On a lovely sunny day last month, an employee of the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge noticed a drone flying close to the offshore Menunketesuck Island. Since it is illegal to fly drones over a national wildlife refuge, the refuge staff tracked the vehicle to a local real estate agency that had planned to use drone photos in property promotions. No doubt the real estate agency owner was shocked when Rick Potvin, the refuge’s manager, called to explain that the drone fly-over near the islands was illegal.

Penalties for rule violations range from a $200 to $300 fine for unauthorized flying of drones in a wildlife refuge to as much as six months in jail and fines of up to $5,000. These federal government regulations were put in place to protect refuge wildlife from harassment such as the disruption of nesting and other normal behaviors. In Connecticut state parks, state forests, and other land under the control of the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP), drone use is prohibited unless authorized by the commissioner in a special use license.

“A drone’s shadow is similar to that a predator bird. Drones are just the right size to mimic a predator on wing,” said Potvin. “So parent birds will take defensive actions which takes energy away. The chicks take defensive actions, too, lying flat or hiding and not feeding. These [steps] can also then make them vulnerable to a real predator.”

Protecting Wildlife

Wildlife protection is also the reason that human access to Menunketesuck Island (part of the refuge) is prohibited year-round and to Duck Island (owned by the State of Connecticut) during the nesting months from April through October. Although the rocky half of Salt Island is open to visitors, the half that’s covered with vegetation and where birds build their nests is closed to pedestrian and boat access.

Potvin said he is extremely grateful for the work of the group Friends of the Barrier Islands in the past few years to educate residents and visitors about the islands’ nesting habitats and how to protect them.

“Every Saturday, the refuge gives a short presentation at Water’s Edge to new time-share visitors as they arrive, and every Saturday, the Friends [of the Barrier Islands] are at West Beach doing education,” said Potvin.

And with the educational initiative and routine patrols of the waters around the islands, there have been fewer disruptive human intrusions onto the islands. Potvin believes the public education and routine monitoring are responsible for a major milestone reached at Menunketesuck Island this spring: the return of long-legged waders.

A New Colony Appears

“There are only six or seven known colonies of long-legged waders—egrets, herons, ibis, and black-crowned night herons—in the State of Connecticut. Protection of long-legged waders was a key reason for the creation of the Stewart B. McKinney Refuge, but the refuge has not had any for 15 years. And then this spring, a new colony of long-legged waders appeared on Menunketesuck Island. We were quite excited,” said Potvin.

Potvin defined a colony as a group with a minimum of four or five nesting pairs.

The three Westbrook offshore islands, identified by the Audubon Society as an Important Bird Area, provide excellent habitat for the long-legged waders and also for other important birds, including those identified as threatened or endangered. Nests of shore birds found at these islands include least terns, common terns, American oystercatchers, glossy ibis, herons, egrets and piping plovers, among others.

With drone fly-overs already prohibited over state open space and federal refuges, the Westbrook Conservation Commission and the Friends of Westbrook Barrier Islands have asked the Board of Selectmen to consider adopting ordinance language to prohibit the unauthorized flight by drones or other unmanned aircraft over Westbrook open space, too.

“When a drone flies by, the drone itself and the noise it makes produces a ‘fight or flight’ reflex in the birds, and often leads to lose of chicks,” said John Rie of the Conservation Commission.

No date has been set yet by the Board of Selectmen for discussion of this proposed new ordinance.