Piping 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 MoreGlossy Ibis
This is not a bird you expect to fly by low over your head, nor one you are ready to turn up and shoot…but here is the Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), a wader of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. The species is actually present on six continents, and because it is a long-legged wading bird found in our coastal marshes it is one of the many species we tally in the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds. Protecting their habitat, tracking their populations, and studying where they are and when all helps us learn more now and utilize better conservation management practices later. Scott...
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...
Read MoreFlagged Piping Plover
We have found multiple flagged/banded Piping Plovers in Connecticut in 2016, and here is the story of one of them. Back on March 31 one of our coastal waterbird technicians, Ewa Holland, found a green flagged “09C” bird at Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison. It remained there until at least last Sunday, May 22, appropriately last seen by Ewa. It had not had nesting success and was still attempting to find a place and mate in poor habitat on a small section of beach. It was with another bird on May 22 and doing aerial displays. However, another one of our field staff,...
Read MoreLeast Terns Return
The terns have returned! Here we have a pair of Least Terns photographed off Stratford Point in Connecticut last week. Both Least and Common Terns, two of the focal species in the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds, are back in Connecticut and we will be monitoring them as we do Piping Plovers and American Oystercatchers. Other terns, such as Forster’s and Caspian, have returned as well. Also keep an eye out for Roseate, Royal and even more rare terns like Gull-billed. We hope the birds will cooperate and Least Terns colonies will set up in Stratford, Milford, West Haven,...
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