Connecticut Audubon Society
Birdcraft Museum in Fairfield


314 Unquowa Road
Fairfield, CT 06824
203-259-0416

New Visitor Hours starting May 1, 2009:
Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
(Closed Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays.)

Our adjoining 6-acre Birdcraft Sanctuary is open
7 days a week from dawn to dusk year-round.

Click here for Directions

Birdcraft Museum Admission:
Adults: $2; Children under 14: $1.
Free for Connecticut Audubon Society Members

Founded in 1914 by Connecticut Audubon Society founder Mabel Osgood Wright, Birdcraft is the first private bird sanctuary in the U.S. It includes the Teaching Bridge and Pavilion that abut Birdcraft Pond. Starting in the spring the pond is teeming with Painted Turtles and Tree Swallows, many duck species, visiting Black-crowned Night Herons and many other species of song birds. Photo by Deanna Sojka.

Focus
To offer premier natural history education programs and exhibits for the benefit of school children and adults and to preserve the historic heritage of the facility as the first privately owned songbird sanctuary in the country.

History
Birdcraft Museum and Sanctuary was established in 1914 by Mabel Osgood Wright, a pioneer in the American conservation movement and the founder of Connecticut Audubon Society. Designated as a National Historic Landmark, this small and intimate natural history museum with its adjacent private songbird sanctuary (the oldest in the U.S.) represents the historic heart of Connecticut Audubon Society. Changing exhibits, informative lectures and the teaching bridge and pavilion provide a unique environmental experience. Mabel Osgood Wright is also an inductee in the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame, and the CAS Birdcraft Museum is one of the sites listed on the Connecticut Women’s Heritage Trail. For more information please visit www.cwhf.org.

Museum and Cottage
Representing the historic heart of Connecticut Audubon Society, these buildings served as our organization's original headquarters. The museum offers dioramas of Connecticut’s wildlife and wildlife habitats as they existed at the turn of the 20th century.The Four Seasons Room explores bird diversity throughout the years. Also, visitors can enjoy a honeybee hive, the Frederick T. Bedford Collection of African Animals, changing exhibits and hands-on children’s activities.

Sanctuary
Originally planted as a refuge to attract, harbor and feed migratory and resident birds, the six-acre site has documented records of more than 120 species of birds. Throughout the sanctuary are plantings designed to attract birds and butterflies. To enjoy this unique sanctuary and its inhabitants more fully, a new teaching bridge was constructed in 1995 over a pond on the property, allowing a unique perspective of the natural beauty of the area. A list of sanctuary plantings is available to visitors upon request.

Bird-Banding Demonstrations
Connecticut Audubon Society volunteers, licensed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have operated a Bird Banding Station here since 1979. More than 18,000 birds have been mist-netted, documented, banded and released unharmed. The station operates weekdays in spring (April 1 through Memorial Day) and fall (mid-August through Thanksgiving). Demonstrations are available to any group by appointment. Photo by Mara Neville: board member and volunteer Judy Richardson demonstrates bird banding at our Birdcraft Sanctuary.

Tours
Tours of the Birdcraft Museum and Sanctuary are available throughout the year for school and civic groups, led by CT Audubon teacher-naturalists who emphasize conservation and environmental awareness appropriate to any age. For over 25 years, hundreds of Fairfield first-grade students also visit every spring for hands-on tours led by parent-volunteers trained by CT Audubon staff.

CAS's CANE (Connecticut Audubon Nature Explorers) Program is offered to students in the 11 Fairfield Public Schools and St. Thomas Parochial School in Fairfield. Parent-Volunteers are trained to present three science enrichment programs to their child’s class. Two units are presented in the classroom leading up to one end-of-the-year field study activity. Parents need to attend only 1 of the 3 training days offered for each program they volunteer to teach.

The Kindergarten Fall and Winter Units are puppet shows; the Spring Unit is held on the school grounds.The Grade 1 Fall Unit is a puppet show, the Winter Unit is a hands-on activity about bird beak adapations, and the Spring Unit is a trip to CAS's Birdcraft Museum in Fairfield.
The Grade 2 Units include the set-up of a salt water tank in the classroom, a "Mystery in the Marsh" activity that challenges students’ detective skills, and a trip to Southport Beach to investigate the variety of wildlife and habitats found there.

In addition to training, Connecticut Audubon Society provides all materials that CANE Parent-Volunteers will need in the classroon. There are also CANE Coordinators at each of the 11 Fairfield Public Schools and at St. Thomas Parochial School; they will have more information and complete presentation schedules available at the beginning of the school year.

Connecticut Audubon Society's CANE program began in the 1970s. Currently we have approximately 200 parents who volunteer every school year. During the 2007-08 school year they taught 2,300 students in Kindergarten and Grades 1-2!

Check back at the end of August for the complete schedule of training dates for Parent-Volunteers for the 2009-2010 school year.

Questions? Please contact Carol Kratzman, CANE Program Coordinator, 203-259-6305, ext. 112, ckratzman@ctaudubon.org

Directions
From I-95:
Take Exit 21. Go north on Mill Plain Road about 1/2 mile.
Take a right onto Unquowa Road.
After you go under I-95 overpass, immediately take driveway on left into parking lot.

From I-84:
Take Routes 25, 8 or 91 south to Wilbur Cross/Merritt Parkway (Route 15) and follow Merritt Parkway directions below. **

**From Merritt Parkway (Route 15):
Take Exit 44.
--Going northbound, turn right immediately onto Congress Sreet.

--Going southbound, turn left at light, go about 200 yards and turn left onto Black Rock Turnpike, then go under Parkway and take first right onto Congress Street.
Continuing on Congress Street, turn left at first stop sign (Burr Street) and go straight (Burr Street becomes Mill Plain Road) to 4th stop sign.

Turn left onto Unquowa Road. After you go under I-95 overpass, immediately take driveway on left into parking lot.

Our Thanks for Jobs Well Done!
Many thanks to the following Eagle Scouts for all their hard work in the Birdcraft Sanctuary:
To Nick Helm, for trail repairs along the handicap-accessible trail and the trail to the Pond overlook.
To Eric Nadolny, for new benches in the teaching circle and for trail repairs.
To Andy Coppola, for clearing invasive species from the pond hillside.
There’s always more work to be done! If your Cub Scout den or pack or your Scout troop is interested in a community service project, or if you are considering an Eagle Scout project at the Center at Fairfield or at the Birdcraft Museum and Sanctuary, please contact Carol Kratzman, Education Coordinator, at 203-259-6305 ext. 112 or ckratzman@ctaudubon.org.