“ The Mattabeseck Audubon Society, a chapter of the National Audubon Society, is committed to environmental leadership and education for the benefit of the community and the earth’s bio diversity.”

Spring/Summer 2020 Volume 47 • Number 1

Connecticut Bird Atlas Update Atlas Research Extended to 2021 Breeding Season

Excerpted from March 26, 2020 Notice from Chris Elphick

In light of the current pandemic spread of Covid-19, it is not prudent at this time to take risks, such

as traversing the landscape birding. Consequently, another breeding season of data collection will be added during 2021. So, keep yourself and your fami-lies safe by staying close to home. And, if you felt that this spring was your last chance to find a displaying woodcock or a nesting red-tailed hawk in your block, then you can put those concerns aside.

We are not suggesting that you should forget about the Atlas entirely. Simply that everyone should stay home and local as directed. But, please continue to look for evidence of breeding birds in your immediate surrounds—especially behaviors that confirm breed-ing (confirmed breeding records are what the atlas lacks most). If robins and cardinals are not confirmed as breeding in your block, this is the time to look for their nests in your yard. If house sparrows and star-lings are not confirmed, then sit in your car for an extra five minutes while at the grocery store and see if

you can see birds going back and forth to a nest.Before you step out to get fresh air, familiar-

ize yourself with species that are still unconfirmed as breeders in your home’s block and see if you can observe those species carrying nest material or something similar. You never know, you might see a red-tailed or a red-shouldered hawk carrying sticks, which would confirm them as local breeders. _

Inside:

Field Trips

Field Trip Reports

Earth Day 2020

Poem

Member’s Corner

Annual Meeting May 13Mattabeseck Audubon’s Annual Meeting to elect new members to the Board of Directors is scheduled for May 13, 2020 at 7 p.m. at the DeKoven House, .

If you would like to serve, or if you can suggest someone who would like to join the board, please contact our Nominating Chairperson, Luella Landis, at GWLA620@yahoo.com. _

Bobcat Program Postponed

Our bobcat program will NOT be held on April 16th due to the coronavirus situation. I’m sure

this comes as no surprise. This is sad, but it certainly makes sense, and we hope we will be able to resched-ule this program.

Hope you and your family are keeping as safe as possible. Also, sending thanks and appreciation to our two medical professionals who are on the line, Sharon and Elaine. _

Luella Landis

Stay Safe, Everyone! and social-distance as requested by health officialsFor updated information on field trips and programs, please check our website:

www.audubon-mas.orgUpcoming meetings, programs, and field trips

(trips are on page 2) have been given tentative dates, but we cannot foresee whether we will be able to hold events at those times, due to Coronavirus social-distancing. _

MAS Officers: President: . . . . . . . . . Alison Guinness (860-873–9304) Vice-President: . . . . Luella Landis Recording Sec.: . . . . . Sharon Dellinger Treasurer: . . . . . . . . . Elaine Payne

2019 Committee Chairs: Conservation: . . . . . Larry Cyrulik (860-342–4785)Publicity: . . . . . . . . . Alison Guinness (860-873–9304)Sanctuary: . . . . . . . . Rodrigo Pinto (301-768-8807)Wingbeat: . . . . . . . . . Pat Rasch (860-635–1880) <pat_rasch@mac.com>

Rare Bird Alert: . . . . . . 203-254–3665

On the web: . . . . . . . . . . www.audubon-mas.org

Wingbeat uses 50% recycled paper (20% post-consumer waste) and vegetable-based ink

Field Trip ReportsEagles at Machimoodus

Arising in the dark and glancing at the superfluous winter undergarments laid out carefully the night before: a January week-end like no other. Temperatures predicted to lift into the mid 60’s and beyond. Bicycle weather.

Machimoodus Park: brown, dry and sparse. Dark-eyed Juncos and White throated sparrows fidget in the grit sur-rounding the blonde-red little bluestem. Blue birds alight on the crabapple limbs.

