Sandy Beaches

Currents moving along the shore constantly move sand along the beach. At Hammonasset, the longshore currents carry sand to the southeast. This is obvious at the jetty, where the sands extend farther out on the northwest side of the rocks than on the southeast side.  The waves drop their sand load on the northwest side when they encounter the stone jetty, then remove sand from the southeast side. Thus Hammonasset beach sand currently comes from the areas to the northwest of the beaches.

Courtesy of the CT DEP

Tropical Birds at Hammonasset?

In the mid 1960’s  a group of bright, lime green Monk Parakeets, also known as Quaker Parrots, escaped from a shipment that arrived at JFK Airport in New York, bound for pet shops and the exotic bird trade. The escaped birds took up residence on Long Island and spread out as far as Chicago and Texas. In Connecticut they established colonies in Milford, Bridgeport, Branford and at Hammonasset.  It’s a funny thing to hear them squawking and to see their colorful tropical plumage even in the dead of winter at the park.  Apparently, these beautiful birds make large thick nests that help them survive the cold New England winters, so different from their original warm weather homes.  In the winter they survive on the abundant supply of rose hips from the beach roses that cover much of the dune area and beach plumbs.  All is not well however for these beautiful, if misplaced birds. United Illuminating is rounding them up and killing them because some of them nest on utility poles. This has caused great concern among animal lovers and several efforts are on going to protect these lovely creatures. PSE&G in NJ and ConEd in NY have devised more humane ways of removing the birds and the public is calling on UI to adopt these methods. Meanwhile, residents are hard at work providing alternate nesting platforms for them.  For more information visit www.ctquakers.com, or sign the on-line petition to help save them at www.petitiononline.com/CTmonks/petition.html/

The Dinner Hour, 9x12

Disappearing Marsh, 16x20

Cedars by the Lake, 6x8

Fiery Marsh, 14x18

Red Trees, 6x8

Hammonasset Panorama, 6x8

Hammonasset Sky, 12x16

Afternoon Light, 16x20

November Marsh, 14x18

Clouds Over Hammonasset, 18x24

Walking at Hammonasset, 18x24

Winter Solstice 2006, 6x8