Walking Long Beach
Here are four quick iPhone photos that I took yesterday while walking the length of Stratford’s Long Beach all the way to Bridgeport’s Pleasure Beach during string fencing and signage removal operations with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and Audubon Connecticut, our partners in the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds. I did not haul my camera gear a half mile plus down the beach because we were doing physical labor, pulling up wooden stakes and then carrying them back to the parking lot. While walking all the way out I saw a Gatorade bottle...
Read MoreFencing Removal Dates
We now have two waterbird string fencing and signage removal dates set by the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) for a couple of our beaches. The Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds – Audubon Connecticut and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History – would appreciate any volunteers who could help us out at these locations and times: Friday, August 14th at 10:30AM – Long Beach in Stratford Thursday, August 20th at 10:00AM – Sandy/Morse Points in West Haven Bluff Point’s fencing removal date will be announced...
Read MoreShorebird Monitor Training Completed
On Saturday, March 14, the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds (Audubon Connecticut and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection completed successful training sessions for many of our fantastic past and new volunteer monitors. These citizen scientists and educators will hit the beaches come April, monitoring Piping Plovers and American Oystercatchers with other species like the Least and Common Terns soon to come. If you would like to join us on the Connecticut shore this...
Read MoreMunicipal Training
Here you can see Audubon Connecticut’s Important Bird Areas Coordinator Corrie Folsom-O’Keefe training a group of Connecticut municipal officials on what actions are required to improve nesting success for state and federally threatened waterbirds. The training session by the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds, Audubon Connecticut and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History, also included a presentation by Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection biologist Laura Saucier. Photos by Audubon Connecticut Director of Bird Conservation Patrick...
Read MorePiping Plovers nesting at Griswold Point
Earlier this week RTPI Affiliate and Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds Technician Sean Graesser assisted the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) in erecting Piping Plover exclosures at The Nature Conservancy’s Griswold Point property in Old Lyme, Connecticut. This is the third year that Sean is helping CT DEEP in this delicate process where a metal cage is set up around a complete four-egg Piping Plover clutch in order to prevent predators from being able to easily take the eggs. The exclosure, which can be seen in the second to last photo, has...
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