January 13, 2024 — Young, Gifted & Wild About Birds 2024 starts Thursday at 7 p.m. with a Zoom presentation by Viveca Morris and Meredith Barges about how to make buildings safer for birds. We’ve titled their presentation, “The Glass Wall: Making Connecticut’s Buildings Safer for Birds.” If you’re interested in birds and conservation, you won’t want to miss it.
Blog – 2018
“The Glass Wall: Making Connecticut’s Buildings Safer for Birds” — a Young, Gifted & Wild About Birds presentation, Thursday, January 18
Saturday, January 13th, 2024Robert B. Braun, former Board president, 1928-2023
Friday, January 5th, 2024The Board and staff of Connecticut Audubon were saddened to learn of the death of Dr. Robert B. Braun of Fairfield on December 26, at age 95. Bob served as member and president of Connecticut Audubon’s Board of Directors in the 1970s and 1980s. A skilled birder and naturalist from boyhood on, he was […]
Homegrown Habitat, December 2023: Balsam Fir
Monday, December 18th, 2023December 18, 2023—If you celebrate Christmas, you know the balsam fir (Abies balsamaea) as an iconic symbol of the season. Its symmetrically conical shape and dark-green needles make it a popular Christmas tree, and it is also used extensively for wreaths. Balsam fir bark and needles contain terpenes that lend its foliage a delightful fragrance. But in addition to its beauty, balsam fir has much to offer ecologically. Woodland mammals rely on it for food and shelter, and it offers many benefits to birds. And, as you will see below, it has several interesting characteristics and uses.
Connecticut State of the Birds 2023
Thursday, December 7th, 2023December 7, 2023—The 2023 Connecticut State of the Birds report, released today, looks at five key areas of conservation concern from previous reports—examples of how new knowledge, new realities, increased human effort, and better technologies are either resulting in changes or resulting in the awareness of the need for improvemen
Homegrown Habitat, November 2023: Northern Bayberry
Monday, November 27th, 2023November 27, 2023—During this gray, dark time of year, the flame-colored leaves we’ve enjoyed so much in the last month or so turn brown and drop onto the cold ground. But an often overlooked shrub lets us know that there is yet life and spirit in the landscape—if we would just take the time to notice.
Osprey Nation 2023: A decade of careful monitoring shows a large and widespread Osprey population in Connecticut
Monday, November 20th, 2023November 20, 2023—Ospreys are thriving in Connecticut, and interest in these beautiful, fish-eating raptors is thriving as well. This was the 10th year of Connecticut Audubon’s Osprey Nation monitoring program. The volunteer Osprey nest stewards found and mapped 688 active nests. By the end of the season, 881 baby Ospreys had fledged — the most ever recorded by the project.
“The mystique of birding” — a leg band found at Milford Point reveals the oldest known Black-bellied Plover in the Western Hemisphere
Tuesday, November 14th, 2023November 14, 2023—By any account, it was a good day of mid-October birding at the Coastal Center for Chris Unsworth: 50 species and almost 600 individual birds. But it was one bird that he didn’t see—or rather, didn’t see alive—that made the day special.
2023 Annual Meeting: Saturday, November 4, at the Fairfield Museum
Wednesday, November 1st, 2023November 1, 2023 — Please join us on Saturday, November 4, for the Connecticut Audubon Society’s annual meeting. It’s a special event this year to mark our 125th anniversary. The meeting will be held at the Fairfield Museum and History Center, in the heart of the neighborhood where Connecticut Audubon was founded and the first meetings were held.
Homegrown Habitat, October 2023: Highbush Blueberry
Monday, October 23rd, 2023October 23, 2023—Blueberries are bird-friendly native plants with autumn flair. Their delicious summer fruit is packed with vitamins and antioxidants; all sorts of health benefits are attributed to them. Their subtle spring flowers, small white and pink bells, are lovely to look at and entice pollinators. But blueberries become showstoppers in fall, with foliage that turns brilliant red, orange, and purple. In winter their beautifully textured bark ensures the blueberry’s status as a garden plant with four-season interest.