Passing the open fields and arid gravel pits, climbing gradually to the pinnacle of Mt.Tom overlooking a fully open Salmon river cove…peering through a lattice-work of bare oak and tree-of-heaven boughs…seeing rafts of white cotton swabs, the figures of Mute swans, elegantly dipping their long, sinuous necks below the brilliantly glinting sur-face of the water in search of weeds.

Scanning the skies, clouds hovering in patches, the sun unusually benign, palpable. No eagles to be found. A Com-mon raven chortles in the distant hill.

Hesitation; then a downward spiral to a field below the precipice. Brittle expanse of bluestem and the skeletons of goldenrod gone to seed. Pilgrims appear walking their dogs.

“Yes, it feels like Indian Summer. No, there are no eagles flying.”

Leaving Machimoodus and arriving at Cove road overlooking the conver-gence of the Moodus river with the Salmon. A couple who had been participating in the annual DEEP eagle count relate: “Oh, yes, we just had a burst of activity by the Salmon river boat launch; the eagles came up from the hot water canal of the closed nuclear power plant. We think we had an immature Golden.”

Not surprising, the Golden eagle. A decision was made to visit Gillette’s Castle Park and the arrival there was pro-pitious; it coincided with an Ecuadorian festival. While one of the eagle party craned his neck to finally observe an immature bird hovering over the tree tops, a parade of brightly dressed men, women and children swayed and danced to Andes rhythms pulsating from the speakers of their tape recorder. The women’s long, shining black hair, impeccably coiffured and tied up with red ribbons, flashed in the sun. Young men wore expansive, Mardi Gras-type head gear with tassels that swung merrily in time with the dance steps. Little boys and girls squirted strips of soap into the hair and onto the clothes of the performers. And then all held hands and sa-shayed to the drum beats, including those whose eyes were searching for eagles.

The large, pirouetting avians came down from above, floated in tangent, and seemed for a brief moment to par-ticipate in the festivities. And the soft zephyrs of an unchar-acteristically warm January day, the shining red and white clothes of the Ecuadorians, the sound of the flutes and drums, the joy and excitement of the children, all belied the turmoil that would come in a month’s brief passing.

2 participants (and inadvertently, numerous Ecuadorians) 4 eagles

Upcoming Field Trips: Spring/Summer 2020(Tentative, depends on status of Coronavirus social-distancing) May 2, 2020 (Saturday 8 a.m.) David Titus Memorial Warbler Walk Meet at River Highlands State Park parking lot, Field Road,

Cromwell. We’ll be looking for neo-tropical migrants—warblers: Pines, Blue-wings, Ovenbirds, and more, as well as other recent Spring arrivals like Rose-breasted grosbeak, Baltimore oriole and Scarlet tanager. Call Larry Cyrulik 342-4785 or 635-1880 for information.

June 6, 2020 (Saturday 8 a.m.) Canoe/Kayak somewhere This urban river and its flood plain have a surpris-ing amount of bio diversity. Meet at the town launch area at the end of River Road, Cromwell. Bring canoe or kayak, and lunch. Customize trip length to your own schedule—a few hours or whole day. Call Larry Cyrulik for details 342-4785 or 635-1880. _

Black and white Warbler

PAGE 2 VOLUME 47 • NO. 1 • SPRING/SUMMER 2020 Wingbeat

Continued on next page

Let’s Go A-Ducking0830 Research Parkway Ponds

The sky like a blue palm of an enor-mous hand; in the center of the palm, a yellow sphere glowing. A light wind blowing across the cold waters of the ponds chilled the face, filled the nos-trils with moisture. The edges of the ponds bristled with cattails and spot-

ted alder. On one of these ponds, nestled against this cover, were multi-colored male Wood ducks escorting the duller females. Black ducks bobbed for weeds. Nearby, Mallards pirouetted on the water’s pewter surface.

