CT Nightjar Survey

Over the last few weeks I participated in a Nightjar survey. The goal is to map the distribution and abundance of Whip-poor-wills, Chuck-wills-widows, and Nighthawks in Connecticut. Each participant to given several listening sites within a survey area. The protocol is to listen for 3 minutes at each site and record the number of nightjars that were heard,

My survey area was Middletown, CT and I had 10 sites to cover. The survey was supposed to be conducted from June 5 - 10 so I picked Tuesday as the date that I thought would have the best weather. Unfortunately my area was so large that I didn't get to all of the sites before the survey ended for the night. Another downer was that I didn't hear one bird.

I finished the survey last Monday night. Again I lucked out. The best thing that came of the whole experience is that I learned that Gray Treefrogs are abundant in Connecticut. I heard them calling everywhere and even had to stop my car to help one cross the road.

Seriously, I'm glad I participated. Hopefully the survey as a whole is successful even if my route wasn't. I believe that this survey is critical to track the status of these animals.