Email
Your Representatives and Help Our Songbirds!
Support Increased Federal Funding for Bird Conservation:
Urge Re-authorization of Neotropical Migratory
Bird Conservation Act

Bills in the US Senate and
House would re-authorize the existing Neotropical
Migratory Bird Conservation Act at significantly
higher funding levels. Email your Senators and
Reps. to make sure both bills pass for
the benefit of our songbirds!
Why are these bills so important? Every
year some five billion birds representing 500
different species migrate from winter habitats
in Latin America to breed in North America. They
face many threats, especially continuing habitat
loss across the hemisphere. Many species are experiencing
significant population decreases: the Cerulean
Warbler and Olive-sided Flycatcher, among others,
have declined by as much as 70% since the 1960s."The
Neotropical
Migratory Bird Conservation Act is the
only source of federal funding dedicated specifically
to bird conservation throughout the Americas.
This extremely effective matching grants program
coordinates and funds the conservation of neotropical
migratory birds and habitats in the U.S., Latin
America and the Caribbean. It has a proven track
record of reversing habitat loss and degradation
and of advancing innovative management and habitat
restoration strategies. Passage of these bipartisan
bills could dramatically increase funding, from
the current $6 million to $20 million. All
grants made by this Act must be matched by other
funds, so every $1 of taxpayer money leverages
$3 from private sources -- potentially $60 million
in additional funding for bird conservation!"
(American Bird Conservancy)
>Email
your Senators asking them to support S. 690 (click
here to find/email them)
>Email
your Representatives asking them to support H.R.
2213 (click
here to find/email them)
Photo:
Common Yellowthroat © 2007 E.H.
Soderberg.
Seen
any gulls with large, colorful wing tags lately?

We regularly get phone calls
from people who see gulls sporting brightly colored
tags and a letter-number code on their wings.
The birds are part of a program by the Massachusetts
Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR)
to track the habits and flight patterns of gulls
near the Quabbin and Wachusett reservoirs in eastern
Massachusetts. DCR is asking the public’s
help in reporting any sightings of tagged gulls.
The information will help track gull movement
as DCR tries to find the best way to prevent the
gulls from overnighting at the reservoirs and
potentially contaminating important public water
supplies. DCR employees have tagged more than
200 Ring-billed, Herring and Great Black-back
Gulls to date. Each species has its own tag color,
and each tag has an individual number, easily
legible without binoculars. Sightings have been
received from central Massachusetts to Maine and
Manitoba and Newfoundland,
and many of these tagged gulls show up in Connecticut.
Anyone
who sees a wing-tagged bird is asked to try to
obtain the letter-number combination on the tag
(e.g., A57) and report it to: Dan
Clark, 508-792-7423, ext. 215 or dan.clark@state.ma.us.
Please include time and place of sighting, bird's tag color and
letter-number ID. Common places to find these
wintering gulls are at landfills, parking
lots and ball fields. For more info visit
www.mass.gov/dcr/waterSupply/watershed/study/index.htm.
Photos courtesy Massachusetts Dept. of Conservation
and Research.
Connecticut
Audubon Society Receives Contract Award from U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers
Connecticut
Audubon Society will perform field surveys and
data analysis and provide management recommendations
for a Wildlife and Flora Field Survey on five
flood control projects in the Naugatuck River
Area. The $30,000 contract is with the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers New England District. Dr. Anton
Leenders, Conservation Biologist, will head the
effort for Connecticut Audubon Society, which
will provide baseline biological information necessary
for the preparation of master plans for USACE's
CT projects.
Click here to learn more. Photo:
Thomaston Dam holding back a pool (normally
a dry bed reservoir). The flooded area is the
Naugatuck River. Courtesy U.S. ACE
Article: Connecticut
Bald Eagle Survey Update
By Julie Victoria,
Wildlife Biologist
CT DEP Wildlife Division
Since
1979, the Connecticut Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) has participated in a nationwide
Midwinter Bald Eagle Survey held on the second
Saturday in January. During the survey period
of January 11-12, 2008, 81 bald eagles -- 49 adults
and 32 immature eagles -- were recorded statewide.
In January 2007, 62 birds were counted. The Midwinter
Bald Eagle Survey is not a complete census of
the entire wintering population in Connecticut,
but an index of the species' use of the state,
which can be compared year to year. Click
here to read the article. Bald
Eagle photo © 2007 Mathias Kohring.
Help
Needed at our Center at Fairfield with Bird Data
Long-time
bird banding programs at CAS Centers and other
bird inventory efforts have resulted in large
amounts of valuable information on bird species
across the state. Some of this information is
many decades old and provides invaluable “snapshots
in time,” enabling us to compare historic
bird diversity and density with current numbers
and determine whether species are declining or
not.
CAS's Science & Conservation staff is compiling
and analyzing this data. But we need volunteers
who can tranfer the available information from
notebooks, old banding sheets and other paper
formats into a computer. Click
here for more information. Photo: A Saw-whet
Owl is held by master bird bander Carol Millard at our Bafflin Sanctuary in Pomfret.
We have many Volunteer Opportunities available:
click here.
CLEAN
ENERGY. It's Real. It's Here. It's Working --
in Connecticut!
Connecticut
Audubon Members, Supporters and Friends can demonstrate
their commitment to a healthy environment by signing
up to support clean energy. This campaign is part
of a pilot program, developed by the Connecticut
Clean Energy Fund (CCEF). Five environmental non-profit
organizations are asking constituents to enroll
in the "CTCleanEnergyOptions™" program.
For every 250 people who sign up from any of the
5 participating organizations, CCEF will donate
a 1-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system to our
Coastal Center at Milford Point, helping to create
a system that will generate electricity and provide
an educational exhibit for visitors with real-time
monitoring available. Sign up for clean energy
now! It's good for the birds, it's good for us,
it's good for the environment. Click
here for more info.
CONTACT
US
Click here to send us your comments and questions.
Click here for a MAP of our Centers and Sanctuaries around the state.
|