point between June 13th and June 27th.
Least Tern Data Summary
Adult Least Tern Observations
There were Least Terns observed at Pleasure Beach, Long Beach, Milford Point, Sandy Point, Griswold Point, Waterford Town Beach, and Bluff Point between June 13th and June 27th.
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Thank you all for your time and dedication towards protecting our shorebirds!
Marissa
Audubon CT Volunteer Coordinator
**All photos are licensed for use through the National Audubon Society. Audubon Connecticut is a state office of the National Audubon Society**
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