Back on July 3, Chris Roberts, who runs the great Vermont birding – PLUS Facebook group, offered to show me some of his favorite spots along the Connecticut Shore. They were all well west of what little Connecticut Shore I’d explored.
Chris is a serious, hardcore birder. Meaning he’s nuts. I offered to drive and asked how early we’d have to leave to get to the shore for sunrise. He was game for me to pick him up at 0300. That’s cool, unfortunately I was going to pick him up some 80 miles south of me. Hitting the road at 0130 to be on location for sunrise isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Along the way to pick him up, I got my closest ever look at a black bear. I didn’t get to enjoy it as much as I’d have liked, I was too busy standing up on the brake pedal. The bear sauntered onto route 91 and stopped in my lane to see what was coming. I managed to stop with 20 or 25 feet to spare. The bear had a good look at me and continued on his errand.
We arrived at the beach as the sun rose and set out to see what we could find.
There were a number of piping plovers with chicks ranging from just a few days old to near-adult sized juveniles. There is already at least one chick under this parent as two more tuck under.
We found seven northern diamondback terrapins out on the beach looking for a spot to lay their eggs or already laying eggs. They come ashore at high tide to make sure their nests will be well above water level. They’re listed as a vulnerable species and this was my first sighting of them. They live in the brackish tidal marshes along the east coast. Another northern diamondback terrapin along the shore. I didn’t get close enough to tell if she was laying eggs or just sitting. American oystercatchers were on my to-see list. I haven’t seen any since I got serious about wildlife photography, these are the first photos I’ve gotten of them.Oystercatchers are cool looking birds. Their orange eye adds some pop to the photos. Whoever is in charge of banding Connecticut’s oystercatchers is doing an outstanding job. Almost all of the oystercatchers we saw were banded. Likely recently, we found several breeding pairs with consecutively numbered bands. Here’s ole N51 who, along with N52, had a nest on the beach.As you’d guess from their name, they feed on oysters, along with mussels, clams and other invertebrates. They search for shellfish with their shells partly open. When they find one, they stick their bill inside and severe the muscle that lets the shellfish close their shell. (I had to go look up the difference between clams, muscles and oysters. They’re all ‘bivalves,’ meaning they have two half shells they can close to protect themselves. Learning maybe more than I needed, bivalve comes from the Latin “bis” – meaning two – and “valvae” from the leaves of a door. The differences are their shapes, their type of habitat and their flavor, which I didn’t take time to compare. Watching the piping plovers, we saw a parent doing the ‘broken-wing’ display. They’re like killdeer and when they sense a threat to their chicks, they feign injury and make a big deal about it. The idea is to get the predator to chase them and lure the predator away from the chicks. A small flock of gulls had landed on the beach near this bird’s chicks. The chicks had frozen in place and were hard to spot. The parent tried to draw the gulls’ attention away from the chicks. It worked this time. This section of beach was covered in a few feet of abandoned shells. This proved to be very good camouflage for the plovers. When I’ve seen plover chicks on the sandy beaches in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, I’ve often wondered how any of the chicks survive, they seem to stand out clearly on the sand. They’re much, much harder to see against the shells. The shells are several feet deep along the beach. A parent and chick blending in nicely against the shells. And the chicks are just adorable.The plover chicks scoot along in short bursts, constantly changing direction.
Another chick, this time on a sandier spot. And a chick just being cute.This chick went right down to the water’s edge before heading back up the beach. Our buddy N51 reappeared and started down to the water. N51’s mate, N52, showed up and went foraging along side. I’ve reported the bands and when I get the confirmation, we may be able to tell who is who from that. There’s no way for people to tell by looking at them.
It was time to head on to the next location and we headed back to the parking lot. There were several horseshoe crabs in the shallow water. A flock of gulls had dragged this on up on the beach and were trying to flip it over as we approached. We spooked the gulls and the crab headed back to the water.
At the next spot, we found a pool with several herons and egrets. Chris spotted a tricolored heron, I saw a clump of brush. We moved on.
Next up was another oystercatcher. Meet N00. We soon found N99 and I suspect they were banded in relatively quick succession. There were a few willets foraging in the shallow water.
Our timing was right to watch the Atlantic sand fiddler crabs emerge from their burrows. They live in colonies with each male claiming a territory. When the tide recedes, they come out of their burrows. And display their large claw – both to warn off neighboring males and to attract females. Only the males have the size difference between their claws, females have two similarly sized claws. There were several dozen males waiving their claws around.
They have interesting markings on their backs. And they look like they mean business if you try to interfere with them.
There was also a colony of least terns along the beach. A small flock came down to the shallows to preen. And to have the guys carry fish around to impress the ladies. Turning around from the last photo, I discovered a piping plover had crept up to me while my back was turned. There were more piping plover chicks that couldn’t have been more than a week old out foraging on the beach. Another plover chick that stopped briefly to look around.
Well above water level, the beach is roped off to protect the plovers and terns nesting spots.This guy is a little late in the game. He was still looking for a lady to commit his entire season to. He was industriously displaying his fish to the passing ladies.
Here’s a tern stretching. I think. He might be showing off his disco moves to attract a lady.
We were able to spot a couple of young chicks. They were well hidden chicks hiding under some plants. There were three juvenile oyster catchers foraging on the beach just above the waves. And a parent delivering a meal to one of the juveniles.
Lots of interesting critters to watch and photograph. I’m looking forward to getting down there again for a longer stay.
