Piping Plovers Returning Soon

We will soon be seeing Piping Plovers on Connecticut shores as we enter March tomorrow. A couple of birds were spotted on Long Island last week at Robert Moses State Park. They likely moved north on the southerly winds and more moderate temperatures we felt as the snowpack has finally started to melt. Here's a Piping Plover from Milford Point last summer.

Connecticut can sometimes find a bird, or even a few, at the shore in the first week of March. It takes a few weeks for birds to arrive, find their mate, and establish a territory on a suitable beach. Once we get towards April 1 our monitoring will officially commence right as Piping Plovers start nesting. If you want to join us in monitoring in 2021 please let us know by emailing ctwaterbirds@gmail.com. Our training sessions for new and past volunteers will be on Saturday, March 13, via Zoom.

Scott Kruitbosch
AAfCW Volunteer Coordinator

AAfCW 2021 signing up and scheduling

This is a reminder to please let us know if you will be joining us as a volunteer monitor for the 2021 Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds season by emailing ctwaterbirds@gmail.com. Thank you to all who have signed up already.

Returning Volunteer Monitor Training Session – Saturday, March 13th 2021, 9:00–10:00am
New Volunteer Monitor Training Session – Saturday, March 13th 2021, 10:30–12:00pm

Please email us the following information when signing up for 2021:

1. Your mailing address
2. If you require a lanyard or only the new 2021 monitor identification card (which will be mailed to everyone)
3. If you will be monitoring at Sandy/Morse Points in West Haven, your vehicle (make, model) and license plate information

You can also let us know what beach/schedule you would like if you already have it set from previous years, or you know what change you'd like to make. Specific dates, days of the week, and AM/PM slots or times all work well.

Thanks again and best to all,

Scott Kruitbosch
AAfCW Volunteer Coordinator

Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds 2021

 Volunteers Needed for Shorebird Monitoring 2021
The tenth season of the incredibly successful Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds invites new and returning volunteers to make a big impact in 2021

The Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds (AAfCW) and the CT Department of Environmental Protection, Wildlife Division, invite you to make a difference for threatened birds at the beach as an official volunteer monitor. This stewardship effort is focused on Piping Plovers, American Oystercatchers, Least Terns, and Common Terns at beaches statewide from April through August.

Atlantic Coast populations of beach-nesting birds return to the Connecticut coast beginning in March from their wintering grounds, as far as the Caribbean. The cryptic nests of these birds are extremely susceptible to human disturbance, predation, and tidal washouts. To enhance the survival and productivity of Connecticut’s beach-nesting birds, volunteers monitor at locations across the state to observe shorebirds, record and report nesting data, and spread a “share the shore” philosophy encouraging positive actions everyone can take to help these birds successfully raise their young. Though in-person education on the beach will be limited in 2021 due to COVID-19, monitoring is always a rewarding experience.

Training and orientation sessions will be held via online Zoom webinars for new and returning volunteers and will review the following: biology of the Piping Plover, Least Tern, and American Oystercatcher, how to monitor breeding pairs and chicks, volunteer organization and logistics, and law enforcement information. Virtual attendance by everyone planning to join us for the 2021 season is important to discuss the birds as well as COVID-19 modifications. Please keep in mind that all volunteers will be required to wear a mask, follow social distancing protocols, and practice safe hygiene at all times when they are volunteering.

Returning Volunteer Monitor Training Session – Saturday, March 13^th, 2021, 9:00–10:00am

New Volunteer Monitor Training Session – Saturday, March 13^th, 2021, 10:30–12:00pm

The Zoom session will be recorded and uploaded to YouTube so that it can be viewed multiple times or referred to throughout the season. For more information on the training session please email the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds at ctwaterbirds@gmail.com. Zoom meeting information will be provided for those not on our current email list when RVSPing.

If you are a returning volunteer, please let us know you if you will be joining us once again in 2021 by reaching out to ctwaterbirds@gmail.com as soon as you can with the following information:

• Your mailing address
• If you require a lanyard or only a new 2021 monitor identification card
• If you will be monitoring at Sandy/Morse Points in West Haven, your vehicle (make, model) and license plate information
  

AAfCW will organize the information for CT DEEP staff who will immediately begin getting these materials together to be mailed to you and contacting West Haven for a parking pass. This may take longer in 2021 with COVID-19 procedures, and we want to start the processes as soon as possible.

We hope to have you with us for this very unique and important tenth season after a difficult previous year due to COVID-19 restricting volunteer and staff activities. Please see this NBC Connecticut article and TV report on the 2020 season and COVID-19 here: https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/impacts-from-covid-19-lead-to-lowest-productivity-in-decades-for-local-bird-species/2387445

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