February 16, 2024 — A simple pleasure in winter is to take note of unusual bark on trees and shrubs. Many examples exist; bark might be peeling, flaking, or striped, and red, green, white, or a beautiful smooth gray, etc. Sweet birch (Betula lenta), also known as black and cherry birch, exhibits shiny, black bark in its youth, with horizontal lines called lenticels. As the tree ages the bark will develop scaly plates. The bark and twigs emit an aroma of wintergreen when scratched.
Blog – 2018
Homegrown Habitat, February 2024: Sweet Birch
Friday, February 16th, 2024Here’s what you need to know about feeding birds in winter
Thursday, February 15th, 2024Movement. Color, drama and song — see it all at your backyard bird feeder! Choosing the right seeds and feeder location (and providing water) will make viewing winter birds much easier. Here’s your guide!
Conference: “Neonics, The New DDT — What You Need to Know About the Pesticides Harming Connecticut’s Birds, Bees, Wildlife & People”
Thursday, February 8th, 2024The Connecticut Coalition for Pesticide Reform is organizing a conference for advocates, residents, and government officials interested in reducing the use of neonicotinoid pesticides in the state.
Date and time: March 11, 2024. Noon to 5 p.m.
Place: McCook Auditorium
Trinity College, Hartford
These key issues in 2024 will protect Connecticut’s birds and other wildlife. They need your involvement.
Tuesday, February 6th, 2024The 2024 session at the Capitol in Hartford is an important opportunity for Connecticut Audubon members and supporters to get involved by being part of a team of conservation advocates. The session starts Wednesday, February 7.
Between now and the end of the session in May, we’re hoping to work with you to contact your elected representatives and others on behalf of Connecticut’s birds and other wildlife. The issues that we think are most important, and where together you and we can have the most impact, are: pesticides, rodenticides, light pollution, and climate.
Summer Camp 2024 Registration Starts Thursday, February 1
Thursday, February 1st, 2024Connecticut Audubon summer camps are an excellent balance of fun and discovery. Your kids will explore and thrive in the natural environment. They’ll have up-close encounters with animals, and learn conservation skills to care for local natural resources at home, school, and Connecticut Audubon’s centers and sanctuaries.
The Mystery and Magnificence of the Snowy Owl
Sunday, January 21st, 2024January 21, 2024—Every few years the world of winter birding in southern New England is electrified by the arrival of Snowy Owls from the Arctic. These amazing birds have been studied extensively in recent years by the team of scientists at Project SNOWstorm, including Rebecca McCabe. Join us for her program, via Zoom, on Thursday, January 25, 7-8 p.m. The cost is $9 for Connecticut Audubon members or $12 for non-members.
Homegrown Habitat, January 2024: American Holly
Saturday, January 20th, 2024January 20, 2024 — When the Pilgrims arrived in what is now called Massachusetts, they encountered pyramidal evergreen trees with spiny leaves and red berries that reminded them of a tree back home called English holly (Ilex aquifolium), a symbol of Christmas for centuries in England and Europe. Thus the American holly (Ilex opaca), also known as white holly for the color of its wood, was immediately bestowed with similar reverence and symbolism, which it still retains.
“The Glass Wall: Making Connecticut’s Buildings Safer for Birds” — a Young, Gifted & Wild About Birds presentation, Thursday, January 18
Saturday, January 13th, 2024January 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.
Robert 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.
CT Audubon members, join us on Zoom for a “Flyway of Life” discussion
Monday, April 7th, 2025April 7, 2024—Join us on April 9 for a members-only preview of the new documentary feature film “Flyway of Life, ” featuring the film’s producer and Connecticut Audubon Board member Tomas Koeck in conversation with Executive Director Joyce Leiz.
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
