The Atlantic Flyway

Eastern Tree Swallows follow the Atlantic Flyway to their wintering grounds in Florida, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean.

From the Canadian Maritimes and northern New England the swallows will leave their breeding grounds and form loose flocks in the tens and twenties. These flocks join together to form ever larger groups. And in Connecticut they stop to rest and refuel before going on. Goose Island in the lower Connecticut River can have hundreds of thousands of swallows roosting at night. They spend several days flying as many as 50 miles away to northern and western Connecticut and to Long Island to feed on insects and berries, returning to Goose Island each evening to roost in the safety of the numbers.

Each day some of the Tree Swallows will leave the group and be replaced by ones from farther north. As the Tree Swallows migrate farther south they continue to stop in reed beds every 100 miles or so, roosting together at night and foraging separately during the day.

(Reprinted from September 2014 Newsletter.)

The Atlantic Flyway

Saving Important Bird Areas

Audubon’s Important Bird Areas (IBA) Program is a global effort to identify and protect habitat that will protect sustainable populations of birds. The IBA Program is built around an adaptable, science-based blueprint that allows Audubon and other conservation partners to make sound conservation decisions in the face of considerable uncertainty from the changing climate, the economy, and gaps in our knowledge of the abundance and distribution of our highest priority species.

Breeding roseate terns are the principal reason for Falkner Island’s IBA status. (Patrick Comins)

Connecticut’s IBA Program strives to complement the conservation programs of our state, federal, and non-profit partners. By connecting people with nature, working with land stewards to develop conservation strategies, and supporting implementation of these plans at a local level, the IBA Program fills an important niche in statewide conservation efforts by working to protect areas that aren’t easily protected under other conservation programs.

Connecticut currently has 27 publicly announced IBAs and is working to announce additional sites in the future. IBAs in the Menunkatuck Chapter area are East Rock Park, New Haven; Falkner Island Unit of McKinney NWR, Guilford; Hammonasset Beach State Park, Madison; Lighthouse Point Park, New Haven; Quinnipiac River Tidal Marsh, North Haven, New Haven, Hamden; and Sandy Point, West Haven. Several other sites are under review as additional IBAs.

(From the July 2014 Newsletter.)

The Atlantic Flyway

Putting Working Lands to Work for Birds & People

Audubon Connecticut’s Forest Bird Initiative is integrating science, education, public policy, and land management expertise to ensure the continual existence of high-quality breeding habitat for forest songbirds along the Atlantic Flyway. One of the primary ways to achieve this goal is to collaborate with and provide technical assistance for landowners, land managers, and communities who wish to protect and enhance habitat for breeding forest birds on the properties they own and/or manage.

One way to do this is with a Habitat Assessment, an ecological census of current songbird and forest habitat conditions on the property conducted by an Audubon conservation biologist and a Certified Forester from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.

Following the field inventory, the information from the inventory is put into a written report along with management options and considerations aimed at enhancing, maintaining, and/or creating quality habitat on the property.

A more thorough bird survey on the property which supplements the written report and increases our collective knowledge of forest bird species distribution in Connecticut may be done on the property.

For additional information about Habitat Assessment, visit ct.audubon.org/forest-birds or email Corrie Folsom-O’Keefe (cfolsom-okeefe@audubon.org) or Patrick Comins (pcomins@audubon.org).

(From the May, 2014 newsletter.)

The Atlantic Flyway

Corrie Folsom-O’Keefe, Audubon Connecticut’s IBA Coordinator, reports on wintering shorebirds in the Bahamas

In Connecticut, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began monitoring Piping Plovers in 1986 when the species first received protection under the Endangered Species Act. The CT DEEP Wildlife Division added their expertise with the passing of the Connecticut Endangered Species Act in 1989. The Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds joined the USFWS and the Wildlife Division and with the help of an amazing group of volunteers have been stewarding Piping Plovers and other beach-nesting birds along the Connecticut shoreline since 2012. Working together, staff, field technicians, and volunteers exclose nests, protecting them from predators; put up string fencing to reduce disturbance in nesting areas; and engage beachgoers and municipalities about beach-nesting species, the threats they face, and how to help. Through these efforts, the number of pairs of Piping Plover nesting in the state has slowly increased.

