Volunteers Needed for the 2010 Midwinter Bald Eagle Survey

The Wildlife Division of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection is looking for volunteers to assist with the 2010 Midwinter Bald Eagle Survey in Connecticut. The 2010 survey period target date is Saturday January 9, from 7:00 -11:00 AM.
Bald eagles migrate south from the northern states during winter to areas of open water where they are able to catch fish, their main food item. Cold weather conditions, which keep most waterways to the north covered with ice, mean that higher numbers of eagles will be counted in Connecticut.
If you would like to participate in the 2010 survey, please contact Wild- life Division biologist Julie Victoria by email only (julie.victoria@ct.gov) and provide your name and mailing address.

Pre-storm Hammonasset Bird Walk

A small group of hearty Menunkatuck members and friends braved the cold and wind ahead of the snow storm to bird Hammonasset Beach State Park on Saturday. The trip took us from the Nature Center parking lot to the jetty, the overlook and on to the moraine trail.
The list: Red-throated Loon, Common Loon, Canada Goose, American Black Duck, Mallard, Common Eider, Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, Northern Gannet, Great Cormorant, Northern Harrier, Cooper’s Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Dunlin, Ring-billed Gull, Mourning Dove, Northern Flicker, American Crow, Horned Lark, House Wren, European Starling, American Robin, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch.

Dennis, Nina (trip leader), Kelvin, Ray from California

Brumby

Missing: John

Dennis, Nina, Ann, Ray

Brumby, Daisy

Guilford Salt Meadow Sanctuary Osprey Platform

On October 25, 2009, a group of Menunkatuck members and friends installed an osprey platform in the marsh at the Guilford Salt Meadow Sanctuary. The platform was constructed by Guilford High School students Ryan and Megan as part of their capstone project.

Public Invited to Tour Former Griswold Airport Property

From the Town of Madison Board of Selectmen:

MADISON, CONN., October 12, 2009 - The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national land conservation nonprofit, recently announced that it had reached agreement to purchase 42 acres of land known as the Griswold Airport Property from Madison Landing Company, LLC, a subsidiary of Leyland Alliance, LLC. Town officials and TPL invite Madison residents to the first of two site tours of the property, to be held this Sunday, October 18th, from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. The second tour of the property is scheduled for Saturday, November 7th, from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

The tour will be structured as an "open house," with two guided walks offered at 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. The walks will be guided by Patrick Comins, Audubon Connecticut's Director of Bird Conservation, and Heather Crawford, a member of the Madison Conservation Commission.

The 42-acre property, located on the Boston Post Road, is adjacent to Hammonasset State Park and includes prime wetland habitat, upland forest, and significant frontage along the Hammonasset River. The former airport property was sold to LeylandAlliance in 2007 and permits to construct 127 units of housing on the land were subsequently granted.

The conservation goals for the property are to maintain the land as natural open space with walking trails and viewing areas along the river, with the potential to restore a portion of the grasslands to accommodate a variety of birds. On the front portion of the property, closest to the Post Road, Town officials potentially envision several recreational fields for use by Town families and possibly a small area reserved for future commercial use compatible with a park.

"TPL is delighted to bring this opportunity to the voters of Madison, and we encourage families to come out and see all that this land has to offer. Conservation experts will be on hand to discuss the conservation values of this unique property," said Alicia Betty, Project Manager for The Trust for Public Land.

Under the terms of the agreement, the property would be purchased for $9.7 million, with a closing scheduled for April 1, 2010. Also under the agreement, the town has forty-five days to decide whether or not to offer Madison voters a referendum to authorize a bond to cover $8 million of the purchase price. The Town will likely add as much as $1 million to the $8 million bond to cover demolition and renovation costs which would fund the initial conversion of the airport into a park. Such a referendum is expected later this fall.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national nonprofit organization which works with others to conserve land for people to enjoy as working landscapes, parks, gardens, and natural areas, ensuring livable communities for generations to come. TPL has protected over 6,000 acres of open space, watershed land, working farms and forestland, and historic resources in 40 communities across the state. For more information, please visit www.tpl.org/connecticut.

Other sources for more information are Stop Griswold OverDevelopment and the Save The Griswold Airport Property Facebook Group.

Photos from Save The Griswold Airport Property.

Sandy Point Bird Walk

Saturday, September 19, was a perfect day for a morning bird walk at Sandy Point in West Haven. With a cloudless sky and light winds a group of Menunkatuck members joined Nina Levenduski for a leisurely three hour walk.

Twenty-four species were seen:

Common Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, American Black Duck, Mallard, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, Black-billed Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black Backed Gull, Rock Dove, Monk Parakeet, Belted Kingfisher, European Starling, Savannah Sparrow, House Sparrow

Kestrel and Bat Houses at Hammonasset

Tom Sayers and John Picard met on Labor Day to install the two new kestrel boxes at Hammonasset Beach State Park. One kestrel box is near the reclaimed salt marsh and the other is near Pavilion #1. These two boxes will be monitored for use in the Spring, we will let you know what happens.

They also installed the new bat house on a pole that Park personnel had installed for us. The new bat pole is more than sturdy and should last for years.

Death of Tree Swallows

John Picard reports that three of the 31 tree swallow nest boxes at Hammonasset Beach State Park were repeatedly raided by house sparrows and the resident swallows killed.

House sparrows are attracted to the same sort of cavity that tree swallows are. And house sparrows are very aggressive.

John has been able to keep the deaths to a minimum with constant monitoring of the boxes. And the results over the last four year have shown increased fledge rates as shown in this spreadsheet.

