2015 Waterbird Results
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Wildlife Division (CT DEEP) has now released the official nesting results for the state-threatened Least Tern and the federally-threatened Piping Plover from the 2015 monitoring season, and the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds (AAfCW) – Audubon Connecticut and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History – has completed our American Oystercatcher report. The first bit of fantastic news is that we hosted a new all-time high number of Piping Plover pairs in the state with 62 attempting to breed...
Read MoreExposed Nest
The onset of winter always exposes other parts of nature that we may have missed earlier in the year. In this case this looks to possibly be a Baltimore Oriole nest on a tree near a pond. I visited this spot a few times during what would have been the breeding season, but I did not notice them way up there among the leaves. I wonder how successful they were and if all of their nestlings made it out into the world. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreTom Turkey
Are you all turkey’d out? It really is spectacular to think about how many Wild Turkeys have retaken their former territory in the Northeast thanks to reintroduction programs and proper management. A bird that was extirpated from Connecticut when I was a child – and I am 30 now – has been flourishing for half of my life across the state, with similar success all throughout its former range. It is a success story so recent but so incredibly effective that we gloss over it more than we should. This victory is but one of many possible if multiple organizations and groups of...
Read MoreAutumn in the sky
Here’s one view of Long Island Sound last night as vivid autumn colors took over the sky. The Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds had a wonderfully successful season and on Wednesday we put out some additional numbers and information in the AAfCW blog: http://ctwaterbirds.blogspot.com/2014/09/preliminary-aafcw-2014-stats.html
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