By Anne W. Semmes
Sentinel Columnist
There’s a riveting photograph of fragile Saltmarsh Sparrow nestlings being swamped by a tidal flooding event in the new 34-page Connecticut State of the Birds 2016 report. “Gains, Losses and the Prospect of Extinction.” The photograph tells the story that “given the current rate of seal level rise,” when “virtually all of our coastal marshes will flood” the Saltmarsh Sparrow will be extinct in 50 years – the first bird to do so in the continental U.S. since the Heath Hen went extinct in 1931.
Climate change with its global warming bringing rising sea levels is perhaps the report’s biggest message, posing the biggest challenge to our birds, says Patrick Comins, one of the seven authors of the report published by the Connecticut Audubon Society.
Comins, who wrote on “Vulnerable Coastal Birds Waning” is Director of Bird Conservation for Audubon Connecticut. But Comins brings good news about American Oystercatchers that are nesting on Great Captain’s Island. In Connecticut, he says, “They are producing more than one chick per pair,” thanks to volunteer efforts of monitoring and protecting their nesting beaches along our shoreline.
Birds of global conservation concern have now increased to a dozen, adding the three from the 2015 report: Saltmarsh sparrows, Piping Plovers, and Cerulean Warbler, to nine more: Common Eider, Black Scouter, Long-tailed Duck, Horned Grebe, King Rail, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandiper, Red Knot and Razor Bill.
Even the Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets seen so prevalently here are of concern says Comins. “Great Captains is one of the three most important nesting areas in Connecticut for the state-threatened Great and Snowy Egrets. These majestic birds are colonial nesters, meaning that they nest together in large groups. They only nest on offshore islands in Long Island Sound and a handful of islands support the entire nesting population. Any egret you see along the coast or rivers of Greenwich is likely to be nesting on Great Captains Island and only traveling to the shore to find food to feed their quickly growing chicks.”
Regarding those Piping Plovers listed, Ted Gilman of Audubon Greenwich points to the rare sightings. “I saw two Piping Plovers at Greenwich Point at the north end of the swimming beach mid-month this past August. To the best of my recollection, those were the only Piping Plover I have ever seen there,” but he adds, “Hopefully they are an indication of the improvement in breeding success farther down east along the Connecticut shoreline.”
Similar Plover findings from Cynthia Ehlinger, who does the First Sunday Bird Walk at Greenwich Point and is heading up the Christmas Bird Count this year. “I sometimes find one or two stop by in May and June on the sandy beach that they desire that is so attractive to people as well. They generally do not stay long since the tides and busy beach make it such a changeable habitat. There is simply not enough undisturbed sandy beach here… or in most places.”
But Ehlinger has regularly sighted Semipalmated Sandpipers from May through August. “The numbers fluctuate dramatically from a few to flocks of 40 or 50 stopping or flying by over the Sound,” she says. “They are usually found near the water on mudflats in the tidal pools, Greenwich Cove, and beach and along the Sound. None are breeding here to my knowledge; they just need to stop and replenish the fuel source. “
A bird not of global concern yet exceedingly rare is the tidal marsh species, the Clapper Rail, also vulnerable to rising sea levels. Ehlinger has seen “one or two birds in the Greenwich Cove saltmarsh and in the Clambake area saltmarsh in this late June and early July and again in September,” she says. But in the 25-plus years she’s lived in Greenwich she’s seen only a half dozen at most. “Our limited saltmarsh makes them a very irregular visitor.”
“We will need to act quickly to find ways to help marshes migrate inland with the rising,
tides,” writes Milan Bull, Connecticut Audubon’s Senior Director of Science and Conservation, in his introduction to the report. Tall orders considering our well-developed shorelines and beyond.
As Connecticut is now 60-percent forest, Bull reported that’s good news for those birds depending on mature forests like Scarlet Tanagers, Eastern Wood-Pewees, Veerys, Red-eyed Vireos, and Ovenbirds, but bad news for birds like the Brown Thrasher and Yellow-breasted Chat that require shrub habitat. Clear cuts and controlled burns are needed for these birds in the forests, he writes.
An effort to create scrubland habitat for an endangered species of New England cottontail habitat has benefited such birds as Indigo Buntings and Prairies Warblers, reports co-authors Connecticut College Professor Robert A. Askins and Christopher Field, a postdoc. researcher at the University of Connecticut. “Saving these cottontails have created partnerships with non-profit conservation organization, and state and federal land management agencies promise to save an array of early successional forest birds,” their report states.
Throughout the report the authors, like Milan Bull, have pointed to the challenges seen such as how our disappearing grasslands have “severely reduced” grassland-dependent birds such as the Eastern Meadowlark and Grasshopper Sparrow, but then rescue efforts are noted of how the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s (DEEP) Grassland Habitat Initiative has added nearly 85 percent of a targeted 800 acres of grassland.
And there is the Saltmarsh Habitat and Aviation Research Program (SHARP), a group of scientists and researchers working together to help local organizations as to how to act to save birds and their habitats. These organizations are provided vital information gathered each year by the Breeding Bird Survey conducted by volunteers, and volunteers with Audubon’s Summer and Christmas Bird Counts.
To learn more about the Connecticut State of the Birds visit www.ctaudubon.org.
