Scott Harris spent 17 months in pursuit of the 53 raptors that call the Lower 48 states home. Across 34 states, from -36 degree days to ones over 100 degrees, to just getting on the bird just in time, to the frustrations of missing one by minutes, Scott found all 53, along with a Bat Falcon, a Steller’s Sea Eagle, and an Eurasian Eagle Owl. 

RaptorQuest, Chasing America’s Raptors, is about his adventures, misadventures, successes, and failures. It’s about the birds, of course, but it’s also about the people he met, the things he learned, and why he’s already working on his next adventure. 

Scott and his wife, Randi, retired to South Carolina in March of 2020, a decision Scott will tell you was one of the best they had made in their 45 years of marriage. It was also when he first started birding – a hobby he never imagined himself participating in, but now can’t imagine living without.

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The southern tip of Africa is one of the greatest biodiversity hotspots in the world and attracts birders, botanists and mammal enthusiasts from around the globe. With a diverse array of endemic birds, classic African mammals, and a rich, unique botanical heritage, the multi-ethnic nation of South Africa stands out as a compelling destination for nature enthusiasts.

The Cape Peninsula, often called the "Jewel of South Africa," offers stunning, wild, rugged scenery that is home to penguins, ostriches, several types of antelope, and the unique "fynbos" vegetation. Further inland, the world-renowned Kruger National Park is one of Africa's largest game reserves and hosts lions, leopards, elephants, giraffes, and more than 500 bird species.

This program chronicles a journey from the Cape Peninsula to Kruger National Park, featuring vivid photos of birds, animals, and stunning landscapes. It describes what it's like to travel through this diverse and sometimes distinctly un-African country.

Gina Nichol has been a naturalist and birder for over thirty years. She first developed an interest in the natural world while growing up outdoors in rural upstate New York. In 2005, Gina founded Sunrise Birding, LLC to provide personalized, authentic, and affordable private and small group birdwatching and wildlife tours worldwide.

The Shepaug Dam Bald Eagle Observation Area has provided visitors with views of wintering Bald Eagles for 30 years. The Shepaug Hydroelectric Station keeps the water below the dam to be ice-free in winter and the churning water brings fish close to the surface making it a place that Bald Eagles are able to find food in the coldest of winter.

We will be at the observation area for about an hour. There are no facilities besides porta-potties. Dress warmly in layers. Bring lunch, binoculars, and cameras.

The drive time between Shepaug Dam and the Menunkatuck chapter towns is between 45 and 75 minutes.

Space is limited to 20 participants so reservations are required. For more information email Carl Harvey at carl@menunkatuck.org.

Register for the trip.

This year, the Connecticut State Legislature is meeting in a “short session.” Audubon is advocating for several pieces of legislation to protect birds and their habitats. These include efforts regarding:

• Regulating neonicotinoids for non-agricultural use

• Classify second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides as restricted-use pesticides

• Expanding nature-based solutions

• Protecting vulnerable communities from climate change by supporting urban forestry and community interest in tree planting and maintenance, parks, and/or community gardens in densely populated areas

Join us as we host Robert LaFrance, Director of Policy for Audubon Connecticut, for a discussion on these and other legislative initiatives and learn what you can do to help get them passed. Before joining Audubon, Rob had a long career with DEEP as its legislative liaison and brings extensive relationships with legislators to Audubon.

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Join Menunkatuck Audubon Society as we participate in the 126th Audubon Christmas Bird Count. Every year, Christmas Bird Count volunteers gather valuable data on winter bird populations that support scientific research and help regulatory decisions. Christmas Bird Count data was used in the recent Audubon climate report, Survival by Degrees, and is also used for the Bird Migration Explorer.

How to get involved: Birders of all skill levels are welcome to join! More experienced birders may be designated as team leaders, while those with less experience will be paired with an appropriate leader. Anyone residing within the count area can contribute “Feeder Watch” data from their own property. We also need volunteers to assist with publicity, data collection, providing refreshments, and various other tasks. 

For more information, please get in touch with Sue Stark (sue@menuntatuck.org).

You can register to participate here.