Protecting Piping Plover on their nesting grounds is very important to species recovery, but we also need to think about the species and the habitat it uses during migration and over the winter. Until very recently little was known about the locations used by Piping Plover in winter. The 2006 discovery of 400 Piping Plovers in the Bahamas by Audubon and the Bahamas National Trust triggered a closer look at the nation’s 700 islands and roughly 2,000 cays. During a 2011 census, researchers found over 1,000 Piping Plovers--perhaps 20% of the entire Atlantic Coast population--concentrated in one small cluster of Bahamian islands--Andros Island, the Joulter Cays (now a globally Important Bird Area), and the Berry Islands. The census filled in a huge gap in our understanding of these engaging and imperiled birds.

In January I joined National Audubon Society staff from along the Atlantic Flyway pitching in to locate additional sites important to Piping Plover and other shorebirds in the Bahamas. Traveling by flat bottom skiffs and on foot we inventoried shorebirds and other waterbirds on mudflats and along the edges of mangrove islands. 

Over the course of the five days we spend in East Grand Bahama, we were able to locate 526 Short-billed Dowitcher (possibly enough to qualify the area as a continentally Important Bird Area), 276 Least Sandpipers, 148 Semipalmated Plover, 50 Sanderling, approximately 75 Black-bellied Plover, 20 Ruddy Turnstone, 12 American Oystercatchers, between 7-14 Piping Plover, and 6 Wilson’s Plover.

The data not only increases our knowledge of shorebird wintering habitat but also will be used by the Bahamas National Trust to determine whether the area should be designated as a National Park. 

Surveying for shorebirds on their wintering grounds in East Grand Bahama was an awesome opportunity and I look forward to sharing my stories while on the beaches of Connecticut this summer.

(A longer version of this report is at goo.gl/1qnkfA.)

(Corrie will be at the March public meeting recruiting volunteers to assist with summer shorebird monitoring and spread the word about the Forest Bird Habitat Assessments that Audubon will be offering for landowners.)

(From the March, 2014 newsletter.)

The Atlantic Flyway

Urban Oasis Program

Even tiny patches of woods in urban areas seem to provide adequate food and protection for some species of migrating birds as they fly between wintering and breeding grounds, new research from Ohio State University has found.

The results are important because, with the expansion of cities worldwide, migrating landbirds increasingly must pass through vast urban areas which offer very little of the forest habitats on which many species rely.

Birds in the study seemed to be finding enough food in even the smaller urban habitats to refuel and continue their journey,

The results point to the value of Audubon’s Urban Oasis program and its implementation in New Haven as part of the New Haven Harbor Watershed Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership. The habitat enhancements in Beaver Pond, West River Memorial, Dover Beach, and East Shore Parks and the promise of future native species planting, as well as the plans to assist homeowners in converting yards to wildlife habitat will improve the opportunities of migrating birds to find areas to rest and refuel.

And as one of only four Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnerships, New Haven can serve as a model for other cities along the Atlantic Flyway to create their own urban oases.

(More details in the Ohio State Research can be found at http://goo.gl/kr0Ewy.)

(From the January 2014 newsletter.)

The Atlantic Flyway

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed listing the rufa red knot (Calidris canutus rufa) as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. 

The rufa red knot is an extraordinary bird that each year migrates thousands of miles from the Arctic to the tip of South America and back, but – like many shorebirds – it is vulnerable to climate and other environmental changes,. In some areas, knot populations have declined by about 75 percent since the 1980s, with the steepest declines happening after 2000.

Service biologists determined that the knot meets the definition of threatened, meaning it is likely to become in danger of extinction in the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. The knot uses spring and fall stopover areas along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Changing climate conditions are already affecting the bird’s food supply, the timing of its migration, and its breeding habitat in the Arctic.

A primary factor in the recent decline of the species was reduced food supplies in Delaware Bay due to commercial harvest of horseshoe crabs. In 2012, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission adopted a management plan that explicitly ties horseshoe crab harvest levels along the Atlantic Coast to knot recovery targets.

Audubon has listed the red knot as one of 83 priority species that are the targets of it conservation strategies.

The PBS Nature episode Crash: A Tale of Two Species explores the fragile connection between horseshoe crabs and red knots. Watch it online at goo.gl/LvkKS9.

