Bird Migration Film Epic Journeys Will Start 2014-2015 Programs

Shawn Carey

Each year millions of shorebirds make an amazing round-trip journey between the Northern and Southern hemisphere. Join us on September 10 when filmmaker Shawn Carey presents his documentary Epic Journeys which looks at three shorebird species — Red Knot, Piping Plover and Semipalmated Sandpiper—and the challenges these species face during each of their monumental annual treks.

Shawn Carey is a resident of Boston, MA and has been photographing birds and other wildlife for about 20 years. He’s been teaching wildlife photography for Mass Audubon for over 12 years.

Brian Kleinman

Taped entirely in Connecticut, Connecticut Reptiles takes viewers on a video adventure that shows the remarkable variety of the state’s native snakes, turtles, and lizard, and the natural places they inhabit. On October 8, naturalist Brian Kleinman will present his film with incredible insights into each animal’s unique adaptations, lifestyles and place in local landscapes. He will also bring some live reptiles.

On November 12 naturalists and photographers Barbara and Peter Rzasa will present Iceland’s Birds, Flowers and Wildlife, a slide show of several Icelandic flora and fauna that can be found while traveling Iceland’s 832-mile long Ring Road.

Peter Rzasa

Iceland is often called “The Land of Fire and Ice” because of the many volcanoes, glaciers and spectacular waterfalls that populate the country. The country is also a noted birder’s paradise famous for its population of Atlantic puffins, ptarmigan, arctic terns and other arctic birds found along Iceland’s 3,700 miles of coast. Reindeer, arctic fox, humpback whales and seals can frequently be seen while Icelandic horses can be found roaming the farmlands. 

Climate Change is a simple phrase used to describe an incredibly complex issue. Extensive research has identified changes in weather patterns and seasonal temperatures that are affecting ecosystems and communities from our backyards to the entire planet. The effect of climate change on birds could be significant. Saltmarsh sparrows nest just

Patrick Comins

above the high tide line and are already susceptible to spring tides flooding their nests. What would climate change-caused sea level rise mean to the survival of this species? On December 10, Heather Crawford will give us a look at the history of the Earth and human civilization, along with some simple science, so that we can better understand how we have come to our current situation and what kinds of decisions will need to be made as we move forward as stewards of our world.

Heather is an environmental educator who spent 14 years working with the Connecticut Sea Grant Extension Program and presenting programs on coastal ecosystems and land use impacts on water sources. She now chairs the Madison Conservation Commission and does freelance environmental education, including leading ecology field trips for local schools.

(Reprinted from September 2014 Newsletter.)

Citizen Science: Project FeederWatch

Project FeederWatchers are doing their part to unravel nature’s mysteries—simply by sharing information about the birds that visit their feeders from November to April. The new Project FeederWatch season begins November  10, although new participants can join at any time.

People of all ages and skill levels can be FeederWatchers and do their part to help researchers better understand trends in bird populations. Participants count the numbers and different species of birds at their feeders and enter their information on the FeederWatch website at www.FeederWatch.org.

By collecting information from all these feeders in all these back yards, scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are able to track patterns in bird populations and movement from year to year, all across North America.

Here are just a few key findings based on nearly a quarter-century of FeederWatch data:

• Populations of Evening Grosbeaks, once one of our most common backyard birds, continue to decline.
• Many species are expanding their ranges to the north, including Northern Cardinals and Anna’s Hummingbirds.
• The non-native Eurasian Collared-Dove is invading North America at an unprecedented rate – it is now found in backyards from Florida to Alaska.

To learn more about joining Project FeederWatch and to sign up, visit www.FeederWatch.org or call the Cornell Lab toll-free at (866) 989-2473. In return for the $15 fee ($12 for Cornell Lab members) participants receive the FeederWatcher’s Handbook, an identification poster of the most common feeder birds, a calendar, complete instructions, and Winter Bird Highlights, an annual summary of FeederWatch findings. (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

Purple martins and tree swallows have another year of successful breeding

Stringent monitoring of the purple martin and tree swallow nest boxes at Hammonasset Beach State Park continue to pay dividends with the number of young birds fledging increasing once again.

For the first year all 31 tree swallow boxes were occupied with swallow pairs producing eggs. After five years of increases the number of fledglings fell slightly last summer. This year there was a 27% increase over last, with 151 tree swallows fledging.

