Conservationists Seek to Protect Dwindling Number of Wading Birds

By Michael Dinan, The Stamford Advocate, Conn.

May 1–Alarmed by a dramatic decrease in the number of egrets and herons nesting on Great Captains Island, conservationists are putting together a plan to repopulate and protect the wading birds that breed on the Greenwich-owned property.

Recommendations could include limiting access to the eastern side of the island from March to August and restricting renovation or maintenance work there to months when the birds have migrated elsewhere, said Katharine Parsons, a senior scientist at Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences. The Manomet, Mass.-based environmental research firm is collecting information about the island and developing a plan for Audubon Connecticut, a nonprofit organization.

“We want to provide a menu of options that offers minimal protection for the birds, and also some compromises that ensure compatibility but don’t eliminate all other uses of the island. We’re trying to strike that balance,” Parsons said. “We’re concerned that the population seems to be declining. There may be some things that the town and everyone agrees to do for a few years to build it back up.”

A draft copy of the plan is circulating among Audubon and Greenwich conservation officials and should be finalized by mid-summer, said Patrick Comins, Southbury-based director of bird conservation for Audubon Connecticut. The study is funded by grants and private donations.

Great Captains Island once was widely known as Connecticut’s largest heron and egret rookery. But according to Audubon, fewer migratory birds are touching down there now. Total pairs of birds spotted at the island by Audubon officials during summer counts dropped from 364 in 1998 to 88 in 2004.

Snowy egrets, great egrets and black-crowned night herons nest in the uppermost branches of black locust and cherry trees on the eastern side of the 17-acre island, above a tidal marsh that’s accessible by a single dirt road. The island is open to Greenwich residents year-round, and a ferry service runs there through the summer.

The island is far less popular than neighboring Island Beach, also reachable by town ferry. Most who visit Great Captains stay on the western side, near bathroom facilities, park benches and a designated swimming area that’s overseen by lifeguards.

Yet others ignore the signs warning residents to stay out of the woods or try to visit the island’s abandoned lighthouse, said Mike Nickerson, the caretaker.

“Sometimes you get people making a lot of noise, and it obviously upsets the nests. You can see the baby birds fall right out,” Nickerson said on a recent afternoon as he toured the island with Greenwich Conservation Director Denise Savageau and Michael Aurelia, a member of Audubon Greenwich’s science committee.

Disturbances from humans are one of the many reasons the bird colony appears to be fading, Comins said.

Diving birds such as cormorants may be moving into the area to nest, degrading the island’s vegetation, he said. A great-horned owl that inhabits the island also has been known to feed on the birds. And though egrets and herons may fly 20 miles to forage for food, healthy sustenance may be becoming more scarce, Comins said.

Nitrogen released into Long Island Sound in sewage also contributes to hypoxia in the water, which disturbs the food chain by making it impossible for clams, lobster, worms and many bottom-dwelling fish and plants to breathe, he said.

“You have pesticide residue and other contaminants, heavy metals, getting into small unicellular animals and working their way up the food chain,” Comins said. “You have minnows or shrimp that feed on these things and it builds up. Eventually an egret or a night heron eats a lot of these things and can get sick.”

Great Captains Island is one of 26 Audubon-designated “important bird areas” in Connecticut and one of three in Greenwich, along with Greenwich Point and Audubon Greenwich’s backcountry grounds. The designation means the site provides essential habitat for one or more bird species.

Audubon Connecticut is developing conservation plans at several areas along the state’s shoreline. The plan for Great Captains Island will become available for public comment within two or three months, Comins said, then will be passed to the Greenwich Conservation Commission and state Department of Environmental Protection for review.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Stamford Advocate, Conn.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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