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8 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2004

Atlantic Flyway review: Region IV - Fall 2003: Patuxent powerline right-of-way (390-0764)

The station was operated on fewer days than usual in 2003, opening a bit later, closing a week early, and missing several good days in September through mid-October, when the manager/lead bander was conducting research on migrating birds in Lower Delmarva. As a result, capture totals for many species are not comparable to other years, and totals for several species, including House Wren, Northern Parula, Nashville Warbler, Blackthroated Green Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, American Redstart, Connecticut Warbler, and Common Yellowthroat, set record lows. Fifty-three birds banded in previous years were captured, all of species that either nest or. winter here. Included were a record high 16 Gray Catbirds, nine of which were hatching-year (HY) birds when banded. Six return Red-eyed Vireos were captured, again far fewer than during the station's first 20 years of operation; the oldest, an adult when banded in Aug 1998, was last captured in Aug 2000. Other highlights were captures of a Cerulean Warbler (HY male), a Marsh Wren, an American Tree Sparrow, and a Northern Saw-whet Owl with a meadow jumping mouse ( Zapus hudsonius ) in its talons. Special thanks to Danny Bystrak, who operated the station on many mornings during my absence. Thanks also to Marty Barron, Murray Efford, Cecilia Leumas, Woody Martin, Diann Prosser, Mike Quinlan, Gemma Radko, Jack Saba, and John Sauer, who provided regular or occasional assistance. Sara Campbell, assistant of Dr. Peter Marra at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, collected blood samples from over 500 birds to test for exposure to West Nile Virus. Results are not yet available.

Maryland↗
USGS1994

Behavior and successful nesting of American oystercatchers on Falkner Island, Connecticut, in 1993

Falkner Island, a two hectare unit of the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge, is located at 41°13'N, 72°39'W in Long Island Sound about 5 km south of Guilford, Connecticut. This island, described in detail by Helander (1988), is the nesting site of a mixed colony of several thousand Common Terns ( Sterna hirundo ) and a few hundred Roseate Terns ( S. dougallii ) (Spendelow 1994a,b). This colony has been studied by the staff of the Falkner Island Tern Project (FITP) since 1978 (Spendelow 1982, Spendelow and Nichols 1989). In 1993, I made opportunistic observations of a pair of American Oystercatchers ( Haematopus palliatus ) and their young. I describe here their nesting activity and behavior. I did not find similar published material on much of the behavior I observed or on oystercatcher breeding biology in Connecticut. Oystercatchers have attempted to nest in Connecticut since the late 1970s (Proctor 1981, Anon. 1982) [not in 1980 in Westbrook as misstated earlier (Zingo 1992) ]. A first attempt by American Oystercatchers to nest on Falkner Island in 1991 was unsuccessful (Zingo 1992). Although a pair of oystercatchers was seen on Falkner Island several times from April to August 1992, they made no apparent attempt to nest. In 1993, however, a pair (Figure 1) successfully fledged two young. Although young have been produced previously elsewhere in the state (e.g., Dewire 1981, Rosgen 1986, Taylor 1989), these were the first young produced in New Haven County.

Connecticut↗
USGS1994

Two hybrid common x roseate terns fledge at Falkner Island, Connecticut

Although these two similarly-sized species are sympatric throughout much of their breeding range, there are few published records of hybridization between Roseate ( Sterna dougallii ) and Common ( S. hirundo ) Terns. Records include at least five from Europe (Witherby and Ticehurst 1908, Perry 1972, Robbins 1974, Burggraeve 1977, van den Berg 1980) and only one from North America (Hays 1975), but we are aware of several unpublished records of hybridization at colonies in Massachusetts (I. Nisbet, pers. comm.) and New York (J. Burger, pers. comm.). Differences in sexual display probably serve as the principal barrier to hybridization (Palmer 1941 ), and in the northeastem United States where both species breed, Common Terns tend to nest in more open areas while Roseate Terns tend to nest in or under cover (Hays 1975, Nisbet 1981, Spendelow 1982, Burger and Gochfeld 1988). From 1984 through 1993, we recorded several instances of interbreeding in a mixed colony of several thousand Common Terns and a few hundred Roseates at the Falkner Island Unit of the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge. This 2-ha island is located at 41 °13'N and 72° 39'W in Long Island Sound, approximately 5 km off the coast of Guilford, Connecticut. Spendelow (1982) briefly described the island and the areas used by the nesting terns; a more detailed description of the island is in Helander (1988). The mixed pair we observed in 1993 nested in a subcolony of about 25 pairs of Roseates on the southeast section of the island's rocky beach, where we put out 30 boxes to create more protected nest sites for Roseate Terns. Here we present a summary of their successful nesting, which we followed almost daily from several days prior to the laying of the first egg until departure of these birds from the colony site.

Connecticut↗
USGS1997

A pair of roseate terns fledges three young with limited human assistance

Hays (1994) reported that a trio of Roseate Terns ( Sterna dougallii ) raised three fledglings in 1991 at Great Gull Island, New York. Despite the regular occurrence of "supernormal" clutches of three or more eggs (Norton 1988, Hays 1994, Shealer and Zurovchak 1995), we are not aware of any reports of three young being fledged by just two adult Roseate Terns. Here we report a pair that, with limited human assistance given to the initially smallest chick for two weeks, fledged three young in 1994 at Falkner Island off the coast of Connecticut.

Connecticut↗
USGS2001

A pair of Roseate Terns adopts another pair's egg

Most cases of adoption in Common Terns ( Sterna hirundo ) occur when a chick leaves (or is moved from) its nest site and adopts new parents (Ian Nisbet, pers. comm.). It is not known to what extent similar behavior occurs in Roseate Terns ( S. dougallii ), however, because (except for studies of chick-provisioning Richards and Schew 1989, Teets 1998, Shealer 1999) until recently, little behavioral work has been done with chicks of this endangered species (Nisbet 1989, Schew and Richards 1989, Grinnell and Spendelow 2000). Here we report a case where a pair of Roseate Terns abandoned their egg a few days prior to the hatching of the chick. Another pair took over incubation of the egg and then raised the chick to fledging, demonstrating that an adoption can be initiated by adult terns.

Connecticut↗
USGS1983

A Canada goose project in Connecticut

It wasn't so long ago that the wild cries of Canada geese overhead were enough to draw most people out of their homes to look skyward. It was a rare sound heard only in the spring and fall when migrating flocks of these magnificent birds marked the change of the seasons. But today the sound is less delightful to growing numbers of people as goose populations have become permanent residents of the Northeast and caused numerous problems. Non-migratory flocks of Canada geese are now present from Cape Cod to Virginia. According to the Atlantic Flyway Council, these geese have provoked nuisance complaints from local communities in every one of the states involved, except Delaware. Delaware has had problems in the past but they are presently under control. These resident populations cause numerous sanitation problems in local communities. Examples are accumulations of feathers and droppings, odor, noise, landscape and crop destruction, the decoying-in of additional geese, and overfertilization of ponds, thus causing algal growth and concerns about health problems, especially in swimming and other recreational areas.

Connecticut↗