American Robin, Connecticut's State Bird. Photo: Darlynn Lydick/Audubon Photography Awards

Birds of Connecticut

More than 450 migratory, year-round, and wintering bird species call our state home.

American Robin, Connecticut's State Bird. Photo: Darlynn Lydick/Audubon Photography Awards

What is an indicator species?

When we say that birds are an "indicator" species, it means their presence—or absence—tells us about the health of an ecosystem.

Audubon worked with a couple who own and manage 117 acres of forest. Their woodlands have a wonderful variety of mature tree species, such as maples, beech, birches, eastern hemlock, oaks, and some large shagbark hickory. But only when a tree was felled and left on the forest floor did a Ruffed Grouse appear and make a nest in the remains! This bird’s population drastic decline in the northeast is largely due to loss of quality habitat. When the right habitat was recreated, they were able to return.

Here in Connecticut, we hone in on the places birds need across coastal, forest, wetland, and other habitats, and advance projects that aim to reverse their declines.

Meet some of the indicator species that guide our work.

American Oystercatcher

Haematopus palliatus

LCIUCN Status

Guide

A very large, unmistakable shorebird of Atlantic and Gulf Coast beaches. Solitary or in family groups in summer, American Oystercatchers may gather in large flocks in winter.

Scarlet Tanager

Piranga olivacea

LCIUCN Status

Guide

Male Scarlet Tanagers seem almost too bright and exotic for northeastern woodlands. These birds are fairly common in oak forests in summer, but they often remain out of sight as they forage in the leafy upper branches. Sometimes in spring, when the Scarlet Tanagers have just arrived from their winter home in South America, a late freeze will force them out in the open as they search for insects on roadsides or in gardens.

Saltmarsh Sparrow

Ammospiza caudacuta

ENIUCN Status

Guide

A bird of the coast, named for the spiky tips on its tail feathers (which it shares with several related kinds of sparrows). Saltmarsh Sparrows have an unusual mating system for a songbird, with males simply roving about looking for females rather than defending a nesting territory.

Chimney Swift

Chaetura pelagica

VUIUCN Status

Guide

The only swift occurring regularly in the east. It once nested in hollow trees, but today it nearly always nests in chimneys or other structures. Because the bird can be easily captured and banded in such situations, it has been studied much more thoroughly than other North American swifts. In late summer, hundreds or even thousands of individuals may roost in one large chimney, gathering in spectacular flocks overhead near dusk.

American Kestrel

Falco sparverius

LCIUCN Status

Guide

Our smallest falcon, the kestrel is also the most familiar and widespread in North America. In open country it is commonly seen perched on roadside wires, or hovering low over a field on rapidly beating wings, waiting to pounce on a grasshopper. Kestrels nest in cavities in trees; in places where there are few large dead snags to provide nest sites, they may rely on nesting boxes put up for them by conservationists.

Piping Plover

Charadrius melodus

NTIUCN Status

Guide

A small plover with a very short bill. Its pale back matches the white sand beaches and alkali flats that it inhabits. While many shorebirds have wide distributions, this one is a North American specialty, barely extending into Mexico in winter. Many of its nesting areas are subject to human disturbance or other threats, and it is now considered an endangered or threatened species in all parts of its range.

Cerulean Warbler

Setophaga cerulea

VUIUCN Status

Guide

The sky-blue upperparts of the male Cerulean Warbler are difficult to observe in summer: At that season, the birds stay high in the tops of leafy trees in the eastern United States and extreme southern Canada. The bird itself has become harder to observe in recent decades, as its numbers have decreased in parts of its range. Cowbirds, which lay their eggs in the warblers' nests, may be finding their unwitting 'hosts' more easily as forest patches become smaller.

Purple Martin

Progne subis

LCIUCN Status

Guide

Graceful in flight, musical in its pre-dawn singing, this big swallow is one of our most popular birds. Almost all Purple Martins in the east now nest in birdhouses put up especially for them. Martin housing has a long history: some Native American tribes reportedly hung up hollow gourds around their villages to attract these birds. Purple Martins migrate to South America for the winter, but before leaving, they may gather to roost in groups of thousands in late summer.

Least Bittern

Ixobrychus exilis

LCIUCN Status

Guide

One of the smallest herons in the world, adapted for life in dense marshes. Rather than wading in the shallows like most herons, the Least Bittern climbs about in cattails and reeds, clinging to the stems with its long toes. Its narrow body allows it to slip through dense, tangled vegetation with ease. Because of its habitat choice, it often goes unseen except when it flies, but its cooing and clucking callnotes are heard frequently at dawn and dusk and sometimes at night.

Short-eared Owl

Asio flammeus

LCIUCN Status

Guide

Easier to see than most owls, the Short-ear lives in open terrain, such as prairies and marshes. It is often active during daylight, especially in the evening. When hunting it flies low over the fields, with buoyant, floppy wingbeats, looking rather like a giant moth. Aside from its North American range, it also nests in South America and Eurasia, and on many oceanic islands, including Hawaii.

How We Make a Difference in Connecticut