Marsh Bird Surveys

The research staff has spent yet another Spring surveying marsh birds. Once a week for the past 6 weeks, staff arrive to work well before dawn and begin the survey approximately 30 minutes before official sunrise. The species of interest in this survey are Black Rail, Virginia Rail, King Rail, Clapper Rail, Least Bittern, Sora, and Common Moorhen. The data is ultimately used by the D.E.E.P., as we are just one place of many that perform this sort of survey. However, this data is also useful to us here at White Memorial because it tells us about the health of our wetlands. These birds are considered indicator species, ie, they indicate how much humans have disturbed that habitat. So, you can imagine our excitement when we find the birds we're looking for!

Interns Abby Wilson (Left) and Cheyenne Liberti (Right) during the
canoe portion of the survey on the Bantam River

The surveys start at first light (30 minutes before official dawn) and generally last about three to four hours. The survey consists of 16 points at which researchers drive or boat to. Once at the point, researchers play a CD provided by the D.E.E.P. The CD begins with 5 minutes of silence to allow the birds to settle after the initial disturbance of arriving on scene. Next, 7 different songs/calls are played for 30 seconds each, and separated by 30 seconds of silence. Whenever researchers hear a call or song of one of the birds of interest, we record the species heard, and at which point in the CD we heard it.

Pictured above is the CD player  a point on the survey which is accessed by truck.  

So far this season, researchers have heard Sora and Virginia Rail. As seen in a previous blog post, we were lucky enough to see a Virginia Rail calling to our canoe at the end of a recent survey. It called to us at the very last point on the survey, so once the CD was finished playing and the survey was over, we used an app to play Virginia Rail calls toward its direction. Within a few minutes we saw two, calling to us and back and forth to each other. The one pictured in the video in the previous blog post actually flew right into the gunwale of our canoe about 30 seconds after that video was taken. These birds are so mysterious. Not much is known about them, and they are presumed to be very secretive. In this encounter however, we witnessed some curious behavior by the birds.
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Here is a link to the blog post which highlights the Virginia Rail discussed above:Virginia Rail Call

Here is a D.E.E.P. special report from 1999 when state biologists first began these surveys :
Special Report Wetland Birds
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Photo of a Sora courtesy of Ian Davies -Macauley Library

Cornell Lab of Ornithology : SORA

Photo of a Virginia Rail courtesy of Evan Lipton - Macauley Library

Cornell Lab of Ornithology : Virginia Rail

2013 Wetland Bird Surveys Completed

                                    




Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola)
Courtesy of Utah Department of Natural Resources

Over the past few weeks, Mary Hawvermale and I have been searching around the property for evidence of rails, bitterns, and other wetland birds.  Rails are a type of secretive marsh bird that probe for invertebrates among plants in shallow water, while bitterns stalk fish and amphibians among dense reeds.  Both types of birds tend to remain deep in the vegetation and are very difficult to see. The Connecticut DEEP and similar organizations across the country are concerned about rail populations because of habitat loss.  The marshes these birds call home are increasingly subjugated to pollution and development.  As a result, rail populations have decreased, but we would like more information on their populations as we proceed with conservation projects. White Memorial's vast expanses of marsh makes this the ideal location to gather data for rail conservation.

Mary was kind enough to sample the Bantam River by kayak between Whites Woods Road and Bantam Lake, while I sampled the remaining locations by foot.  The protocol was relatively straightforward:  we would arrive at a predetermined site, listen silently for rails calling for five minutes, and then play calls on a boom box to elicit calls from the rails.  Rails are difficult to see, but they tend to call back to a recording of their voice.  This habit made it easier for us to determine the presence of rails. 

In Connecticut, we have six rail species, several of which are State-listed:

-King rail (Rallus elegans) breeding population State Endangered
-Black rail (Laterallus jamaicensis) breeding population State Endangered
-Sora (Porzana carolina)
-Virginia rail (Rallus limicola)
-Clapper rail (Rallus longirstris)
-Yellow rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis), very rare in Connecticut

In addition to the rails, we also surveyed for the presence of least bittern and common moorhen, two other State-listed wetland species.

