Connecticut State of the Birds 2025: Recommendations and Action Items
Shorebird protection must be strengthened to other key sites such as Long Beach, Hammonassett, Griswold Point, Bluff Point, and Barn Island. Photo by Julian Hough.
Bird conservation after the landmark 2019 study “Decline of North American Avifauna” requires effective local work in coordination with regional and national efforts. This report has highlighted what is working and where the challenges remain. Based on these lessons, we recommend the following.
Use Ospreys as Sentinel Species
Connecticut Audubon will launch a pilot project in 2026 to identify the fish species the state’s Ospreys depend on. Connecticut’s Ospreys are doing well but populations in parts of Chesapeake Bay are collapsing because of food shortages. Understanding why will require better data on regional diets.
We urge fisheries and coastal ecosystem managers to incorporate Osprey data—reproductive success, diet, and population trends—into decision-making. Ospreys are ideal ecological indicators. Leveraging their role as bioindicators can help transform long-standing fishery debates into transparent, science-driven conservation.
Strengthen Piping Plover Protection
Since being listed as threatened in 1986, the Atlantic Coast population of Piping Plovers has increased from fewer than 800 pairs to over 2,000, including more than 80 in Connecticut. Much of this progress comes from coordinated efforts led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and carried out locally by the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds.
Approximately one-third of the state’s Piping Plovers nest at Milford Point. Connecticut Audubon will continue to make protection of that habitat the highest priority. The success there shows the value of day-to-day monitoring, and collaboration among agencies, conservation groups, and the public.
Protect Other Vulnerable Shorebirds
More than a dozen regularly occurring Connecticut shorebirds—including Black-bellied Plover, Sanderling, Red Knot, and Great and Lesser Yellowlegs—are “Tipping Point species,” having lost over half their populations since 1970.
Protection efforts must be strengthened beyond Milford Point and Sandy Point, New Haven, to other key sites such as Long Beach, Hammonassett, Griswold Point, Bluff Point, and Barn Island. Outreach strategies tested by Virginia Tech and Audubon—including walks for the public, community meetings, signs and fencing, and shorebird viewing areas—can be carried out elsewhere to reduce human disturbance.
Maintain Federal Conservation Funding
Congress must reject proposed cuts to essential programs such as the Bird Banding Lab, the North American Breeding Bird Survey, and National Wildlife Refuge funding. These provide irreplaceable data, infrastructure, and training for bird conservation nationwide. The cost of losing them far outweighs the savings.
Make Connecticut Cities Bird-Friendly
Urban habitats are critical for Connecticut’s birds. We encourage conservation groups, land trusts, and municipalities to collaborate on initiatives modeled on Nature Canada’s Bird Friendly City program. Priorities include reducing glass collisions, light pollution, pesticide and rodenticide use, and outdoor cat predation.
We also urge adoption of bird-friendly building standards at state and municipal levels, modeled on New York City’s Local Law 15 and Canadian Standards Association guidelines.
These actions can help ensure that Connecticut contributes meaningfully to the recovery of North American birds—linking local conservation to regional and hemispheric success.