To view a map of Menunkatuck’s Christmas Bird Count Circle, please visit: menunkatuck.org/christmas-bird-count.

It’s one thing to talk about how FCEA empowers young women from rural communities to become bird banders, but it’s quite another to show you in action! Get ready to be inspired.

Virtually visit the Finca Cántaros banding station and meet the team. Observe bird banding with both resident and migrant species, including the Golden-winged Warbler. Hear from NABC-certified bird banding trainer Holly Garrod and FCEA Director Lilly Briggs discuss the program's impact on conservation, science, and education. Experience the event virtually and consider an in-person visit in 2026.

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At Finca Cántaros Environmental Association (FCEA) in Coto Brus, Costa Rica, environmental education and community engagement are at the heart of everything they do. Join us to learn how FCEA uses birds to engage youth and women from across their community in meaningful environmental education experiences. Their programs foster awareness and appreciation for birds, involve participants in hands-on habitat restoration that benefits both resident and migratory species, and build local capacity for the co-production of scientific knowledge through bird banding and Motus Wildlife Tracking

They will share success stories from their partnerships with local schools using the BirdSleuth curriculum of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and you’ll discover how they are creating the spaces for women—a historically underrepresented group in ornithology—to empower themselves and become bird banders and educators, sharing their knowledge with participants in FECA’s Women Committed to the Earth program.

And of course, they will showcase plenty of stunning photos of the beautiful birds that call their backyard home—sure to inspire you to visit!

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Audubon is escalating its commitment to full annual cycle, hemispheric conservation, a key target of its Flight Plan, by enhancing its bird tracking capabilities. This initiative, launched in 2022, supports the expansion of Motus stations across North America. A significant strength of Audubon is its vast and dedicated network, including Centers, Sanctuaries, Offices, Chapters across the U.S., and robust partnerships in Canada, Latin America, and across the hemisphere. This extensive structure provides a powerful foundation for a more coordinated, integrated approach to migratory bird conservation that can address questions on a hemispheric scale.

Recognizing the need for a more unified approach, Audubon established the Migratory Bird Tracking Program to coordinate and support tracking activities across the entire organization, ensuring alignment with the Flight Plan. This program aims to leverage Audubon’s extensive network to identify and address the specific factors causing bird population declines—critical information needed to "bend the bird curve.”

There remains a significant knowledge gap regarding migratory bird movements, as an assessment by Audubon, Georgetown University, and the Smithsonian Institution revealed that over half of North America's breeding migratory birds have yet to be tracked. Tracking studies are providing vital insights, however; for example, geolocators on Prothonotary Warblers are clarifying stopover needs and vulnerability to offshore wind, while Motus tracking of Black Terns highlights how severe weather events disrupt nesting. Furthermore, tracking Lesser Yellowlegs is helping farmers in Colombia with land management practices that support nonbreeding habitat. By coordinating these efforts, Audubon aims to identify which conservation challenges are most damaging and during which seasons.

Alicia Brunner, Audubon’s Program Manager of Migratory Bird Tracking, will describe the program and describe how the ultimate success of the Migratory Bird Tracking Program depends on the active involvement of the entire Audubon network and its partners across the hemisphere. Centers, Sanctuaries, Chapters, State and Regional Offices, and Audubon Americas all play a crucial role in this endeavor. As the program matures, it will ensure that local conservation actions translate into broader, coordinated success for the Flight Plan. This new Migratory Bird Tracking Program represents the latest and most comprehensive example of Audubon’s truly hemispheric conservation agenda, aimed at securing a viable future for migratory birds.

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Join Menunkatuck Audubon and CPEN as they host the Fall 2024 All Things Pollinator with educational booths, kids’ activities, give-aways, and sale of plants from the UrbanScapes nursery.

