Winter 1988 Contents Volume VITI Number 1 January 1988 THE 59 Editorial Fred Sibley CONNECTICUT 61 Status and Hybridization of Clapper and King Rails in Connecticut Anthony H. Bledsoe WARBLER 66 Connecticut Field Notes-Summer 1987 A Journal of Connecticut Ornitlwlogy Clay Taylor 71 1984 Shorebinl Survey at the Mouth of the Housatonic River Dennis varz.a -------- ~ - _ . , , ' u:u:ur:u:::~..r - l The Connecticut Ornithological Association 314 UnquowaRoad Non-Profit Org. Fairfield, CT 06430 U.S. Postage PAID II Fairfield, CT Permij No. 275 Volume VIII No.1 January 1988 Pages 59-74 THE CONNECTICUf ORNITHOUGICAL EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION 1be Pressure can be "Save the Roseate Tern!" I c:ry. Others shout, President Roseate Tern is Saved!" Neil W. Currie, Sandy Hook exerted to force The Ra>eate Tern has been placed on the federal endan­ Vice-President action on behalf gered species list. My friends point out that this gives the Fred Sibley, Guilfmi of the terns. tern added protection, attention, research funds and possi­ Secretary bly its own recovery team. Of course, they do not mean to Winifred Burltett, Storrs Let's do it! imply that Roseate Terns, under this umbrella of protec­ Tre011urer tion, will become as abundant as Herring Gulls, yet their Robert Fletcher, Cheshire tone of voice assures one that all is now well with the terns. Assistant Treoaurer One need not fret, the well-<>iled government machinery Carl J. Trichka, Fairfield will soon produce a solution to the Roseate Tern problems; much as it did for the Dusky Seaside Sparrow, California Condor, Black-footed Ferret, Baclunan's Warbler and oth­ Board of Directors ers. (Term Expires) Obviously I speak partly in jest, as endangered species 1988 1989 programs have scored some amazing successes. Even those Stephen P. Broker, New Haven Robert A. Askins, New London species cited above have not failed because they received Frank Mantlik, South Norwalk George A. Clark, Jr., Storrs endangered status. However, neither the Roleate Tern nor Roland C. Clement, Norwalk Debra M. Miller, Franklin, MA George W. Zepko, Middletown Robert Moeller, Sharon any other species is assured of sunny skies, a full crop and Fred Purnell, Darien ample nesting beaches just because it receives endangered 1990 status. Rather than jubilation, we should show a little Ray Belding, Harwinton shame for allowing this tern to decline to the extent it has. Jill Rankin, Wethersfield Might we also get more involved in its future? Todd Weintz, Stamford The Roseate Tern, unlike the Piping Plover, was well­ Chris Wood. Woodbury Joe Zeranski, Greenwich enough studied in Connecticut that a number ci manage­ ment ideas might have been implemented. Each however, required more than a little political maneuvering, consid­ About our Cover Artist: erable initiative by some individual and a genuine concern for the future cf. Roseate Terns (i.e. work that would do Roland C. Clement, Norwalk nothing for your resume nor engender much appreciation). "Clapper Rail (Rallus longirostris)" These management ideas remain viable. As the species is now endangered and since a state non-game program has Roland C. Clement, Connecticut Ornithokgical .Assoc..'s first president been established, pressure can be exerted to force action on and a former vice-president of the National Audubon Society, first took an behalf of the terns. Let's do it! evening oourse in drawing with pencil, pen and brush at a textile design Consider the following: a very promising colony cf. high school in his home town, Fall River, Mass., when he was nineteen. But Roleate Terns on Tuxis Island, off Madison, was elimi­ this interest was sidetracked during a long career as naturalist and nated by rats. This island supported some 30 pairs ci conservationist. Roseate Terns in 1980 and might have double that number. Upon retirement in 1977, he first tried watercolor sketching with Anyone interested in poisoning rats? Carolyn Beehler of Hamden, then decided to go back to basics and took During the past decade, gulls have moved onto several courses in drawing, watercolor and portraiture at the Silvennine Guild islands with Common Tern colonies and either eliminated Arts Center in New Canaan. But art continued to be a part.tirne activity because he remained involved in Audubon work and cx:mmunity affairs, or seriously reduced tern nesting. Almost any Common was a Mellon Fellow at Yale's School cf. Forestry and Environmental Tern colony is a potential site for Roseate Terns. Each loss Studies in 1983, and has since written a history of the Audubon movement. has thus been an actual or potential loss of nesting Roseate THE CONNECTICUT WARBLER VOLUME VIII, NUMBER 1 59 THE CONNECTICUf ORNITHOUGICAL EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION 1be Pressure can be "Save the Roseate Tern!" I c:ry. Others shout, President Roseate Tern is Saved!" Neil