10 Ways to Help Birds: Number 7 — volunteer for bird monitoring, habitat improvement work

Volunteers at Deer Pond Farm helped maintain a pollinator garden. Photo by Deirdra Wallin.

We’ve made a list of 10 things you can do to help birds, and we’re counting them down one day at a time until Earth Day, April 22.

April 16, 2021 — We have two state-wide projects that directly benefit birds and also rely on volunteers – Osprey Nation and the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds. Both projects are growing and in continual need of new help.

Osprey Nation’s volunteer stewards visit nests near them, and report back once or twice a month. There are about 600 Osprey nests in the state, and Osprey Nation still needs volunteers to monitor about 200 of those in 2021.

It’s important and rewarding work. Ospreys were near extinction 60 years ago. Tracking nesting data will help scientists determine if environmental threats, such as deteriorating water quality, are affecting the birds now.

To learn more or to volunteer for Osprey Nation, email osprey@ctaudubon.org.

The Audubon Alliance maintains its own website, which you can find here. The Alliance uses a combination of volunteers and field staff to protect and monitor vulnerable beach-nesting birds, such as Piping Ploves, Least and Common Terns, and American Oystercatchers.

For more information or to volunteer, email ctwaterbirds@gmail.com.

Our centers and sanctuaries also have volunteer opportunities – tasks such as planting and tending native flowers, shrubs, and trees; removing invasive plants; helping with bird banding; monitoring bird populations, etc.

This story, about a recent project at the Larsen Sanctuary in Fairfield, gives you a good idea of the work and the benefits for birds and wildlife. It concludes with a list of Connecticut Audubon’s project managers around the state to contact if you want to help.

Look here for information about other volunteering opportunities at our seven centers.