February is National Bird Feeding Month!
Get 20% Off Birdseed at Center at Fairfield
In 1994, Illinois Congressman John Porter read a resolution into the Congressional Record declaring February to be “National Bird Feeding Month." February is one of the most difficult months in the U.S. for wild birds: berries and seeds are difficult to find, insects are dead or dormant, and birds require extra energy and fat reserves to keep warm. (During the day, birds eat continuously so they will have enough calories to burn to keep them warm during the night.) 

During February and throughout the lean days of winter, it's important to provide quality food that is high in fat and calories to help wild birds survive, together with fresh water. During February, bird seed will be at a 20% discount at the Center at Fairfield's Nature Store, 2325 Burr Street in Fairfield, open Tuesdays through Saturdays 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Knowledgeable staff will answer your general bird-feeding questions and offer guidance on feeder selection, placement and bird seed choices. Pre-orders not required for this special month-long bird seed sale. Call 203-259-6305. ext 109 or click here for the Center at Fairfield's web page. Photo of a Downy Woodpecker at a bird feeder by Twan Leenders.

Featured Program: NEW! "Cookin’ at the Birdcraft" Workshops
Join Carol Leonetti Dannhauser for this series of eight 2-hour cooking workshops, designed to help busy people like us feed our families more healthy, interesting and mouth-watering food. Carol is the producer of "Now You're Cooking," the Connecticut Public TV show. Join Carol for one or more workshops; each includes lunch and a glass of wine.
"Cookin'" Schedule:
Fabulous Family Fare 4 Tuesdays, noon-2 p.m. Fast, fresh, family-friendly meals from scratch.
Jan. 19: Family Feasts in Half an Hour. Jan. 26: Gourmet on a Budget. Feb. 2: Bonanza of Breakfasts. Feb. 9: Healthful in a Hurry.
Global Gourmet 4 Wednesdays, noon-2 p.m. Take an ethnic eating and cooking adventure!
Jan. 20: Northern Italian. Jan. 27: Spanish-Influenced Tapas. Feb. 3: Moroccan with a Twist.
Feb. 10: Contemporary Mexican.
So toss the takeout and let Carol help you get more bang for your food buck. Meet, cook and enjoy lunch with interesting people during small, fun and hands-on cooking classes focusing on seasonable, sustainable fare. Per-class cost: $45 CAS members, $55 Non-members. 4-class series: $160 CAS Members, $200 Non-members. Information/register at 203-259-0416 ext. 403.

After School Nature Club at
CAS's 168-acre Trail Wood Sanctuary
93 Kenyon Rd., Hampton, 860-928-4948
If your child needs some time to blow off steam after school, send her or him to Trail Wood. Our teacher-naturalists will fill their afternoons with fresh air and hikes and some lessons on wildlife. Fee per session: $35 CAS Members, $45 Non-Members.
February Session: Weds., Feb. 3, 10, 24, March 3. April Session: Weds., March 31, April 7, 14, 28.
After School Nature Club participants take a hike
through Trail Wood; photo © Sarah Heminway.

14th Annual “Our Natural World” Photo Contest, Exhibit & Sale at CAS Center at Glastonbury
1361 Main St., Glastonbury, 860-633-8402

Exhibit runs Feb. 2-27, Tuesdays-Saturdays 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Amateur photographers and their photos of plants, animals, birds, butterflies, bugs, landscapes, scenery and people in relationship to nature will be showcased. Enjoy our 14th annual Photo Exhibit & Sale; a portion of all your purchases benefits our Center at Glastonbury. Free admission.

New “Nature in Art” Saturday Series at CAS Center at Fairfield, for children enrolled in Grades 2-5. Shake those winter blues away! Our "Nature in Art” projects are inspired by our live animal visitors and the natural world. We’ll experiment with different art materials and techniques (with a twist!). Space is limited. Pre-registration required at 203-259-6305 ext. 109. Per-class fee: $15/child CAS Members, $19/child Non-members. 5-programs: $65/child CAS Members, $85/child Non-members. Schedule Saturdays, 10:15-11:45 a.m. on: Feb. 6, "Rabbits & Other Furry Friends" (printmaking); Feb. 20, "Insects & Trees" (painting); March 6, "Fish & Frogs" (drawing); March 20, "Snakes & Lizards" (sculpture).

Owl Walk & Bird Walk at Center at Pomfret's 700-acre Bafflin Sanctuary, 189 Pomfret St. (Rte.169), Pomfret Center

Owl Walk: Sat., Feb. 13, 5 p.m.
Join CAS's Andy Rzeznikiewicz as he attempts to call in various owl species: Screech, Barred, Great Horned, Saw-whet and Long-eared Owls are possibilities. Pre-registration required at 860-928-4948. Bad weather cancels. Per-walk fee: $5 CAS Members, $10 Non-members.

Monthly Bird Walk: Tues., Feb. 16, 1 p.m.
Andy Rzeznikiewicz will lead us to various locations in search of winter residents like Winter Finches, roosting Saw-whet Owls, Horned Larks, ducks and raptors. Note the early afternoon time, when birds tend to be more active in winter. Bring binoculars or a spotting scope if you have one. Fee: $5 CAS Members, $10 Non-Members.

Photo: Saw-whet Owl © James Cutler.

Shake away the Winter Blues! Free Concert featuring Blues on the Rock

to benefit Connecticut Audubon Society's EcoTravel Program
When Saturday, Feb. 13, 4-6 p.m.

Where The Griswold Inn, 36 Main St., Essex, CT

Expect Great live music, prizes, raffle, surprises.

Information Click here for Blues on the Rocks band website.
Click here to e-mail EcoTravel's Priscilla Wood for more info, or call 860-767-0660.