Top line - number of laid
Bottom line - number of fledglings

Purple martins were just as successful. For the fifth straight year, the number of nesting pairs, eggs laid, and fledglings increased. Forty-four of the 48 compartments in the four martin houses were occupied, an astonishing 230 eggs were laid, and the adult martins were able to successfully raise 180 fledglings.

Top line - number of laid
Bottom line - number of fledglings

Again this year DEEP wildlife biologists spent one July morning banding the young purple martins. Using silver Federal numbered bands and colony-specific colored bands, one hundred fifty-seven young were weighed, aged, and banded. Twenty other martins were either too young or too old for banding.

Derrick Hendy (third from left), Assistant Warden at the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize, participated in the DEEP banding. He spent two months at Audubon Sharon learning banding, bird census, and other monitoring techniques to be used in his staff position with Belize Audubon. The training program is part of Audubon’s International Alliances Program.
More photos of the banding.

John Picard, Menunkatuck Vice-president and Conservation Chair, is responsible for the increase in fledgling success rates. He keeps the nest boxes closed until a number of tree swallows and purple martins have arrived from their winter homes. Neither bird begins nesting when they arrive, sometimes waiting a week or longer. When the birds start to show nesting behavior John opens the nest boxes. He continues to monitor them during nest building and evicts any house sparrows that might try to compete with the swallows and martins. After the birds have laid eggs, John still monitors the boxes – house sparrows can continue to be a problem. The results of John’s persistent monitoring are evident.

With the increased number of purple martins nesting at Hammonasset, Menunkatuck plans to install a fifth purple martin house at the Chase (Swan) Pond colony in Spring, 2013, in time for next year’s breeding season.

Marine Conservation E-Atlas Launched

BirdLife International has launched the first global inventory of important sites for the conservation of migratory  marine species. The new e-Atlas covers 3,000 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) worldwide. It is the result of six years of effort that, to date, has involved the world’s leading seabird scientists in collaboration with government departments of conservation, environment and fisheries, and the secretariats of several international bird conservation conventions. The e-Atlas provides essential information for conservation practitioners and policy makers; for energy sector planners (windfarms, gas and oil exploration and drilling); for fisheries managers; for marine pollution management planners; and for the insurance industry. Like a Google Map, the e-Atlas will be dynamically updated as new sites are identified and new data about them become available. It will be linked to other BirdLife data resources, including BirdLife’s species accounts, IBA fact sheets and State of the World’s Birds case studies. Experience the IBA e-Atlas at www.birdlife.org/datazone/marine. News release about the Marine IBA e-Atlas: http://chapterservices.audubon.org/news-announcements#marine

Citizen Science: Neotropical Migrant Survey

USFWS

Once again Audubon Connecticut is seeking citizen scientists (volunteer birdwatchers) to participate in surveys of Neotropical migrant songbirds during fall migration, one morning per week from August 20 through October 20, 2012. Volunteers should have strong bird identification skills and at least a basic ability to identify common plants. Our priority sites for the surveys are coastal sites from Greenwich to New London as well as sites in the greater Hartford area, but people interested in conducting the surveys at other sites in Connecticut are welcome to participate as well. To volunteer or for more information, contact Lori Mott at zoogirl527@gmail.com.

The songbird surveys are part of Audubon’s new Habitat Oases for Migrating Songbirds program, which seeks to identify, improve and conserve important stop-over habitat for migrating songbirds all along the Atlantic migratory flyway, focusing on urban areas and other landscapes where there is limited quality habitat.

The program, performed in collaboration with Audubon chapters, botanical gardens, state and municipal parks departments, and other groups, engages citizen scientists in migratory songbird surveys of urban green spaces and rural forest remnants. The surveys help us to determine the characteristics of high quality stop-over habitat and which species of plants are most beneficial as food sources for migrating songbirds. Audubon and its partners are using the results of this study to:  

• Promote the protection of critical stop-over habitats by helping government agencies, corporations, land trusts, and other landowners make informed land use and land protection decisions
• Improve the quality of public and private lands as stop-over habitat for migrating birds by guiding the management and landscaping practices of natural resource managers, private landowners and professional landscapers
• Develop regionally-specific lists of “bird-friendly” native plants that may be used to guide landscaping practices in parks, gardens and backyards.

Menunkatuck has received two grants for kestrel restoration in Connecticut.

Menunkatuck has received two grants for kestrel restoration in Connecticut.