W. Currie, Sandy Hook exerted to force The Ra>eate Tern has been placed on the federal endan­ Vice-President action on behalf gered species list. My friends point out that this gives the Fred Sibley, Guilfmi of the terns. tern added protection, attention, research funds and possi­ Secretary bly its own recovery team. Of course, they do not mean to Winifred Burltett, Storrs Let's do it! imply that Roseate Terns, under this umbrella of protec­ Tre011urer tion, will become as abundant as Herring Gulls, yet their Robert Fletcher, Cheshire tone of voice assures one that all is now well with the terns. Assistant Treoaurer One need not fret, the well-<>iled government machinery Carl J. Trichka, Fairfield will soon produce a solution to the Roseate Tern problems; much as it did for the Dusky Seaside Sparrow, California Condor, Black-footed Ferret, Baclunan's Warbler and oth­ Board of Directors ers. (Term Expires) Obviously I speak partly in jest, as endangered species 1988 1989 programs have scored some amazing successes. Even those Stephen P. Broker, New Haven Robert A. Askins, New London species cited above have not failed because they received Frank Mantlik, South Norwalk George A. Clark, Jr., Storrs endangered status. However, neither the Roleate Tern nor Roland C. Clement, Norwalk Debra M. Miller, Franklin, MA George W. Zepko, Middletown Robert Moeller, Sharon any other species is assured of sunny skies, a full crop and Fred Purnell, Darien ample nesting beaches just because it receives endangered 1990 status. Rather than jubilation, we should show a little Ray Belding, Harwinton shame for allowing this tern to decline to the extent it has. Jill Rankin, Wethersfield Might we also get more involved in its future? Todd Weintz, Stamford The Roseate Tern, unlike the Piping Plover, was well­ Chris Wood. Woodbury Joe Zeranski, Greenwich enough studied in Connecticut that a number ci manage­ ment ideas might have been implemented. Each however, required more than a little political maneuvering, consid­ About our Cover Artist: erable initiative by some individual and a genuine concern for the future cf. Roseate Terns (i.e. work that would do Roland C. Clement, Norwalk nothing for your resume nor engender much appreciation). "Clapper Rail (Rallus longirostris)" These management ideas remain viable. As the species is now endangered and since a state non-game program has Roland C. Clement, Connecticut Ornithokgical .Assoc..'s first president been established, pressure can be exerted to force action on and a former vice-president of the National Audubon Society, first took an behalf of the terns. Let's do it! evening oourse in drawing with pencil, pen and brush at a textile design Consider the following: a very promising colony cf. high school in his home town, Fall River, Mass., when he was nineteen. But Roleate Terns on Tuxis Island, off Madison, was elimi­ this interest was sidetracked during a long career as naturalist and nated by rats. This island supported some 30 pairs ci conservationist. Roseate Terns in 1980 and might have double that number. Upon retirement in 1977, he first tried watercolor sketching with Anyone interested in poisoning rats? Carolyn Beehler of Hamden, then decided to go back to basics and took During the past decade, gulls have moved onto several courses in drawing, watercolor and portraiture at the Silvennine Guild islands with Common Tern colonies and either eliminated Arts Center in New Canaan. But art continued to be a part.tirne activity because he remained involved in Audubon work and cx:mmunity affairs, or seriously reduced tern nesting. Almost any Common was a Mellon Fellow at Yale's School cf. Forestry and Environmental Tern colony is a potential site for Roseate Terns. Each loss Studies in 1983, and has since written a history of the Audubon movement. has thus been an actual or potential loss of nesting Roseate THE CONNECTICUT WARBLER VOLUME VIII, NUMBER 1 59 Terns. Who's going to push for gull control on Rock Night-heron STATUS AND HYBRIDIZATION OF Island, Lyddy Island, White Island and Waterford Is­ predation has been land? Combined, these once supported 15-20 pairs of CLAPPER AND KING RAILS Roseate Terns. a serious problem Duck Island, off Westbrook, hooted 8 parrs of Com­ for Least Terns ... IN CONNECTICUT mon Terns in 1983, 20 in 1985 and several hundred in Anthony H. Bledsoe 1987. Roseate Terns also appeared in 1987, perhaps as many as 15 pairs. Duck Island has the potential to be as The Clapper Rail (Rallus ently declining (Tate 1986), an important a nesting site as Tuxis was in 1980. Human longirostris) and the King Rail assessment d the local status of the vandalism and disturbance have been minor factors, but (Rallus e/egans) comprise a pair of King Rail is needed to determine there is potential for such disttni:lance on Duck Island in closely-related species distributed whether the Connecticut popula­ the future.