Huge Native Plant Sale
Over 60 species

Exhibitors include:

• Menunkatuck Audubon- Bird Friendly Native Plants

• Highstead Ecotype Plants and Mason Bee Habitat

• CT-NOFA, ECO 59, Ecotype Project- Native ecotype seed- Food and Pollinator Connection

• Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station

• Pollinator Pathway- Pollinator Pathways in CT

• WildOnes- Landscaping with Natives

• Xerces Society- Pollinator Education and Children's Activities

• See a Bee Hive and Meet the Beekeeper

• Learn How to Identify Native Plants Using Your Smartphone

Menunkatuck has been invited to sell plants from the UrbanScapes nursery at the Riverbound Farm Sanctuary’s opening day for 2025. We’ll have a selection of our native perennials and shrubs and information about native plants and their value to birds and other wildlife.

Riverbound Farm Sanctuary on the Quinnipiac River was acquired by Quinnipiac Valley Audubon Society in December 1989 as a bequest from the Estate of Esther Tappert Mortensen, wife of Reverend Ralph Mortensen, both long-time members of the chapter.

The sanctuary includes a house built in 1814 and 23.4 acres of diverse habitat preserved permanently as open space. The house, open the third Sunday of each month April to October, has a museum and nature center. The grounds at the sanctuary are open to the public every day from dawn to dusk. Please wear proper footwear for trails. Be prepared for ticks by wearing light-colored clothing and tucking your pants into your socks!

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Ten Days Immersed in Nature while Reflecting on the Clashes of Culture, History, Politics, and Climate

During July of 2023, John Hannan led a BirdLife International tour with author and poet Margaret Atwood from Iceland to Greenland. For fourteen days, the group sailed through remarkable natural environments and stunning landscapes. Together, they witnessed wildlife that is — without the crucial interventions of organizations like the BirdLife Partnership, which includes National Audubon — perilously close to disappearing forever.

With imagery and dialogue, John will discuss how this expedition used hikes, wildlife viewing, visits to Inuit communities, historic sites, and Zodiac cruising to gain special insight into these unique lands, their peoples, rich cultures, and the wildlife they share there.

Come to see the beautiful imagery of arctic landscapes and wildlife under the almost 24-hour summer sun. Reflect upon the complicated relationships of Inuit and European cultures made even more complex by current geopolitical trends. Learn more about the rapid changes the Arctic region is experiencing with climate change.

John will discuss visiting Reykjavík, Iceland’s cosmopolitan capital, which was established in the year 874 CE. This city, powered by geothermal energy, is widely considered one of the cleanest, greenest cities on Earth. View images of crossing the Denmark Strait, a major migratory pathway for marine animals and seabirds, riding zodiacs through sea ice searching for polar bears, seals, and birds, and then landings for more birds, historic sites, and learning about Inuit culture.

John Hannan is a 40-year veteran of the non-profit world, most of it in the conservation sphere. He has been a part of the Audubon family at all levels. On staff, at National Audubon, he helped launch the Americas Flyways’ Strategy fund-raising efforts and was part of the planning team for the Atlantic Flyway Shorebird Conservation Business Plan.  In NY, he is a past Chair of the Audubon NY State Chapters’ Council and a past and present President of the Bedford Audubon Board of Directors.

From 2017 to 2024, he worked with BirdLife International, building awareness and support for the Partnership’s coordinated global conservation programs. Now retired, he is helping build local awareness of how migratory birds truly bring an environmental connectivity we all share across our planet and how important it is for all of us to protect these fragile natural resources we depend upon.

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Join Menunkatuck Audubon Society at the Henry Whitfield State Museum in Guilford for Nature Stewards Field Day. We will share information about our local conservation work and have plants from UrbanScapes Native Plant Nursery for sale.

Owls and turtles and bees, oh my! See live animals and discover ways to be a better nature steward from people doing the work.

• Well-Comb Home will display an observation beehive and have their local honey and beeswax products for sale.

• See – and even pet – some of Turtle Haven’s rescued and rehabilitating turtles.

• Learn how to help save displaced and orphaned wildlife with Little Rascals Rescue and Rehabilitation & Raccoon Crossing, Inc.

• See monarch butterflies and discover more about native plants and creating pollinator pathways with Quercus Works Gardens.

Special presentations will take place throughout the afternoon. At 1:00 pm, meet a Great Horned Owl, Peregrine Falcon, Eastern Screech-Owl, and Broad-Winged Hawk in a birds of prey presentation by Rose Crisci of Blue Moon Raptors. Angelina Carnevale from Turtle Haven will introduce some of her turtle ambassadors and talk about how to help wild turtles and pet turtles thrive at 2:00 pm. Tour the museum’s 4-month-old native pollinator garden at 3:00 pm with Heather Bradley from Quercus Works Gardens to find out how she installed it and chose the different plants.

A craft area will feature supplies and instructions to make shadow drawings from nature. All ages are invited to pick up their supplies and then explore the museum’s beautiful grounds to find their artistic subject, whether it’s a branch of a majestic red oak tree, a bloom on a native plant in the pollinator garden, or anything else that inspires them.

Admission to the program, the Whitfield House, and the exhibit galleries is free and the event will be held rain or shine. Support provided by Connecticut Humanities.

Community Placemaking Engagement Network is sponsoring the eleventh Annual West River Water Fest at West River Memorial Park on Saturday, July 13, taking place from 1 to 4 p.m. at West River Memorial Park at the corner of Ella T. Grasso Boulevard and Route 34. Menunkatuck Audubon will be there.

This year’s activities will focus on teaching about the nature around the watershed and the things we can do to help care for it. Free canoe and kayak rides, coloring page activities, bird watching, fishing activities, and more! Free hot dogs and packaged snacks will be served throughout the event.

Activities include:

• Free guided family canoe rides during the festival

• Incredible bird life viewed from both land and water, and explained by knowledgeable guides—herons, egrets, Ospreys, woodpeckers and many other types of birds

•  Activities for smaller children including arts and crafts, coloring books, water games, and more

•  Games, science experiments, and educational activities about the watershed ecosystem and aquatic animals

We hope to see you there!

Join Highstead, Menunkatuck Audubon, and CPEN as they host the Fall 2024 All Things Pollinator with educational booths, kids’ activities, give-aways, and sale of plants from the UrbanScapes nursery.

Tentative exhibitors include:

• Highstead — Ecotype Project, Sowing Seeds and Transplanting

• CT-NOFA —Eco-region 59, Ecotype Project, Native ecotype seed, Food and Pollinator Connection

• Pollinator Pathways — Pollinator Pathways in CT

• Menunkatuck Audubon — Bird friendly native plants

• Audubon Connecticut — Bird friendly native plants

• WildOnes — Landscaping with Natives

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The rocks found in Connecticut’s gentle hills and flat river valleys belie the wonderfully complex geological history of our small state. They tell a story that encompasses periods of mountain building with mountains higher than the Himalayas when Connecticut was located off the coast of Africa as well as a time when parts of what is now Connecticut was covered by an ancient ocean. They bear witness to the numerous lava flows that several times covered central Connecticut and earthquakes that titled these flows and formed our central ridges.  Our rock walls and isolated boulders give evidence of our state’s more recent glacial history.  Join us as Magjery Winters leads us on an exploration of this fascinating geological story and learn how all these events contributed to Connecticut being called the “Cradle of Mining.”

\Margery is the Assistant Director and instructor at Roaring Brook Nature Center in Canton where she is delighted to be able to share her passion for earth science and nature with students of all ages. She manages the Nature Center’s native plant gardens and is an advocate for the role of natives in our designed landscapes. She is a Master Landscape Design Consultant.

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In 2025, World Migratory Bird Day will be celebrated on May 10 in the spring and October 11 in fall. The conservation theme this year is Shared Spaces: Creating Bird-Friendly Cities and Communities. This year’s theme promotes the importance of a healthy coexistence between people and birds by focusing on creating bird-friendly cities and communities.

Bird friendly practices include creating healthy habitats, reducing bird collisions with buildings and glass, reducing pollution, and providing ample food sources for birds. No matter what type of community you live in, you can help birds!

Join Menunkatuck and partners in the New Haven Harbor Urban Wildlife Refuge for fun, free, family-friendly activities at College Woods:

• Bird Walks

• Bird-friendly Gardening Tips

• Native Plants for Sale

• Scavenger Hunt

• Information about New Haven’s Urban Oases and Schoolyard Habitats

• Learn about the amazing distances that some birds travel in migration

• Kids’ activities

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The Guilford Conservation Commission is sponsoring a community-wide Earth Day Celebration on Guilford Town Green on Sunday afternoon, May 4, 2025, from 1:00 – 4:00. Menunkatuck will be there.

These celebrations will honor the environmental legacy and spirit of the first Earth Day, which was held on April 22, 1970, by acknowledging the seriousness of today’s climate crisis and by affirming the ways in which residents of our town, region, and state are responding to the environmental crisis of human-caused global warming.

Join us to learn about our conservation programs including native plants for natural climate solutions, marsh migration, homes for birds, and making homes bird safe..

Menunkatuck has been invited to sell plants from the UrbanScapes nursery at the Riverbound Farm Sanctuary’s opening day for 2025. We’ll have a selection of our native perennials and shrubs and information about native plants and their value to birds and other wildlife.

Riverbound Farm Sanctuary on the Quinnipiac River was acquired by Quinnipiac Valley Audubon Society in December 1989 as a bequest from the Estate of Esther Tappert Mortensen, wife of Reverend Ralph Mortensen, both long-time members of the chapter.

The sanctuary includes a house built in 1814 and 23.4 acres of diverse habitat preserved permanently as open space. The house, open the third Sunday of each month April to October, has a museum and nature center. The grounds at the sanctuary are open to the public every day from dawn to dusk. Please wear proper footwear for trails. Be prepared for ticks by wearing light-colored clothing and tucking your pants into your socks!

Register for updates.

Birds are facing significant population challenges all over the world. Changes in habitat, seasons that are shifting, severe storms, and increased temperatures are all playing a part in an overall decline in numbers. The National Audubon Society is working to find ways to change those trajectories through significant and ambitious goals in conservation - from both ends of the spectrum: increasing the chances for successful breeding bird seasons, and reducing bird mortality rates.

We hear a good deal about bird window collisions that occur in urban environments, because really, when you can show pictures of hundreds of bird deaths in a day during migration season, it becomes news. We read about it, we see pictures of it and in response, we work to find solutions to prevent it from happening again. What we don’t hear about are the average of two birds per residence per year that occur from window strikes in suburban and rural neighborhoods. Although these don’t feel like they are significant in comparison, if you add those numbers up, the deaths of birds as a result are staggering - more than in any city. It is estimated that over 1 billion birds die as a result of window collisions per year in North America. It is considered to be the third highest cause of bird mortality, following habitat loss and predation by domestic cats.

Menunkatuck President Dennis Riordan will provide an overview of the issues that surround building collisions and actions that can be taken at our homes, businesses, schools and other public buildings to help reduce the number of bird deaths each year.

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Join Menunkatuck Audubon Society at the 156-acre Ansonia Nature Center for a celebration of Mother Earth.

These celebrations will honor the environmental legacy and spirit of the first Earth Day, which was held on April 22, 1970, by acknowledging the seriousness of today’s climate crisis and by affirming the ways in which residents of our town, region, and state are responding to the environmental crisis of human-caused global warming.

Enjoy native plants, hikes, live animals, and environmental exhibitors. Learn about our conservation programs including native plants for natural climate solutions, marsh migration, homes for birds, and making homes bird safe.

Food and unique items are available for sale from local vendors.

All ages are welcome to this family-friendly event. No park admission fee. No registration required.

Good News for Linking Habitat Conservation Across the Americas

John Hannan has worked with multiple bird conservation organizations across the Americas. Join us to see his beautiful imagery of our hemisphere’s birds and landscapes while learning about some of the key bird conservation initiatives happening right now across the Americas.

This work, being done by a wide ranging coalition, has become a core part of National Audubon’s ten-year strategy and there is a central role chapters can play in it. Together we can help build healthy and sustainable communities all along our migratory birds’ flyways, therefore protecting the same birds we work to safeguard right here in Connecticut. From massive endeavors to preserve more than 550 million acres of of coastal and wetlands habitat to community science projects you can participate in, John will present an uplifting view of bird conservation in the Americas and ways you can be part of it.

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