Over the course of the past few weeks, Mary and I have heard Sora, Virginia rail, and King rail.

Virginia rail was our most common species, being heard in eight out of our sixteen study points.  These rails were consistently around Little Pond and Mallard Marsh.  One interesting observation was that these birds shifted locality during last week's heavy flooding.  Last Saturday, there was about a foot of water covering the boardwalk at Little Pond, and the Virginia rails were nowhere to be found.  However, we observed Virginia rail at Duck Pond and near Catlin Woods, two places we have not seen them this year.  The flooding also brought the rails out of the marsh onto puddles on the trails.  Here it was easier for the rails to forage.  We observed a total of seven rails, as opposed to the four or five rails we observed when the water levels were closer to normal.

Mary heard a single Sora along the lower Bantam River, but we did not hear any Sora near Cranberry Pond, where they were last year.

In addition to these species we expected to find, we were pleasantly surprised by a King rail calling from the marsh northwest of Little Pond.  We first received reports of this King rail from the first week of June during our BioBlitz. Apparently this individual has continued to live around Little Pond.

 

                                                                
Altogether, we observed a total of about six individual Virginia rails, one Sora, and one King rail.  We hope that continuing research can help us shed more light on wetland bird conservation.

 

You can read more about the State's wetland bird project here and at the December 2012 edition of Connecticut Wildlife.  You can learn more about King rail in Connecticut here.

Rail Callback Survey

On Wednesday, May 23^rd James Fischer and I did a Rail Callback Survey for the CT D.E.E.P. at seven locations in White Memorial. The Rallidae family consists of predominately small to medium-sized wetland birds that are often seen walking along muddy areas or shallow water. The expression “thin as a rail” comes from the rails’ body form, which is laterally compressed, allowing them to escape into dense grass or reeds making them extremely difficult to visually spot. Recent wetland habitat loss and degradation has resulted in population declines in many wetland dependent species. In order to protect these birds and their habitats, biologists need to know which wetlands are being used by the birds. The survey that we conducted was targeted towards nine species of wetland birds that can be found in Connecticut. The species include Black Rail, Least Bittern, Sora, Virginia Rail, King Rail, Clapper Rail, American Bittern, Common Moorhen, and Pied-billed Grebe. The survey must be performed either during sunrise or sunset, which are when the rails are most vocal. Due to a forecast of unfavorable weather in the afternoon it was decided that sunrise, 5:26 a.m. would be best to take the survey. We could not have asked for better rail surveying weather; calm wind, temperature in the 60s, and foggy. Prior to the survey we mapped out possible locations at White Memorial to conduct the callback. The callback is a pre-recorded tape, 12 minutes long of each of the previously listed species calling for 30 seconds, then 30 seconds of silence in-between calls. During the 30 second silences we tried to listen for any calls. Wetlands birds are typically secretive and difficult to study, and it has been discovered that the callback method provokes a vocal response from them if they are in close proximity.

Collecting data at the first Little Pond survey point.

Three survey points were conducted at different parts of the boardwalk surrounding Little Pond. One of the points gave us our first response of a Virginia Rail, which is a wheezy, and accelerating wep wep wep grunt. Two other points, at Mallard Marsh and Cranberry Pond also had a callback from Virginia Rails. An individual Sora was heard multiple times as well at Cranberry Pond. The Sora call sounded very close to us, but we were still unable to see it, emphasizing its stealth. Other locations that were not successful for rail callbacks were Miry Brook and the North Bay observation tower. There are many other marshy rail habitat locations on White Memorial’s property, so hopefully before the breeding season is over we can conduct surveys there to get the most accurate population abundance and location of these elusive birds.