As to the deaths this year, John has posted posted some pictures of the carnage. Warning: they are graphic.

Osprey Chicks Banded at Hammonasset

John Picard describes banding six osprey chicks at Hammonasset:

When Julie Victoria, Wildlife Biologist, CT DEP Wildlife Division, asked who would like to hold the first osprey chick for banding, Ed Localio didn’t hesitate even for a moment. He took two steps forward and held out his hands. And why wouldn’t he. Ed had been looking forward to this moment for months. Nearly every day since March 7, he had been monitoring the four new osprey platforms at Hammonasset Beach State Park and reporting his findings back to the Meigs Point Nature Center. 

9am: 2 osprey sitting on platform #1, one is eating a fish, looks like a flounder

10:15am: 3 osprey are flying around platform #2, not sure what is happening here, maybe a love triangle...?

Despite the ability to easily see adult osprey when they are on the platforms, it is difficult to assess from a distance how many chicks there are until they are old enough to stand up and make their presence known. Most often they stay hunkered down and try to blend in with the nest material to avoid calling attention to themselves.

So, on the morning of July 10 when Julie and Ed, accompanied by Menunkatuck Board member Shannon Scheisser, Menunkatuck Friend and volunteer Cate Nyary and I struck out into the salt marsh with a pocket full of aluminum bands and a ladder we were in eager anticipation of what we would find. The goal was to return with an empty pocket a muddy ladder and memories to last a lifetime.

Platform #1, located on Meigs Point, contained one chick which was nearly large enough to fly. Julie stated that this one could probably fly if it tried to but she wasn’t going to offer this information to the chick. Ed had his hands full with this bird. 

Platform #2, located to the east of the entrance road, midway between the entrance gate and the rotary, held three osprey chicks. All three were much smaller than the chick on Platform #1. However, they all appeared to be in good health and were just as surprised to see us as we were of them. Providing food for three chicks is a demanding task which would explain why there was a freshly caught flounder tucked in the corner of the nest, possibly set aside for a late lunch. There was also an added bonus of a barn swallow nest with four young birds in it, neatly tucked into the supporting members immediately below the platform and just above the predator baffle. The clever swallows had found a place to build a nest that would not only stay dry but is raccoon proof!

Platform #3, located behind the Camp Store, had two more osprey chicks. These two birds were sharing their nest not with a flounder, but with a assortment of braided rope, ribbons, fishing line and deflated balloons. Osprey have a habit of picking up trash to place in their nest and the results can be disastrous as the birds can sometimes become hopelessly entangled. This is yet another reason to remember to dispose of fishing line, kite string, balloons…responsibly. (In the Fall, after the osprey have fledged, we will once again visit the platforms to remove any and all trash that remains in the nest.) 

Platform #4, located near the Meigs Point Nature Center, was installed on June 13, too late for osprey nesting activity for this year. The osprey have been using this platform to perch, preen and eat their fish along with the willets that seem to like taking advantage of the platform as well. We are confident that this platform will be used by the osprey next year. Ed will be sure to keep us updated.

SWEP Grant for King/Robinson School

Nina Levenduski reports:

Menunkatuck Audubon Society has been awarded a $900 grant from the Connecticut chapter of the Society of Women Environmental Professionals (SWEP). The SWEP grant program works to provide community-based groups with funding for local projects that benefit the environment. The SWEP grant, combined with matching grants from The Audubon Shop in Madison and the Menunkatuck Birdathon, will help to support the study of science and the natural world at King/Robinson Magnet School in New Haven. The seventh and eighth grade science classroom will be provided with a spotting scope and tripod, 15 pairs of binoculars, and a digital camera compatible with the scope. The students will share their pictures and discoveries with Menunkatuck on the website and blog.

We hope the equipment will help foster a greater appreciation of science, nature and the environment among the students.

The Connecticut Society for Women Environmental Professionals is a national non-profit professional association of individuals involved or interested in environmental law, science, business and policy. Its members are attorneys, consultants, regulators, in-house environmental personnel, and academics. Membership is open to all regardless of gender.

Project Limulus Update

On Sunday night, June 7th, at 11:30 p.m., our team, consisting of myself, Ned Macomb, and my ever-willing-to-help husband, Vaughn Knowles, assembled at the Indian Cove Beaches in Guilford to count and tag spawning horseshoe crabs.  Apparently, love was in the air because we counted 44 horseshoe crabs and tagged 22 before running out of tags.  When we headed home to our beds at 1:15 a.m., wet, sandy, and elated, we agreed that a good time was had by all!

If you are interested in joining our survey team or starting your own at a different beach, please contact Judy Knowles at 203-453-9053. 

Project Limulus Training

Cindi Kobak writes:

Project Limulus has come to Guilford! Two Sacred Heart University students joined Menunkatuck volunteers on a Guilford beach at high tide one evening to train us on the proper way to tag a horseshoe crab. In the span of less than an hour, five horseshoe crabs appeared in the surf and were collected for tagging. Two were large, egg-laden females, one of which already had a smaller male clasping her. Volunteers were given tags and data sheets and will be visiting beaches over the summer months to tag and document the presence of these living fossils. For more information on Project Limulus, visit http://www.sacredheart.edu/pages/13692_project_limulus.cfm.

If you are interested in volunteering to tag horseshoe crabs in Guilford this summer, please contact Judy Knowles at 203-453-9053 or covelovers2@aol.co

Greetings

Menunkatuck is now using Blogger. Board members will be posting news about recent activities. Other Menunkatuck members and Friends who would like to contribute to the blog should e-mail webmaster@menunkatuck.org.