WildLife Guards Crew Leader Position
Related to RTPI’s work with Audubon Connecticut in the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds is our partnership on the Bridgeport WildLife Guards project: http://rtpi.org/education/wildlife-guards/ RTPI is once again teaming up with Audubon Connecticut and the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut to run the 2016 WildLife Guards program, which trains, mentors, and employs ten local high schools students and two crew leaders who monitor nesting birds and engage visitors, families, and friends about the City’s Pleasure Beach and its ecosystem. The WildLife Guards offer unique activities for...
Read MoreRoss’s Goose
This Ross’s Goose (Chen rossii) was a pleasure to see today at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, Connecticut after being discovered by Stefan Martin and Danny Williams. There have only been a handful of records for the species in the state. Don’t worry, it didn’t fly away – it was only stretching those wings! Ross’s Geese winter in the southwestern or far western U.S. and breed in the arctic. Presumably this bird was on the way north before being swept our way on the winds from the latest cold front. They have been seen more frequently, albeit still very rarely, on...
Read MoreFighting Osprey
I recently came across this old image of mine and had to share the story with everyone. RTPI President Twan Leenders and I captured this injured female Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) on June 28, 2010 after she was reported by concerned citizens as unable to fly on Bridgeport, Connecticut’s Pleasure Beach near her nest site. She had dislocated her left shoulder when being battered by a tornadic supercell thunderstorm a couple days earlier. The storm moved over the barrier beach after a tornado had touched down in the city minutes earlier. She was successfully rehabilitated and later...
Read MoreBuilding the Future
Here we have a couple of adorable little ones learning by doing and constructing baby Piping Plover chicks during an outreach event for the Bridgeport WildLife Guards with Audubon Connecticut and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History this past Saturday. We were one of the exhibits during a celebration of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) for children of all ages at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The kids are building a hatchling out of a marshmallow, pretzels, chocolate and raisins. While they are building this bird we are...
Read MoreWildLife Guards Boy Scout Event
This past Saturday, September 26, I spent the day with seven of our ten Bridgeport WildLife Guards back at Brideport, Connecticut’s Pleasure Beach. That is where they were stationed five days each week this summer, conducting education, conservation and advocacy activities and making a difference for rare or endangered plants and wildlife, highlighted by the federally threatened Piping Plover. They engaged visitors and beachgoers, offering unique and innovative programs to convey the philosophy of sharing the beach and respecting our natural world as well as the complex ecosystems of...
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