Virginia Rail
Photo by Gerry Ellis
http://ridgefieldnwr.wordpress.com

Sora
Photo by Gerry Ellis
http://ridgefieldnwr.wordpress.com

Results from the BIG SIT and other fall migration monitoring

Yellow-billed Cuckoo photo by Ronnie Maum

from http://www.fws.gov/

Pectoral Sandpiper photo by Paul Lewis

from http://www.carolinabirdclub.org/

American Redstart from http://www.tringa.org/

American Pipit from http://www.tringa.org/

White-crowned Sparrow photo by

Keith Carolson from http://www.idahofishandgame.gov/

Lincoln's Sparrow photo by Linda Williams

from http://www.cornell.edu/

Savannah Sparrow photo by Paul Fusco

from http://www.paulfuscowildlifephotography.com/

The cold, wet weather that has been a nuisance to us for much of this month has also played a role in the fall bird migration. It stalled on rainy days and moved along at a brisk pace on pleasant days and nights. Winds out of the south also hindered migration activity on some days. For birders, this often meant a bounty of birds on the few nice days this month. One period of time that was especially good was from the 7th through the 11th. Many birds were seen then, including our first American Pipits of the year, which were seen and heard flying over the Museum Area. The Litchfield Hills Audubon Society team conducting the Big Sit bird survey on the Sutton's Bridge portion of the Little Pond boardwalk on the 9th got our first Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Pine Siskin of the year. They also got other rarities like Pectoral Sandpiper, Sora, and Lincoln's Sparrow; and they had some unusually late migrants like Solitary Sandpiper and American Redstart. Before dawn they heard Great Horned, Barred, Eastern Screech, and Northern Saw-whet Owls calling. In all, this survey produced a very respectable 78 species. The day before the Big Sit I led a walk for mostly beginning and novice birders to Pine Island and the Old Sewer Beds portion of the Little Pond Trail. Highlights on this walk were 4 Red-breasted Nuthatches, a Blue-headed Vireo, and several Golden-crowned Kinglets at Pine Island, and 3 White-crowned Sparrows, a Field Sparrow, and a Lincoln's Sparrow at the Old Sewer Beds. We also saw Lincoln's Sparrows in Ongley and Activity Fields this past week. That's pretty good for a species that is usually rare and hard to find! Ongley Field has also produced a Savannah Sparrow and lots of White-throated and Chipping Sparrows over the past 10 days. Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers have been prevalent around the Museum Area, and Dark-eyed Juncos have been increasing slowly, but steadily in number since Friday, 10/7. Nice weather today, tonight, and tomorrow should bring even more migrants to, and through, northwest Connecticut.

Long-billed Dowitcher and other notable birds seen at Little Pond, 9/27/11

Long-billed Dowitcher photo from http://www.gobirding.eu/

Wilson's Snipe photo by Bob Stanowski

Rusty Blackbird photo by Bob Duschene

from http://www.pvcaudubon.org/

Blue-winged Teal photo by Rob Whitney

from http://www.ducks.org/

Green-winged Teal photo by Rob Whitney

from http://www.ducks.org/

Great Egret photo from

http://www.commons.wikimedia.org/

A visit to Little Pond this past Tuesday evening, 9/27, (before the latest rainstorms inundated this area with floodwaters) turned up White Memorial's first-ever (in recent times) Long-billed Dowitcher. While scanning the shoreline for shorebirds I spotted a gray bird with a very long bill probing like a sewing machine in the mud. Since Short-billed and Long-billed Dowitchers look very similar, and their bills are only 1/4" difference in length, it was initially very difficult to determine which species we had. Even with the spotting scope it didn't show a definite characteristic for either species. However, since Short-billed has been seen here approximately 8 times in the past 12 years, and Long-billed had not been seen here at all in that time span, I was leaning toward calling it Short-billed or just Dowitcher sp. Most of the previous sightings have been in the spring when the two species have enough differences in plumage to distinguish them. Plus, all of the previous birds gave their distinctive Short-billed "tu-tu-tu" call notes while we watched them. Fortunately for us this time, this bird let loose with its distinctive "keek" call notes several times when it flushed and flew around for no obvious reason. The call notes clinched this bird's identification as Long-billed. These calls, coupled with the lack of striping on the head and back ruled out Wilson's Snipe, which we had just seen a few minutes before spotting this bird. Other notable birds seen on and around the pond on this visit included 52 Wood Ducks, 5 Blue-winged Teal, 13 Green-winged Teal, 4 Double-crested Cormorants, 1 Great Egret, and 2 Green Herons. Notable by virtue of high numbers were Mallards (99) and Swamp Sparrows (45). The Little Pond Trail produced our first Rusty Blackbird of the fall season, 24 White-throated Sparrows, a Marsh Wren, and a hooting Great Horned Owl as notable species. In all, this visit tallied 44 species of birds in 1 hour and 45 minutes. Three days later, after 5.5" of rain had inundated the boardwalk and the rest of the area, we only came up with 34 species along the trail leading in from White's Woods Rd. and the overlook area on the west side of the pond. With no feeding habitat available for shorebirds we didn't find any, but we were surprised to find a Sora trying to forage along the edge of the woods where the floodwaters were intruding into them. For ducks, we only saw 2 Woodies, 2 Blacks, and 25 Mallards. The rest of the birds seen on this visit were common resident and migrant landbirds along the trail, including 35 White-throated Sparrows.