Visit our EcoTravel website & see their schedule of great Day Trips & Overnight Tours.

Join in the "Great Backyard Bird Count" February 12-15, 2010

Join thousands of birder “citizen-scientists” across the country in this annual bird survey conducted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and other participating organizations. The "Great Backyard Bird Count" is a four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent and in Hawaii. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes on one day, or you can count for as long as you like each day of the event. It’s free, fun and easy -- and it helps the birds.

Participants count birds anywhere for as little or as long as they wish during the four-day period. They tally the highest number of birds of each species seen together at any one time. To report their counts, they fill out an online checklist at the Great Backyard Bird Count web site.

We need your help throughout Connecticut! No other science utilizes volunteer enthusiasts as much as ornithology. In fact, bird watchers have contributed greatly to our present knowledge of birds and some of the most valuable information about birds has come from amateur “citizen scientists." Click hear to check out the GBBC website and sign on!

Email Your Representatives and Help Our Songbirds!
Support Increased Federal Funding for Bird Conservation:
Urge Re-authorization of Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act
Bills in the US Senate and House would re-authorize the existing Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act at significantly higher funding levels. Email your Senators and Representatives to make sure both bills pass for the benefit of our songbirds!

Why are these bills so important? Every year some five billion birds representing 500 different species migrate from winter habitats in Latin America to breed in North America. They face many threats, especially continuing habitat loss across the hemisphere. Many species are experiencing significant population decreases: the Cerulean Warbler and Olive-sided Flycatcher, among others, have declined by as much as 70% since the 1960s."The Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act is the only source of federal funding dedicated specifically to bird conservation throughout the Americas. This extremely effective matching grants program coordinates and funds the conservation of neotropical migratory birds and habitats in the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean. It has a proven track record of reversing habitat loss and degradation and of advancing innovative management and habitat restoration strategies. Passage of these bipartisan bills could dramatically increase funding, from the current $6 million to $20 million. All grants made by this Act must be matched by other funds, so every $1 of taxpayer money leverages $3 from private sources -- potentially $60 million in additional funding for bird conservation!" (American Bird Conservancy)

Email your Senators & ask them to support S. 690: click here to find/email them.

Email your Representatives & ask them to support H.R. 2213: click here to find/email them.

Photo: Common Yellowthroat © 2007 E.H. Soderberg.

Seen any gulls with large, colorful wing tags lately?

We regularly get phone calls from people who see gulls sporting brightly colored tags and a letter-number code on their wings. The birds are part of a program by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to track the habits and flight patterns of gulls near the Quabbin and Wachusett reservoirs in eastern Mass. DCR is asking the public’s help in reporting any sightings of tagged gulls, so DCR can track gull movement and the best way to prevent the gulls from overnighting at the reservoirs and potentially contaminating important public water supplies. DCR employees have tagged hundreds of Ring-billed, Herring and Great Black-back Gulls.
Each species has its own tag color, and each tag has an individual number,
easily legible without binoculars. Sightings have been received from central Mass. to Maine, Manitoba and Newfoundland, and many of these tagged gulls show up in Connecticut. If you see a wing-tagged bird, try to obtain the letter-number combination on the tag (e.g., A57) and report it to: Dan Clark, 508-792-7423, ext. 215 or dan.clark@state.ma.us. Please include time and place of sighting, bird's tag color and letter-number ID. Common places to find these wintering gulls are at landfills, parking lots and ball fields. For more info visit www.mass.gov/dcr/waterSupply/watershed/study/index.htm. Photos courtesy Massachusetts Dept. of Conservation and Research.

Connecticut Audubon Society Receives Contract Award from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Connecticut Audubon Society will perform field surveys and data analysis and provide managementrecommendations for a Wildlife and Flora Field Survey on five flood control projects in the Naugatuck River Area. The $30,000 contract is with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New England District. Dr. Anton Leenders, Conservation Biologist, will head the effort for Connecticut Audubon Society, which will provide baseline biological information necessary for the preparation of master plans for USACE's CT projects. Click here to learn more.
Photo courtesy USACE: Thomaston Dam holding back a pool that is normally a dry bed reservoir. The flooded area is the Naugatuck River.

Help Needed at our Center at Fairfield with Bird Data
Long-time bird banding programs at CAS Centers and other bird inventory efforts have resulted in large amounts of valuable information on bird species across the state. Some of this information is many decades old and provides invaluable “snapshots in time,” enabling us to compare historic bird diversity and density with current numbers and determine which bird species are declining, holding steady or thriving.

CAS's Science & Conservation staff is compiling and analyzing this data. But we need volunteers who can tranfer the available information from notebooks, old banding sheets and other paper formats into a computer. Click here for more information. Photo: A Saw-whet Owl, held by master bird bander Carol Millard at our Bafflin Sanctuary in Pomfret.

We have many Volunteer Opportunities available: click here.

CLEAN ENERGY. It's Real. It's Here. It's Working -- in Connecticut!

Connecticut Audubon Members, Supporters and Friends can demonstrate their commitment to a healthy environment by signing up to support clean energy. This campaign is part of a pilot program, developed by the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF). Five environmental non-profit organizations are asking constituents to enroll in the "CTCleanEnergyOptions™" program. For every 250 people who sign up from any of the 5 participating organizations, CCEF will donate a 1-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system to our Coastal Center at Milford Point, helping to create a system that will generate electricity and provide an educational exhibit for visitors with real-time monitoring available. Sign up for clean energy now! It's good for the birds, it's good for us, it's good for the environment. Click here for more info.                                                    

Click here to send us your comments and questions.

Click here for a MAP of our 5 Centers and 19 Wildlife Sanctuaries statewide.