Connecticut Audubon Society statement on the United Illuminating Railroad Transmission Line Upgrade Project
Thursday, October 5th, 2023October 5, 2023—United Illuminating is proposing to rebuild transmission lines along the 25 miles of the Metro North Railroad corridor between Fairfield and West Haven. Transmission lines pose a hazard to birds of all kinds. Between 8 and 57 million birds are killed by transmission lines in the U.S. each year.
Lights Out alerts for Saturday, Sunday and Monday
Saturday, September 30th, 2023September 30, 2023 — An estimated 930,000 birds will be migrating over and through Connecticut tonight, 1.1 million tomorrow night, and and 570,000 Monday night. That means we’re in for three pretty good days of birding. But it also means that a lot of birds are at risk of crashing into things. Please help protect migrating birds by turning your lights out each of the next three nights.
Homegrown Habitat mail: planting advice
Thursday, September 28th, 2023September 28, 2023 — Two Homegrown Habitat readers who live on opposite sides of the Connecticir River—Old Lyme and Old Saybrook—wrote this week seeking practical advice on what and where to plant. We thought you might find Sarah Middeleer’s advice to be useful.
It’s a good night to help protect migrating birds by turning exterior lights out.
Wednesday, September 27th, 2023September 27, 2023 — Tonight is a “medium” alert night for bird migration. But “medium” is not nothing; 424,000 birds will be passing over and through Connecticut, as this map produced by Colorado State University’s Aeroeco lab shows. So it’s a good night to help protect those migrating birds by turning out exterior lights
Rare bird alert: Once again, a Roseate Spoonbill visits Connecticut and the Milford Point Coastal Center
Friday, August 25th, 2023August 25, 2023 — For the fourth time in six years, a Roseate Spoonbill is visiting Connecticut.
September 2023: Asters
Monday, September 25th, 2023Asters and goldenrods: These two standouts of the late-summer and autumn landscape give new meaning to the oft-repeated garden design phrase “four-season interest,” but from the point of view of our treasured pollinators and songbirds.
Roseate Spoonbill 2023: a selection of photos
Monday, August 28th, 2023August 28, 2023 — The Roseate Spoonbill that arrived at Connecticut Audubon’s Milford Point Coastal Center on Thursday, August 24, has not caused quite the elation among birders as the spoonbill that spent three weeks in the area in 2018. Still, this year’s visitor is not without its fans. About 30 people climbed the Coastal Center’s observation tower late in the afternoon on Sunday, August 27, to see it in the Charles Wheeler Salt Marsh.
August 2023: Goldenrods (with asters to follow in September)
Monday, August 21st, 2023August 21, 2023 — The dynamic duo of yellow goldenrods and purple asters is one of the glories of the late-summer landscape. These members of the aster family often grow near one another, for good reason – bees, who benefit greatly from both genera, are attracted to the combination of purple and gold. Robin Wall Kimmerer, botanist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass, says of goldenrod and asters, “Their striking contrast when they grow together makes them the most attractive target in the whole meadow, a beacon for bees. Growing together, both receive more pollinator visits than if they were growing alone.”
Catch up with these conservation stories in the Connecticut news media
Thursday, August 10th, 2023August 10, 2023 — It has been a good summer for bird conservation, and that has caught the attention of editors and reporters throughout Connecticut.
Homegrown Habitat Mail: Great, basic advice on planting for the benefit of birds and pollinators
Wednesday, August 2nd, 2023August 2, 2023 — Responding to a question about what to plant on a specific property, Homegrown Habitat author Sarah Middeleer instead responded with advice that almost any homeowner can use.
Northern Bobwhite joins the list of breeding birds at the Bafflin Preserve in Pomfret. But for this grassland species, there’s more to the story
Monday, July 31st, 2023July 31, 2023 — One of the great things about the bird world is that you just never know. You never know, for example, when a species that hasn’t nested in the state in 20 or 30 years will suddenly settle down and raise a family on your sanctuary, which is what a pair of Northern Bobwhite did this year at Connecticut Audubon’s Bafflin Preserve in Pomfret.
