Find Marked Piping Plovers
If you are birding beaches on the Atlantic Coast this spring and summer please be on the lookout for Piping Plovers bearing bands and flags. Information for reporting each flag color is provided below. If you are in Connecticut please cc both Laura.Saucier@ct.gov and ctwaterbirds@gmail.com with any reports, and feel free to email us with any questions. Please include the following information with each report: Flag and band colors, location on each leg, and any alphanumeric codes on the flags. Location of sighting Date of sighting Any photo that shows the bands and/or flag Coded black, gray,...
Read MoreWinter Bird Forecast #7 – Change in Seasons Brings Plenty of Birds
The latest Winter Bird Forecast from Audubon Connecticut and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History is up at WXedge.com and focuses on the (eventual) change in season. Despite the conditions the birds of our area are already starting to migrate north to the breeding grounds, with species leaving our region and others arriving. Take a look to see what has been shifting so far, what birds are being seen and what we can soon expect.
Read MoreWildLife Guard Crew Leader Summer Job Openings
In 2014, Bridgeport, Connecticut’s Pleasure Beach reopened to the public after nearly 20 years. The barrier beach is home to the federally threatened Piping Plover and state threatened Least Tern, among other imperiled waterbirds, as well as four state endangered plant species. To ensure that these birds have the opportunity to nest successfully and to maintain the barrier beach, a rare habitat in Connecticut, Audubon Connecticut created the WildLife Guards Program. The program trains, mentors, and employs 10 local high schools students and 2 crew leaders to monitor nesting birds and...
Read More“Leaving Only Footsteps? Think Again”
Here’s an interesting opinion piece in the New York Times that details how even passive recreation can have an unexpectedly high impact on wildlife. These are all issues we as scientists have dealt with at one time or another, from how placement of trails in preserves is vital to protect certain species and the fact they create unsuitable edge habitat, how passive recreation activities like hiking can have negative impacts in the same way something like snowmobiling could (or more, as they can occur in all seasons and not just winter), and that a day at the beach disrupts birds like...
Read MorePiping Plover Record Setting Success
It is our tremendous pleasure to announce that in 2014 we helped the Connecticut population of Piping Plovers set an all-time record for the number of successfully fledged chicks at 116! Born from 51 pairs across Connecticut these young birds shattered the old state record of 101 fledged young in 2008. This is an astonishing success due to the efforts of over 400 volunteers across Connecticut and multiple partners including the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (CT DEEP), and the Audubon Alliance for...
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