Connecticut State of the Birds

The Connecticut Audubon Society publishes Connecticut State of the Birds each year. The report delves into conservation topics that affect Connecticut’s birds in the context of nationwide concerns.

All Connecticut Audubon members receive a copy in the mail. 

This year’s report is expected to arrive during the first week of November 2025. The official release is set for Friday, November 7.

Connecticut State of the Birds 2025

Conservation Works: Building a Better Future for Birds

The Connecticut State of the Birds 2025 report, titled Conservation Works: Building a Better Future for Birds, delves into innovative bird conservation strategies in the context of the landmark 2019 study “Decline of North American Avifauna.”

That study documented the staggering loss of approximately 30 percent of North America’s birds since 1970 — nearly three billion birds gone. That loss obviously did not happen overnight, and neither will the solutions. We asked six younger generation scientists and conservationists—men and women whose generation will be on the scene in decades to come—to write about solutions.

Connecticut State of the Birds is edited by Tom Andersen, Connecticut Audubon’s communications director, and overseen by Milan Bull, senior director of science and conservation. 

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Throughout the years authors have included:

• Gina McCarthy, former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Connecticut State Ornithologist Margaret Rubega of the University of Connecticut
• Pulitzer Prize-nominee Scott Weidensaul
• Peter Marra of Georgetown University, formerly the head of the migratory bird center at the Smithsonian.
• Chris S. Elphick, Ph.D., of the University of Connecticut
• Kathleen Van Der Aue, chair emeritus of the Connecticut Audubon Society and former president of the Connecticut Ornithological Association
• Viveca Morris, executive director of the Yale Law School’s Law, Ethics & Animals Program.
• Danica Doroski, Ph.D., Connecticut’s State Urban Forester with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
• Robert A. Askins Ph.D., the Katharine Blunt Professor Emeritus of Biology at Connecticut College.
• Min T. Huang, Ph.D., the Migratory Bird Program leader for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
• David Foster, Ph.D., Director Emeritus of the Harvard Forest at Harvard University and co-coordinator of the Wildlands, Woodlands, Farmlands & Communities initiative. 
• Brian Hall, Ph.D., the Harvard Forest and Highstead .
• David Winkler, Ph.D., of Cornell University
• David Mizrahi, Ph.D., of New Jersey Audubon
• Carol Foss, Ph.D., of New Hampshire Audubon
• Former Commissioner Rob Klee of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
• Tykee James, National Audubon Society
• Amy Blaymore Paterson, the Connecticut Land Conservation Council
• Stephen B. Oresman, former chairman of the Connecticut Audubon Society and former president of the Connecticut Ornithological Association
• Bill Labich, senior conservationist, Highstead Foundation.
• Sally Harold of The Nature Conservancy
• Calandra Stanley, Ph.D., of Georgetown University.
• Leah Lopez Schmalz, president of Save the Sound
• Wayne R. Peterson of Massachusetts Audubon
• Randy Dettmers of the US Fish and Wildlife Service
• Jenny Dickson of the CT DEEP
• Chad Seewagen, Ph.D., of the Great Hollow Nature Preserve
• Jamie Vaudrey, Ph.D., of UConn/Avery Point
• Sam Apgar, Ph.D., of the University of Connecticut
• Scott Kruitbosch, the Roger Tory Peterson Institute
• Peter Paton, Ph.D., of the University of Rhode Island
• Pamela Loring, Ph.D., of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
• Timothy White, Ph.D., of the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
• Drew Lanham, Ph.D., of Clemson University
• Former CT DEEP commissioner Leslie Carothers
• Desiree Narango, Ph.D., of UMass Amherst
• Morgan Tingley, Ph.D., of UCLA
• Arvind Panjabi of the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies
• Author Deborah Cramer of MIT

Click below for PDFs of Connecticut State of the Birds

2024: Click HERE for a copy of the 2024 Connecticut State of the Birds report: “The Next Conservation Frontier: Protecting Birds from Insecticides“

2023: 5 Key Issues: New knowledge and better technologies are changing conservation. Get a PDF of the 2023 report HERE.

2022: 125 Years of Bird Conservation Through Local Action For a PDF of the 2022 report, click HERE.

2021 3 Billion Birds are Gone. How Do We Bring Them Back? For a PDF, click HERE.

2020 Pandemic: Conservationists Scramble in the Field, the Lab, and the Legislature

Please email tandersen@ctaudubon.ort for a copy of the 2020 report.

2019 An Improved Long Island Sound Faces Unpredictable Change. Can Birds, Fish, Conservationists, & Government Adapt?

2018 In Cities and Suburbs: A Fresh Look at How Birds Are Surviving in Connecticut

2017 The New Bird Atlas: A Call to Action for Connecticut’s Conservationists

2016 Gains, Losses and the Prospect of Extinction

2015 Protecting and Connecting Large Landscapes

2014 Connecticut’s Diverse Landscape: Managing Our Habitats for Wildlife

2013 The Seventh Habitat and the Decline of Our Aerial Insectivores.

2012 Where Is the Next Generation of Conservationists Coming From?

2011 Conserving our Forest Birds

2010 Citizen Scientists Contribute to Conservation

2009 Bird Conservation Priorities

2008 Specific Conservation Complexities and Challenges

2007 Specific Threats to Connecticut’s Birds

2006 Conserving Birds and Their Habitats