Crossing over Industrial Parkway to an adjacent water-body huddled close to the bustle of the I-91 Interstate that echoed its cacophony of ripping traffic noise incessantly, were, in perfect equanimity, Buffleheads with their signa-

ture white and black bod-ies; Green wing teal, whose males sported heads of variegated cinnamon and green, and had posteriors of gold; Plain grey Wid-geons; Mallards, white, green and brown; and Black ducks with olive-green beaks. A pair of ubiquitous Canada geese casually paddled near one another, occasion-ally nodding their heads graciously.

0930 State Boat Launch North Farms ReservoirA northwest wind fetched leaden wavelets towards shore. The spotting scope trembled upon the tripod. A pair of Mallards disappeared behind some alders. The eye was led to the farther shore where a numerous gaggle of Canada geese pecked at the sparse grasses of the residential lawns that spread down towards the water.

On the distant island with its beard of oak and black birch, an eagle’s nest was observed with a hopeful parent sitting incubating eggs. Soon, within easy viewing range, her mate alighted on a skeletal tree. It hunched stoically and purposefully upon a limb like an avian god.

01020 Broad Brook ReservoirPassing through a gate and walking over an abandoned access road led through wet seeps and broken boughs of trees to the edge of the reservoir and a viewing point.

There in the distance bobbing like Japanese origami were

the outlines of rafts of waterfowl. Up came the spotting scope. Squinting an eye, holding a hand on the body of the instrument and dialing in the focus, led to the discovery of Bufflehead, but also Common Mergansers. One Merganserl would dive and suddenly a whole flock disappeared below the surface in an aquatic ballet. The Green wing teal spread out in their own columns, appearing diminutive in the distance. Occasionally the ducks would rise in unison, fly several hundred yards, and then alight with a communal splash.

Setting the scope on the shoulder and moving to a dif-ferent vantage point was rewarded with the sight of a ner-vous Hooded Merganser paddling offshore. A b o v e , like shepherds tending their flocks, soared three immature Bald eagles. Rising, diving, trailing each other, the kings of raptors flapped their elongated black wings and tossed in the wind.

The dark eagles floated past and the eye was led up, up into the vault of heaven, and rested on the outline of Castle Craig, the firm, grey stone tower that rose from its traprock ridge like a prophecy.

3 participants 8 duck species _ LC

Field Trip Reports continued from pg 2 Spring in the Time of the PlagueAll’s quiet in the Time of the Plague;At dawn, the roads are void of ripping tires,The workplaces being closed,And cancellations smoulder like funeral pyres.

Forewarned by Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death,”They lock down cities and shutter schools,Then don their masks and gloves, emerge,And haunt the marketplace like ghouls.

Some take seriously the Flattening of the Curve,And dutifully shelter in place.Some skilfully hoard and make profit;May those who do, disappear without trace.

In the country, apart from this groaning mass,A Bluebird sits upon a bough,And Grackles staring with yellow eyesForage behind a farmer’s plow.

In some clearing sits a Dove,And incessantly coos its love.

L.C.

At Research Parkway Ponds

Wood Duck

Wingbeat VOLUME 47 • NO. 1 • SPRING/SUMMER 2020 PAGE 3

Earth Day 2020

When we all turned the calendar to January 2020, never in our wildest dreams did we conjure our world in its

current crisis. Back in 1970, it was becoming clear to many that our planet was heading for a crisis then and that if action wasn’t taken immediately, Earth would lose many of its species and be unlivable for humanity. We had a Demo-cratic Congress and Richard Nixon was President.

On 1 January 1970, President Richard Nixon signed the National Environmental Policy Act (or NEPA), beginning the 1970s as the environmental decade. The goals were large. They sought to restrict toxic air pollution nationwide, clean up hundreds of streams and rivers, and erect a permanent, federally empowered Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which came into being on 9 July and consolidated environmental programs from other agencies into a single entity. The bill also created the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to give the President advice on environmen-tal issues and review Environmental Impact Statements. These statements are now required of all federal agencies planning projects with major environmental ramifications.

