Bennett Pudlin & Ann Judd

Ann Judd and Bennett Pudlin, with an Osprey nest and the Guilford marsh in the distance.

Bennett Pudlin & Ann Judd
Madison
Osprey Nation Volunteer Stewards & Connecticut Audubon Society Members
They monitor 15 nests, including one they can see from their house.

Bennett: We moved to Madison from Hamden eight years ago. We were looking for a place where we would have direct access to the water for our kayaks. When we found this house on one of the most important salt marshes on Long Island Sound, we knew we had the right place.

What moves me most about the marsh is the different ways the sun illuminates it throughout the day, from the time I wake up as the rising sun begins to lighten the marsh to the gorgeous sunsets over the Guilford shore. I especially love kayaking in the late afternoon in the fall, when the angle of the sun turns the marsh golden. I find it transporting.

Ann: I’m always looking for other birds — willets, egrets, sandpipers, ibis — and for animals such eastern diamondback terrapins and jellyfish.

Bennett: This spring was our first experience with Osprey Nation. We were very surprised to discover that so much of our marsh was not mapped and that no one had stepped forward to monitor the osprey on it. We offered to monitor the whole marsh up to Route 1 in the hope that posting the information on Osprey Nation would encourage others to take over a nest or two. That has not yet happened. And there are mapped nests without monitors north and west of us and undoubtedly nests that have not yet been mapped. I can’t imagine what folks are waiting for. It’s a marvelous opportunity to see these great creatures up close and personal. Rarely do you get a chance to do something so important that is also so pleasurable and rewarding.  

Ann: We knew how to identify osprey by sight and call and knew their nesting habits, but we’re constantly learning more about their lives as we observe them. We try make a circuit once a week from the Neck River to the East River and back to the Neck. It takes about an hour and a half.

Join Ann and Bennett as Members of the Connecticut Audubon Society!

Bennett: We monitor our platform on our property often throughout the day. We have binoculars upstairs and down, and our scope is trained on the nest. Now that the chicks are fledging, it is hard not to look at them constantly. Genevieve [Genevieve Nuttall, the Osprey Nation coordinator] has been fantastic about updating the site, and we almost feel it is our duty to keep her busy.

Ann: Certainly the constant increase in the osprey population on our marsh gives me reason to be optimistic, but the rise in sea level that threatens some of the other marsh residents dampens my optimism a bit.

Bennett: Osprey were very close to disappearing, and in just a few decades, they have made a miraculous recovery. Their success gives me hope that we can and will solve the other environmental problems we have created, including climate change and sea level rise.  We had better do it quickly, however. This magnificent and important marsh is home to several endangered sparrows; if sea level rise continues, their future is grim.

The challenges are enormous, and we worry about the condition of the world that we will leave to our children and our new grandson. However, you cannot see the comeback of these magnificent birds – and the bald eagles that visit our marsh – without a feeling of optimism and belief in what an informed and mobilized citizenry can do. Time is running out, however, and the need to act is urgent.