Connecticut State of the Birds 2016: Gains, Losses and the Prospect of Extinction

Commissioner Rob Klee of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, at the Connecticut State of the Birds news conference on Nov. 21: “We need to set our sights higher for the next decade.”

November 21, 2016 – Although a handful of species have done surprisingly well, many Connecticut birds are suffering slow, steady population declines caused by the loss of their specialized nesting areas, the Connecticut Audubon Society said today in its Connecticut State of the Birds 2016 report.

Most alarmingly, one Connecticut species seems destined for extinction within decades.

The report was released at a news conference at Connecticut Audubon’s Coastal Center at Milford Point. Titled “Gains, Losses and the Prospect of Extinction,” the report looks back over 10 years of trends and data. It is the Connecticut Audubon Society’s 11th annual Connecticut State of the Birds report.

Copies of “Gains, Losses and the Prospect of Extinction” are available to members of the Connecticut Audubon Society. A PDF version is available here.

Read the rest of the news release here. The report’s recommendations can be found here.

News coverage from around the state.

The authors of its six articles found several examples of species doing well that were perhaps not expected to be. And a region-wide effort to create and expand habitat for a rare rabbit is improving chances for birds that nest in that same habitat.

But overall, losses outweigh gains. Among the birds that have been hardest hit are species that can nest only in specialized habitats such as large grasslands, shrubby areas, beaches, or tidal wetlands.

Most significant however is an avian conservation calamity on the horizon: the likely extinction of the Saltmarsh Sparrow within 50 years.