The President closed the year by signing the Clean Air Act on 31 December. This was an amended reinstatement of existing law originally signed in December 1963 by Presi-dent Lyndon Johnson. One of the major provisions of the 1970 amendment was the phase-out of lead-based gasoline. The act set a  six-year deadline for the automobile indus-try to develop a 90% pollution-free engine. But within two years, the deadline would be pushed back and standards watered down by the Nixon administration. However, by 1995, the percentage of U.S. children with elevated levels of lead in their blood had dropped from 88 percent to 4 per-cent, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Between those momentous events that bracketed the year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-tion (NOAA) formed by bringing together the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Weather Bureau, and the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries. The Mine Safety and Health Act took effect, and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration  (OSHA) bill was passed by Con-gress. OSHA’s responsibilities include setting standards for employee exposure to hazardous substances.

Also that year, whale product imports were banned by the Interior Department in one of Walter Hickel’s last acts as secretary. At the time, the U.S. imported 30 percent of the world’s whale products and used them in pet food, marga-rine, soap, and machine oil.

When these statutes were passed, they were popular, bipartisan bills. Nixon signed the Clean Air Act in a well-publicized ceremony. “I think that 1970 will be known as the year of the beginning, in which we really began to move on the problems of clean air and clean water and open spaces for the future generations of America,” he told reporters.

In between the creation of those legislative acts to protect the environment came the first nationwide Earth Day cele-bration on 22 April. It was organized by Sen. Gaylord Nelson and Dennis Hayes. It created a national political conscious-ness for environmental concerns. Millions of Americans demonstrated for air and water cleanup and preservation of nature.

While all the global events in celebration of Earth Day’s 50th anniversary have been cancelled, we can all do some-thing in our own way by saying a prayer that we, and all we love and cherish, including Mother Earth, survive into the future clean and healthy and beautiful.

Alison Guinness, MAS President

Ospreys at Chaffinch Island Park, Guilford, on March 16, 2020.

Photos by George Landis

PAGE 4 VOLUME 47 • NO. 1 • SPRING/SUMMER 2020 Wingbeat

Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDMiddletown, CT

Permit No. 34

Non-Profit Organization

deKoven House27 Washington StreetMiddletown, Connecticut 06457

deKoven House27 Washington StreetMiddletown, Connecticut 06457

The deadline for items to be included in the Summer /Fall issue is June 26, 2020. Printing of this Spring/Summer issue has been delayed, due to Coronavirus. (Spring/Summer may be combined with Summer/Fall issue in print.) Please send items to Pat Rasch, 24 Elm Road, Cromwell, CT 06416, or email to <pat_rasch@comcast.net>The Board of Directors plans to meet at 7:30 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month at deKoven House, 27 Washington Street, Middletown.

From MAS member, Alberta MirerConnecticut Bald Eagles 2019 Broken Records:

64 active eagle territories / Previous record 5545 nests successfully produced chicks / Previous record 3881 chicks hatched / Previous record 68

Congratulations to the 54 Conn towns and cities that were home to eagle nests

Calling All Eagle Eyes: Starting in early spring report nest locations and eagle sightings to ct.giv/deep/baldeagles or e-mail Brian Hess at brian/hess@ct.gov

Connecticut Magazine March 2020 / DEEP Conn Wildlife

Is a Young Animal Abandoned?Probably not. It’s likely the adult is near-by, waiting for you to leave. The best thing you can do for young wildlife is to leave it alone.

If you are absolutely sure a wild animal is injured or orphaned, before touching or moving it, contact the DEEP Wildlife Division at 860-424-3011 or after hours Emergency Dispatch Center 860-424-3333.

You can also find a DEEP authorized wildlife rehabilita-tor and information on how to handle wildlife problems at ct.gov/deep/WildlifeProblems. For species not covered on the DEEP website check out www.wildlifehelp.org and select “Connecticut” as the state.

Connecticut Wildlife March / April 2019

AUDUBON MEMBERS’ CORNER ( Feel free to send us contributions to this column)