The Connecticut Audubon Society annual “State of the Birds” shows 2024 was a positive year for the state bird.
“The annual report is the story of how our members’ support lets us carry out our mission, and our mission is our way of doing our part locally to stop the bird population decline and help move it in the other direction,” Connecticut Audubon Society Director of Communication Tom Anderson said.
“The bird population in North America has fallen by about 30% — there are 3 billion fewer birds now than there were in 1970. That’s what the projects in our annual report are about—our efforts, supported by our members, to help stem and reverse the population loss,” he said. “They show what can be done, and they show what the results would be if these successes were matched beyond Connecticut.”
Among the highlights this year is a small but steady growth of a federally threatened bird, piping plovers, according to Anderson. The piping plovers are a small sand-colored, sparrow-sized bird that nests only on Atlantic Coast beaches.
“It was another really, really good year for the piping plovers that nest at Milford Point,” Anderson said. “There were 15 nests and 30 fledglings. The average of two fledglings per nest sounds modest but it’s way higher than the statewide average.”
Anderson said the piping plovers nest on the beach and sandbar at Milford Point. He said the plovers start showing up in late March and start to nest.
“There aren’t many beaches where people don’t congregate or bring their dogs and that limits the places the piping plover can nest,” Anderson said. “We work with the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection to have two people monitoring the nests every day from April to September.”
Hartford Courant Archives
Birdwatching. Courant file photo.
Anderson said wired cages over the nests allow the birds to walk in and out and keeps predators from coming in. Anderson added that the eggs are perfectly camouflage in the sand and can be challenging to locate initially.
“We are there so no one gets too close and to let people know why,” Anderson said.
“Dogs aren’t allowed in that area,” Anderson said. “Conservation biologists think that if the population overall averaged 1.5 per nest, they’d be removed from the federal threatened species list. So two per nest is amazing. We also figured that it costs us about $1,300 per fledgling to achieve that.”
Anderson said no other beach in the state has two fledgling piping plovers per nest.
“If you put money and resources into it you can make a difference protecting birds,” Anderson said. “These funds come from our members and donors. They donate to us because they want birds to be protected, and this is an example of why their money is being put to good use.”
Another highlight from the 2024 report is a 20% increase in osprey fledglings in the state this year, according to the Connecticut Audubon Society’s Osprey Nation observers.
“The osprey comeback is due to their own ability to bounce back once DDT was banned,” Anderson said. “DDT was sprayed to kill mosquitoes and it ended up in waterways and fish. Ospreys and eagles ate the fish and accumulated DDT in their body. The DDT interfered with the ospreys ability to lay eggs because the shells weren’t hard enough to withstand the intubation.”
Why a CT woman is tired of picking up our discarded trash. Her gripe is that it kills wildlife.
By 1970, there were nine osprey nests in the state and this year there were over 1,000 and on the rise.
However, Anderson said there is still so much work to be done. He said the Connecticut Audubon Society is focused on protecting birds and bird habitats, noting the 30 percent, or 3 billion bird decrease since 1970. He said habitat losses and changes are two big reasons for the drop.
Pesticides are still an issue today and the Connecticut Audubon Society is teaming with Connecticut Pesticide Reform to convince the state to pass a new pesticide law in 2025.
Anderson and Connecticut Audubon Society want to sound the alarm on neonicotinoid pesticide, used on lawns, golf courses and farms, and its adverse effects on birds.
“It’s more toxic than DDT,” Anderson said. “It kills bugs and birds eat the bugs.”
According to the CT Audubon Society 2024 report, “The year 2024 was a frustrating one in the fight for stronger bird protection laws in Connecticut. Legislation to restrict harmful pesticides and rodenticides failed to pass in Hartford.”
The neonicotinoid pesticide bill included the efforts of dozens of members of CT Audubon Society and more than 3,300 people are part of Connecticut Audubon’s grassroots advocacy group, according to the organization. CT Audubon organized a coalition in March at Trinity College that was attended by 150 people.
The neonics bill did not make it out of the General Assembly’s Environment Committee but the CT Audubon said will try again in 2025, according to the report.
“One of the best things we do is on the ground habitat and bird protection,” Anderson said.
