Stratford Great Meadows Unit Training
Here’s my huge “thank you!” to all of the great volunteers that joined us at a training and informational sign-up session yesterday for the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is seeking volunteers to help out at the Refuge’s Stratford Great Meadows Unit, and now we have over 25 more people on board to help with public outreach, clean-up efforts, maintenance and bird surveys. The event was cosponsored by Audubon Connecticut, New Haven Bird Club and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History and held at Stratford...
Read MoreShorebird Brochures
Here are a couple quick photos of our freshly-printed American Oystercatcher brochures to go along with our Piping Plover brochures! You can spot our logo along with Audubon Connecticut at the top, and were created by our staff as a part of our education and outreach work in the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds. They look wonderful in person, and our staff will soon have some to pass on to you if we see you on the beach in Connecticut. They feature basic biological information on both species including where and when they nest, why they are threatened, how we can help them and what to...
Read MoreGreater Yellowlegs and continuing Connecticut surveys
Are you a Connecticut birder? Do you use eBird? Are you passing through Roger Tory Peterson’s former home in the Nutmeg state at some point and planning on enjoying some of the fine coastal waterbirds it features? Please remember to share your eBird checklists with us via the share function at ctwaterbirds@gmail.com and your contribution to the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds will be readily accepted and heartily appreciated! Nesting season may have ended months ago and will not start for several more but we have a great mix of wintering long-legged waders and shorebirds, like...
Read MoreLeaves are leaving
This is a picture of the Chadakoin River before all of yesterday’s formidable gusts blew away much of our fall foliage here in Jamestown. Yep, the leaves are leaving. What makes me shake my head is how low the water level has been lately as our precipitation has fallen back to near average or below after a very wet summer. We sure could have used these conditions for Spiny Softshell Turtle work the rest of the year when they were more active, nesting and basking in strong numbers. The weather shapes all of the life around us in both positive and negative ways. This is also why active...
Read MoreAudubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds thanks volunteers
On Monday evening, September 15, the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds held a thank you party for all of the tremendous volunteers who helped us conduct surveys, monitoring, stewardship, education and outreach across Connecticut in 2014. We thank the Town of Stratford and the Stratford Conservation Commission for allowing us to use the pavilion at Short Beach Park in Stratford. There have been at least 2,200 hours logged by over 379 volunteers in the AAfCW program this year. We have seen 51 species of shorebirds, terns and long-legged waders at nearly 200 important sites in the state....
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