Wetland Birds Are Arriving at White Memorial

Sora photo from wikipedia.edu

Great Blue Heron photographed

at Bantam Lake's North Bay

by Bob Stanowski
Virginia Rail photographed on

White Memorial's Little Pond Boardwalk
by Paul Fusco

(www.paulfuscowildlifephotography.com)

Many different types of birds can be found in wetlands, but the ones that we refer to as wetland birds generally fall into the heron and rail families. Virtually all of them spend the winter well-south of Connecticut since they don't have any easy time dealing with ice-covered marshes, swamps, ponds, and lakes. Great Blue Herons are an exception, as many of them have found they can get plenty of fish to eat along rivers and Long Island Sound. They can often be found downstream from hydroelectric dams like Shepaug and Stevenson because the water usually remains open all winter. Their closer proximity to Litchfield and Morris throughout the winter means that Great Blue Herons are the first wetland birds to arrive back here in the spring. In most years their arrival starts around the first of March, but this year we didn't see the first ones until March 15. That had to be due to ice conditions and the awful weather of the previous 4 months. With winter loosening its grip and ice finally melting over the course of the rest of the month more Great Blues appeared. Most of the sightings were initially around Bantam Lake, but they soon expanded to include the Bantam River. The first Great Blues appeared at Little Pond on 3/31 of this year. They are now being seen almost daily at Bantam Lake or somewhere on White Memorial property. A few of the birds at the North Shore Marsh are exhibiting territorial behavior, so they might nest there again this year, as they have for the past 2 years. Unlike many of their kind which choose nesting sites high in dead trees in marshes, our Great Blues seem to prefer to nest low in clumps of live Red Maple trees. That makes them really hard to see, despite their large size. Even harder to see are American Bitterns, Virginia Rails, and Soras; all of which have arrived back at White Memorial this month. Our first (and only so far this year) American Bittern was seen in the N. Shore Marsh adjacent to the Litchfield Town Beach on the 7th. Our first Virginia Rail of 2011 appeared at Little Pond on April 8th. In some past years we have seen our first one as early as March 18th. In the past few days as many as 5 Virginia Rails have been seen or heard there, despite flooded conditions. I had 5 (probably different ones) at Hamill Marsh this past Saturday, 4/23, along with our first Sora of the year. This is the earliest date of spring arrival at White Memorial that I can ever recall. Last year, we saw our first one 4/30. The Virginia Rails will stay here to breed as long as the flooding subsides. They nest low in cattails, so they are very vulnerable to flooding. For the past several years one or two pairs of Soras have exhibited some breeding evidence at Little and/or Cemetery Ponds. About 4 years ago we saw newly fledged young at Cemetery Pond. From 5/1 through 8/31 we try to survey for wetland birds in our marshes. We focus most of our efforts on Little Pond, but we should try to get to all of our marshes over the course of the breeding season. To that end, our readership can help by reporting any wetland birds that they encounter on White Memorial property. I usually go out in the evening to survey for these birds, and I welcome help.