(From the November, 2013 Newsletter)

The Atlantic Flyway

As birds continue their migration along the Atlantic Flyway from their northern breeding grounds to their wintering areas in the Caribbean, and Central and South America, Audubon Connecticut’s Director of Bird Conservation Patrick Comins reminds us about the value documenting where shorebirds gather to feed and rest.

It would be helpful to document migrant shorebird usage in the state. Many of our shorebirds continue to decline at disturbing levels and the better we understand stopover foraging areas, high tide roosts, and other habitats that may be essential for them in migration, the better we can protect the places that are important to them. There is a easy way you can help, simply eBird your sightings and share them with ctwaterbirds@gmail.com.

It is important to track big concentrations areas for any migrants, but of particular concern are Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, and of course the few Red Knots that find themselves on the habitat limited coast of Connecticut and any concentrations of migrant Piping Plovers.

Dunlin - Terry Shaw

This only covers the globally threatened and candidate species, but American Oystercatcher, Solitary Sandpiper, Upland Sandpiper, Whimbrel, both godwits, Purple Sandpiper, Dunlin and Short-billed Dowitcher are all considered “Birds of Conservation Concern” by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Please keep in mind that these birds are on a tight energy budget and are of serious conservation concern, so please take care to avoid flushing them in the course of counts, and thank you for your help!

(From the September 2013 newsletter)

The Atlantic Flyway - Long Island Sound

Preserving And Restoring Long Island Sound is an important part of Audubon’s Saving Important Bird Areas conservation strategy for the Atlantic Flyway.

Species: Saltmarsh Sparrow, Roseate Tern, Piping Plover, and other shorebirds

Habitat: Long Island Sound 

Our Work: Roughly 10 percent of the U.S. population lives within 50 miles of Long Island Sound. A vital resource for birds and people alike, this rich estuary faces intense development pressure and recreational and commercial demands. Audubon is leading an ambitious effort to improve water quality, restore vital habitats, and promote biodiversity.

Conservation Impact: National Audubon policy staff joined forces with Audubon Connecticut and Audubon New York to rally federal, state, and local lawmakers as well as other stakeholders to endorse Sound Vision, a two-year action plan to protect and restore the Sound. Developed by the Long Island Sound Citizens Advisory Committee, the plan combines new and existing restoration projects with unified legislative efforts. Science plays a key role in Audubon’s work to protect and restore the Sound.

Conservation Outlook: Audubon national and state staff, Chapters, activists, and volunteers will continue working to reduce pollution and protect and restore habitat in this vital ecosystem.

Photo: Patrick Comins

Excerpted for the Audubon Strategic Plan 2012-2015

(From the May 2013 newsletter)

The Atlantic Flyway

Roughly 10 percent of Americans live within 50 miles of Long Island Sound.  As part of the Atlantic Flyway Saving Important Bird Areas strategy Audubon is leading an ambitious effort to restore the Sound’s health in a way that supports populations of priority waterbirds and shorebirds while balancing the needs of nature and people. 

Sound Vision, a two-year action plan to protect and restore the Sound developed by the Long Island Sound Citizens Advisory Committee, combines restoration projects with unified legislative efforts. Science plays a key role in Audubon’s efforts in the Sound, exemplified by Audubon Connecticut’s work to assess breeding success and identify optimal nesting locations that will ultimately benefit American Oystercatchers, Piping Plovers, Saltmarsh Sparrows, Roseate Terns, and other priority bird species.

(From the March 2013 Newsletter)

The Atlantic Flyway

On the Wing From Labrador to Tierra del Fuego the Atlantic Flyway encompasses some of the hemisphere’s most productive ecosystems, including forests, beaches, and coastal wetlands. From the northern Atlantic coast and through the Caribbean to South America, Audubon is working to support this avian superhighway’s 500-plus bird species and millions of individual birds.

Forty percent of the Atlantic Flyway’s bird species are species of conservation need. These include the wood thrush, the most widespread of our eastern forest neotropical migratory species, whose population has been reduced by half in the past 40 years. With only one-tenth of the U.S. landmass, this flyway is home to one-third of the nation’s people. And dense population carries with it many challenges for birds and habitat: development and sprawl, incompatible agriculture, overfishing, and climate change.