Audubon Connecticut Grant is for $1550

Audubon Connecticut awarded us $1550 for kestrel next boxes and baffles for the mounting poles. We’ve partnered with Tom Sayers and the Northeast Connecticut Kestrel Project on his project to rebuild the nesting population of American kestrels in Connecticut.

Tom’s 55 kestrel boxes are not protected from climbing predators. This Audubon grant will provide for raccoon baffles for the boxes. Additionally, ten new kestrel boxes will be built and installed in the Menunkatuck Chapter area. The grant will be matched with funds from the generous contributions of our members. 

The American kestrel, a robin-sized falcon, was listed as “threatened on Connecticut's Endangered, Threatened, and Special Concern Species List in 2004, primarily due to a lack of information, coupled with a perceived decline in nesting and migrating numbers and diminishing habitat.” (CT DEEP)

About five years ago, Tom Sayers created the Northeast Connecticut Kestrel Project (NECKP) nest box program in northeastern Connecticut. The research shows that the single greatest factor in helping improve kestrel numbers are well run nest box projects tailored specifically for this species.

EPOC Awards $3960

The Environmental Professionals’ Organization of Connecticut (EPOC) awarded us $3960 for radio tracking Tom’s kestrels.

At approximately 15 days old, all young birds are banded with federal metal leg bands which they wear for life. If those birds are recovered on either their northern breeding grounds or southern wintering grounds (through netting programs, found dead, etc.) their bands can be traced back to the original banding site, yielding very important data about their movements throughout the year. 

But leg band recovery rates are typically only 1-2%, yielding very small data sets. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has shown a great deal of interest in Tom’s work, but the limited data from the project to date has only been marginally useful in helping direct their efforts towards better land management practices for this species throughout the state.

Tom is determined to improve the quality and quantity of data which his program is generating to help improve management practices aimed at helping this species. Currently, it is not known where the young birds immediately disperse to or how far they go while still in Connecticut or if the birds returning to the boxes in the spring are the same adults from the previous year, other adults new to the area, or previously fledged young birds from that box or some other box in the study area. 

Radio telemetry can provide the answers to these questions and a myriad of others. Basically, the young birds are fitted with transmitters which are then monitored by following them in the study area, and beyond, with a handheld receiver. Getting accurate data on their post-breeding dispersal patterns and site fidelity (which birds are actually occupying the boxes the next spring) is immensely important when making management decisions about land use, the direction, literally and figuratively, that expanded nest box projects should take, and where new nest box projects should be established.

In addition, there are two other university and grant-funded kestrel researchers on the east coast who will be starting up their first ever radio telemetry work with kestrels in the upcoming season to help answer exactly the same research questions referred to earlier. Hawk Mountain, a nationally renowned raptor research center in Pennsylvania, has asked Connecticut to coordinate telemetry work with them as they move forward with their inaugural telemetry work in the upcoming season. To be able to compare/analyze telemetry data sets from three different east coast projects would allow researchers to make great strides in answering some of the questions that need to be answered for more effective conservation and management decisions regarding this threatened species.

The EPOC grant will provide for the purchase of 20 light-weight radio transmitters that will be fixed on the birds’ backs. Using telemetry equipment (antennas and receivers), Tom and DEEP and university researchers will be able to track the movement of the kestrels both in Connecticut and as they migrate.

Audubon Connecticut—an operating unit of the National Audubon Society—is one of Connecticut's premier conservation and environmental education organizations. Its top-notch staff of seasoned professionals works hard to carry out the Audubon mission within the state—protecting birds, other wildlife and their habitats through education, research, advocacy and land protection.

EPOC represent the interests of Connecticut's Licensed Environmental Professionals (LEPs) by providing information, training and updates regarding the LEP program in Connecticut. EPOC welcomes the participation of all members in our activities and recognizes the strength of drawing on a membership of diverse careers, interests and backgrounds.

The EPOC Grant Program provides non-profit and not-for-profit environmental advocacy groups, community based groups and environmental education organizations, funding for local projects that benefit the environment on an annual basis. This year they awarded a total of $9020.

Photos: Tom Sayers

New Haven Breeding Bird Atlas

Audubon Connecticut, with support from the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, is looking for volunteers to participate in the third season of the New Haven Pilot Breeding Bird Atlas program. All levels of birders are welcome. Training is scheduled for May 21st at 10:00 am or 6:30 in the evening at the Bent of the River Audubon Center in Southbury, Connecticut (map). Training is not mandatory but is suggested. 

