Kayaking Dogs
This scene is one that has personally appalled me all spring and summer long as hundreds of people have been seen by our staff and volunteers kayaking offshore with their dogs in this apparently growing fad. To each their own, though I do wish more safety precautions were taken here…life jackets are for wearing, you know, and they do no good when you’re already in the water or injured. Regardless, so many people and dogs in kayaks among the sizable and fast boats in Long Island Sound seem to enjoy landing on various beaches and offshore islands in order to stretch their legs, run...
Read MorePiping Plover Help
Our work to protect Piping Plovers like this one and other endangered coastal waterbirds like the American Oystercatcher, Least Tern, and Common Tern continues through the end of the summer with the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds. This has been a very challenging year with some unfortunate incidents which underlines the need for your help more than ever. If you would like to join us on the beach in Connecticut this summer and for years to come please email us at ctwaterbirds@gmail.com to sign up. Even if you cannot regularly monitor a beach you may be able to assist in outreach or...
Read MoreFish Crows
Every year in the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds brings new challenges, but the Fish Crow (Corvus ossifragus) is a persistent problem across Connecticut. These clever birds know how to find Piping Plover nests when they are exclosed or not, sometimes devouring eggs or causing it to be abandoned regardless. They patrol the coast for all sorts of young birds and eggs to eat, and while I would much prefer them to stick to European Starlings and House Sparrows, they have a taste for the susceptible endangered beach birds. They are sometimes so aware that the chicks have hatched they...
Read MorePiping Plover Portrait
The Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) shown here became a father a couple of weeks ago, and this photo is a very cropped version of a shot that I took with my 500mm lens while monitoring this new family. Mom and the three hatchlings were further down the beach while he came out to greet me…and to make sure I kept it moving as I walked along the waterline. It has been a challenging year for the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds, and we are still in the middle of our busiest and most difficult part of the season. See how you can help out in Connecticut by emailing...
Read MoreCommon Tern
Here is a Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) photographed recently while resting on a rock at Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison, Connecticut. Memorial Day weekend is one of the busiest times of the year for us in the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds as it marks the unofficial beginning of the summer beach season. This is a critical time for our beach nesting birds with Piping Plovers and American Oystercatchers having both hatchlings and nests throughout the state while the Least and Common Terns begin to create colonies and lay eggs as well. It seems 2016 will be a mostly warmer than...
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