Menunkatuck Joins in Fishing Line Recycling Program

Menunkatuck has installed these cool fishing line recycling bins at several locations within our chapter area. Please deposit all fishing line you use (or find) into these bins to protect birds and other wildlife from entanglement. The bins will be emptied and the fishing line collected to be recycled by the following volunteers and town/state staff.

• Guilford Town Marina - maintained by marina staff
• Lake Quonnipaug boat launch, Guilford - maintained by Lorrie Shaw and Cindi Kobak
• Hammonasset Beach State Park, Madison (5 locations within the park) - maintained by park staff
• Madison/Guilford boat launch off Neck Road – maintained by Bob Kuchta

We plan to install several more recycling bins in the future at fishing sites in Branford and West Haven. If you know of an appropriate site and would like to volunteer to maintain a bin, please contact Cindi Kobak at program@menunkatuck.org.

Menunkatuck Supports ‘Adopt a Book’ in Guilford

The Guilford Library recently put out the call seeking donations toward the purchase of new books for their children’s room. Menunkatuck Audubon answered that call to ‘Adopt a Book.’ Working with Suellen Heinrich at the library, we chose ten nature-related books to donate:

• Backyard Birds – Peterson Field Guide
• Birds of Prey – Peterson Field Guide
• Bring On the Birds – Susan Stockdale
• Can We Save the Tiger? – Martin Jenkins
• Frog In a Bog – John Himmelman
• Hatch – Roxie Munroe
• Olivia’s Birds – Saving the Gulf – Olivia Bouler
• Roscoe and the Pelican Rescue – Lynn Reed
• Summer Birds: The Butterflies of Maria Merian – Margarita Engle
• Thunder Birds – Nature’s Flying Predators – Jim Aronsky

Book plates will be placed in each of these books with the Menunkatuck Audubon Society named as donor. Share them with a favorite kid this summer when you visit the Guilford Library.

Thank you to our members, whose support made this donation possible.

New Birders’ Log Box at Hammonasset

Thanks to board member, John Picard, Menunkatuck has a beautiful new wooden box to store our Birders’ Log, newsletters, and our revised Birds of Hammonasset State Park Checklist. (Grateful thanks to Frank Gallo for working with us to revise the list, which now includes all 328 species of birds seen in the park.)

Publish Post

Please remember to record your bird sightings in the log after birding in the park. Birders can check the list to find what has been seen in the park recently, and to know where to look. The records are compiled at the end of the year and sent to Audubon CT and the CT Ornithological Association.

Happy birding.

Project Limulus Update: They're back!

A group of 12 Project Limulus volunteers met at Indian Cove on Sunday night,May 15th., at 9:40 and the crabs were finally there. We counted 6 during the actual survey but we were able to tag a total of 17. Sixteen crabs were tagged at the public beach and 1 was tagged at the private beach.

We are doing the survey by simple count now rather than dividing the beach into quadrats as we did during the last 2 years. We just walk through the water along the length of the beach, from the water's edge to 3 meters out, and tally single males, single females, pairs, and females with 2 or more males. After completing the survey we tag, tag, tag! Mark Beekey and Jennifer Mattei ( Sacred Heart profs in charge of the study ) decided to change the protocol for beaches measuring under 150 meters. It is much quicker and doesn't require as many people. It felt great to be out there again, getting up close and personal with the horseshoe crabs! We are hoping to count and tag many more crabs over the next few weeks now that their spawning season is under way.