Volunteers will be asked to conduct surveys between May 25th and July 1st. We ask that volunteers visit a site two mornings during this period. The sites are located in the greater New Haven area from Milford to Madison and stretching inland as far as Cheshire.

Volunteers can survey a spot that they have been meaning to visit, a site close to home or even a site that is not usually open to the public. This is a great excuse for a walk in nature. Do something you enjoy and help birds too. To participate or for more information please contact Kim Anglace at KEA316@gmail.com.

Film Screenings: Unnatural History of the Kakapo, Ghost Bird

The Unnatural History of the Kakapo

Sunday, March 25, 2012, 2 p.m.

Blackstone Library, Branford

This is a story about a family living with a terrible curse. Adults are plagued by infertility and the young are vulnerable to disease. But this family is no stranger to adversity; they are a family of kakapo. Once thought extinct, they’re now the world’s rarest and strangest wild parrot.

Today there’s only one breeding population left in the entire world and the normally guarded conservation project that protects it has opened its doors and given a documentary maker unprecedented access to the Kakapo Recovery Program. The timing is perfect, modern science thinks they’ve uncovered the reason behind the curse and the recovery team think they’ve found a way to lift it.

With the help of a Spanish avian artificial insemination expert, some old men and a team of dedicated conservationists and rangers, a cure is almost within reach. But the battle to save the kakapo is far from over and the kakapo themselves still have a hand to play.

Ghost Bird 

Sunday, April 22, 2012, 2 p.m.

Blackstone Library, Branford

Set in a murky swamp overrun with birders, scientists, and reporters, Ghost Bird explores the limits of certainty, the seductive power of hope, and how one phantom woodpecker changed a sleepy Southern town forever.

In 2005, scientists announced that the Ivory-billed woodpecker, a species thought to be extinct for 60 years, had been found in the swamps of Eastern Arkansas. Now six years later, the woodpecker remains as elusive as ever. Ghost Bird brings the Ivory-bill’s blurry rediscovery into focus revealing our uneasy relationship with nature and the increasing uncertainty of our place within it.

Ghost Bird is being screened again because the December showing was suspended due to a flawed DVD. 

These films are cosponsored by Audubon Connecticut.

(From the March 2012 Newsletter)

A Plant Sale for the Birds

The excitement created by our recent project of planting native trees and shrubs at the Guilford Salt Meadows Sanctuary has not worn off. We’d like to share our experience with our members and the public, so next spring Menunkatuck Audubon will hold a plant sale.

And not just any plant sale. In an effort to discourage the continued planting and spread of invasive garden species, and to promote native plants that provide valuable food for birds, Menunkatuck will offer several native trees and shrubs that produce delicious fruits for some of our much loved birds.

Shadbush Serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) blooms in early spring with a profusion of small white flowers. This tree is adaptable to a wide variety of habitats, from wet swampy areas to dry uplands. Shadbush, or shadblow or Juneberry, grows from 10 to 20 feet tall and flowers best in full sun. It suckers quite freely. The hard red fruits ripen in June, providing an early summer feast for many species of birds, including scarlet tanager, rose-breasted grosbeak, American robin, hermit thrush, red-bellied woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, tufted titmouse, cedar waxwing, blue jay, and gray catbird. 

Red Chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) is a hardy shrub that grows to about 8 feet in height, and half that in width. It can tolerate both wet and dry soils.  Full sun produces the most fruit. Nice leaf color in the fall. It has small white flowers that produce clusters of bright red berries later in the summer that attract several birds, including wild turkey, black-capped chickadee, eastern meadowlark, and cedar waxwing. 

Silky Dogwood (Cornus amomum)  is a multi-stemmed tree with a rounded growth habit, growing to about 10 feet tall and wide. Umbels of creamy white flowers bloom in late spring, with deep blue clusters of fruits in the summer.  Likes moist soils and is a good plant to use on wet sites for mass border plantings. The fruits attract many birds, including wood duck, wild turkey, northern flicker, downy woodpecker, gray catbird, thrushes, northern mockingbird, and northern cardinal.  

Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea) is a shrub dogwood with a multi-stem habit and grows to 10 feet or more.  Umbels of white flowers bloom in late spring. The late summer fruit are round white drupes that can be quite spectacular.  The stems turn a brilliant scarlet red in the winter, dramatic against snow cover. This dogwood likes moist soil and is an excellent plant to use for stream bank stabilization. Adaptable to other soil types as well. Birds attracted to the fruit include wild turkey, northern flicker, downy woodpecker, brown thrasher, eastern bluebird, purple finch, and white-throated sparrow. 

Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) ‘Jolly Red’ can grow 10 to 15 feet in height. Its tiny white flowers bloom in June; you’ll need at least one male plant to pollinate the female plants to produce berries. Unlike other hollies, the dark green leaves are deciduous and its bright red berries crowd its bare winter stems, making a spectacular show. Winterberry is a plant of wet areas, but will do reasonably well under dry conditions.  Acid soil is preferable, and full sun will produce the most berries. It is a favorite of many bird species including American robin, hermit thrush, eastern bluebird, yellow-bellied sapsucker, and white-throated sparrow. 

Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)  is a twining vine with round to oval leaves.  The lovely, tubular flowers make quite a show in late spring to early summer and are a favorite of ruby-throated hummingbirds. Prefers well-drained neutral soil. Encourage vine to climb a trellis or other support. Two varieties available: ‘Alabama Crimson’ blooms are darker red than usual type; ‘Manifich’ is orange with a clear yellow throat.  

Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium - myrtilloides) is a wonderful little groundcover that is not too fussy as to soil type.  Grows to about 18 inches tall, with shiny leaves. White urn-shaped flowers in early summer produce small blueberries in August. Birds known to enjoy the bonanza include wild turkey, scarlet tanager, American robin, eastern bluebird, northern flicker, gray catbird, blue jay, and orioles.

Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) is a 6 to 8 foot shrub with glossy leaves that turn spectacular colors in the fall, including dark mahogany. Though it grows in dry, open fields, it is happiest in wet, boggy areas where soil is peaty and acidic. White urn-shaped flowers in early summer produce delicious berries in mid-summer that are loved by wild turkey, scarlet tanager, most thrush species, black-capped chickadee, tufted titmouse, gray catbird, blue jay, eastern towhee, and orioles. 

Possumhaw  Viburnum (Viburnum cassinoides/nudum), aka Witherod, grows about 8 to 10 feet in height and produces flat-topped clusters of small white flowers in early summer. Its fruits turn from green to pink with purple centers as summer progresses. Peaty damp soil is preferred; it can grow along the edge of ponds in very wet conditions. Also adaptable to drier soils.Wild turkey, brown thrasher, American robin, eastern bluebird, northern cardinal, pileated woodpecker, and cedar waxwing eat the fruits.

Cranberrybush Viburnum (Viburnum trilobum) ‘Wentworth’ grown in full sun can be quite spectacular when in bloom with its showy white 3 to 4 inch wide flower clusters.  This large shrub grows 8 to 10 feet in height with a spread of about the same.  It has three lobed, shiny leaves and likes moist soil with good drainage.  Bright red fruit clusters mature in September and can hang on the plant into the winter, providing food for wild turkey, various thrushes, cedar waxwing, and northern cardinal.  

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Though many of these plants grow in the understory in the wild, all will produce more flowers and fruit when grown in full sun.

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Watch for the native plant sale brochure in March.

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Images: Hermit thrush - beidlerforest.blogspot.com/, fruits -  www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/.

King/Robinson Students Experience Raptors from A Place Called Hope

The students at King/Robinson Magnet School in New Haven experienced live raptors from A Place Called Hope Raptor Rehabilitators today. In two programs, one for the Pre-K to Grade 4 students and the other for the Grade 5 to Grade 8 students, Christine Cummings and Todd Secki brought out five birds of prey.

An eastern screech owl and a great horned owl were the birds used to describe the unique features of owls. A red-tailed hawk and a broad-winged hawk showed the similarities and differences between the largest and one of the smallest hawks found in Connecticut.

The upper level students also got to see a barn owl in its second performance since coming to A Place Called Hope. The barn owl showed little of the shyness that Christine and Todd thought it might and gave the students a good show.

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.

Baby Willets Rescued

Menunkatuck member John Pfitzner was at the right place at the right time to rescue a pair of baby willets last week. Greg Hanisek chronicled the event:

The baby Willets were about to become a meal if they didn’t get squashed first. But John Pfitzner had other ideas. John was driving on Route 1 near Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison when he saw the small chicks out in the open, exposed and eyed up by some hungry crows. They were trying to cross Route 1, which presented its own perils, but John was able to collect them in a bucket, as shown in his photograph here. He saw their parents land in a field at the former Griswold Airport Property next to Hammo, so he deposited the little ones near the place where the adult birds landed.