Help USFWS at Milford Point

Please join Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge staff at the Milford Point Unit on April 6th at 0830. We will be putting up symbolic fencing to create a safe nesting area for shorebirds such as piping plover and American oystercatchers. Volunteers will be carrying supplies (posts, signs, rope), pounding posts, laying out rope, hanging signs, and recovering old signs and posts. We will fence until done - but if you need to leave early - you can. We anticipate a few hours of work. If interested, please email Kris Vagos, the Refuge Wildlife Biologist, at Kristina_Vagos@fws.gov. More details to come once you sign up.

Reminder - Volunteers Needed for Shorebird Monitoring 2018

If you have not already planned to join us this year please remember that despite the cold and snow the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds/CT DEEP Wildlife Division 2018 monitoring and stewardship season is about to begin. Please see below for details, and please pass this along to any new volunteers you feel would be interested in joining us. We hope all our past monitors will be returning this year after yet another record-setting season in 2017. We can only keep this success going with your help!

Spend your summer days at the beach and help protect a federally threatened species! The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Wildlife Divisioni 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. A training and orientation session for new volunteers will be held on Saturday, March 31st 2018 from 10:30am to 12:00pm 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. The sessions will review the following: biology of the piping plover, how to monitor breeding pairs and chicks, volunteer organization and logistics, and law enforcement information. While there are only a few changes to the process this year, attendance by everyone planning to join us for the 2018 season is important.

Atlantic Coast populations of Piping Plovers return to the Connecticut coast in March from their wintering grounds on the Gulf Coast and Caribbean. The cryptic 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, and educate the beach-going public about the monitoring program. Volunteers work 4 hour shifts from April until the end of the breeding season (usually in August) and must donate a minimum of 4 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.

If you are a past monitor who will be visiting the beach on your own between now and March 31 we would still appreciate any incidental and casual data and information you have pertaining to Piping Plover or American Oystercatcher sightings. Feel free to email us! 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.

Volunteers Needed for Shorebird Monitoring 2018

Volunteers Needed for Shorebird Monitoring 2018

The Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds/CT DEEP Wildlife Division 2018 monitoring and stewardship season is about to begin! Please see below for details, and please pass this along to any new volunteers you feel would be interested in joining us. We hope all our past monitors will be returning this year after yet another record-setting season in 2017. We can only keep this success going with your help!

Spend your summer days at the beach and help protect a federally threatened species! The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Wildlife Divisioni 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.  A training and orientation session for new volunteers will be held on Saturday, March 31st^th 2018 from 10:30am to 12:00pm 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.  The sessions will review the following: biology of the piping plover, how to monitor breeding pairs and chicks, volunteer organization and logistics, and law enforcement information. While there are only a few changes to the process this year, attendance by everyone planning to join us for the 2018 season is important. 

Atlantic Coast populations of Piping Plovers return to the Connecticut coast in March from their wintering grounds on the Gulf Coast and Caribbean. The cryptic 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, and educate the beach-going public about the monitoring program. Volunteers work 4 hour shifts from April until the end of the breeding season (usually in August) and must donate a minimum of 4 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.

Share waterbird checklists please!

We wanted to take a moment to ask that folks please share any eBird checklists that include shorebirds, terns, herons or egrets with the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds at ctwaterbirds@gmail.com whenever you can. We have requested this help in previous years, and please keep them coming in 2017!

There is a button on eBird to "share checklist with others in my party", and if click that and paste in ctwaterbirds@gmail.com you can easily do so with applicable checklists. Even old checklists can be sent if you have any from earlier in the year. This helps us record the staging and nesting areas for these birds - those that we do not monitor every pair in CT as we do for Piping Plovers and American Oystercatchers - and also helps us track volunteer hours for folks who are recording shorebird activity. Please be sure to estimate your time spent in the field in your reports to help track level of effort.

Thanks so much!

Volunteers Needed for Milford Point Beach Cleanup on November 9th

The Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge, the City of Milford, the Friends of the Stewart B. McKinney Refuge, the Connecticut Audubon Society and the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds are collaborating to conduct a beach cleanup at Milford (a.k.a. Smith's) Point on Thursday, November 9th. Volunteers are needed to help remove trash and marine debris from the beach and collect it in bags and piles so it may be easily removed by trailer. Participants will meet at 10am at the CT Audubon Coastal Center, 1 Milford Point Rd., Milford, 06460. Gloves, trash bags and other essential will be provided, however it is advisable to bring your own water and bagged lunch. Email shaun_roche@fws to sign up.

Shaun Roche
Visitor Services Manager
Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge