Answer: The Partnership is making progress toward improving beach and marsh health so these habitats can sustain shorebird populations. Shorebird nesting sites are disrupted by predators, human disturbances, and tidal flooding. The Partnership’s work to conserve critical habitat and educate the public on protecting these birds has contributed to the least tern population becoming more stable, and the piping plover population increasing. The saltmarsh sparrow is gaining attention as a species who would benefit from habitat restoration efforts.
Counts; Least Terns and Plovers are from New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Division of Fish and Wildlife and Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection’s Wildlife Division.
Shorebird populations can indicate if the Partnership is making progress to achieve the Coastal Habitat Objective of protecting, enhancing, and assessing the extent and health of coastal habitats and their associated wildlife.
The health of least terns, piping plovers, and saltmarsh sparrows gives insight on the health of their habitats – are there healthy beach and marsh habitats? Do the habitats have food for shorebirds, like fish, worms, and other small creatures? These birds help tell the story of how healthy and vibrant Long Island Sound’s beaches and marshes are, and what other threats Long Island Sound’s wildlife face.
The number of least terns indicates whether there is healthy and safe beach habitat for coastal birds, and whether there is forage fishin Long Island Sound’s waters for least terns to eat.
Least terns, a state threatened species in New York and Connecticut, live in large colonies on the beach and dive into nearby waters for food. Predators like fox, human disturbances (e.g., accidentally stepping on nests), and tidal flooding can disrupt tern nesting sites. The least tern population has remained relatively stable among the southern New England/New York region since 1990.
While least terns’ productivity in New York and Connecticut varies from year to year, the Atlantic Coast population size for this species has remained fairly constant over the last decade.
Over the past 5 years, an average of 295 breeding pairs per year were observed in Connecticut. This is a successful recovery from the dismal Connecticut shorebird nesting season of 2018. In 2018, only 62 pairs attempted nesting and only 14 least tern chicks fledged. The cause of this sharp decline is currently unknown.
Although the total number of least tern breeding pairs throughout the north shore of Long Island in New York steadily increased from a low of 382 pairs in 2014 to a high of 996 attempted nests in 2018, the number of breeding pairs decreased over a three-year period from 2018 to 2021. During this same three-year period, however, Connecticut numbers stabilized. The data suggest that some birds may favor one side of Long Island Sound from year to year, depending on available habitat and storm-damaged areas.
Tracking the success of the least terns to hatch and raise chicks can provide an indication of the health of the population. In 2023, Connecticut’s most successful site was in Groton where the least terns had a productivity rate of 0.67. This means each mating pair of terns produced, on average, 0.67 chicks. 2024 was another year of low productivity in Connecticut. However, the adult population count remained relatively steady throughout the Atlantic Coast. Least terns are a long-lived species where adult survival is more important than high productivity. The steep decline in the least tern nesting success throughout the Northeast region is being investigated by wildlife managers of a northeast multi-state Least Tern Working Group working with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS). Threats to adult and chick survival include predation and/or human disturbance, such as people with off-leash dogs. These threats continue to be a problem at most breeding sites in Connecticut and New York. A Connecticut State law (Public Act 23-155), “An Act Authorizing the Establishment of a Seabird and Shorebird Protection Program”, provides extra protection from these threats to vulnerable beach-nesting species, including least terns.
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Forage fish are small, fast-growing species that provide the majority of the food supply for larger fish, including game fish such as striped bass and bluefish, and mammals such as seals. Forage fish can also include juvenile stages of larger species which school in large numbers, such as scup, bluefish, and weakfish. Many forage fish inhabit the low marsh and intertidal areas of the shoreline and are food for birds, reptiles, and crabs.