Volunteers Needed for Shorebird Monitoring 2019

Volunteers Needed This April - August for Shorebird Monitoring Statewide

Spend your summer days at the beach and help protect a federally threatened species!

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Wildlife Division and the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds are seeking volunteers to monitor Piping Plovers and other shorebirds from early April until late August at beaches across our state.

In March, Atlantic Coast populations of Piping Plovers return to the Connecticut shoreline from their wintering grounds on the Gulf Coast and Caribbean. The camouflage nests of the Piping Plover are extremely susceptible to human disturbance, predation, and tidal wash outs. To enhance the survival and productivity of birds breeding in Connecticut, volunteers work at locations across the shoreline to observe the shorebirds, record and report nesting data (number of adults and chicks observed, whether adults are incubating, signs of disturbance, etc), and educate the beach-going public about these birds and their habitat needs.

On Saturday, March 30th from 10:30am – 12:00pm, a training and orientation session for new volunteers will be held at the Audubon Connecticut Office at Stratford Point, 1207 Prospect Drive, Stratford, CT 06615; past volunteers will be offered a refresher from 9:00am to 10:15am. When you arrive proceed through the gate and up the driveway to the main building.

Volunteer training sessions will review the following: biology of the Piping Plover, American Oystercatcher, and Least Tern; how to monitor breeding pairs and chicks; volunteer organization and logistics; and law enforcement information. Past volunteers should plan to attend both the refresher, as there are changes to the process every year.

Volunteers work four hour shifts from April until the end of the breeding season (usually in August) and must donate a minimum of four hours per month. The work can be very rewarding, as volunteers will have the opportunity to positively affect the nesting success of threatened shorebirds across the state.

For more information on the training session or for directions, please email the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds at ctwaterbirds@gmail.com. Reservations are not required; but an e-mail letting us know you will be attending is appreciated.

This training session is co-sponsored by the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds (Audubon Connecticut, the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History and the Connecticut Audubon Society) and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Wildlife Division.