General Information
Located in Connecticut’s ‘quiet corner,’ Connecticut Audubon Society’s Grassland Bird Conservation Center at Pomfret is surrounded by rural beauty and adjoins the Society’s 700-acre Bafflin Sanctuary, with its vast rolling meadows and grasslands habitats. The Center is a community-based facility that will actively manage habitat for grassland and offer environmental education programs, bird walks and nature events, Citizen Science training and projects, and many opportunities to learn about and explore the natural world.
In addition to the Bafflin Sanctuary, the Center at Pomfret offers a new classroom, where people of all ages can experience hands-on environmental education programs; after-school and weekend environmental programs; day and evening hikes and bird walks; seasonal lectures and workshops; changing natural history exhibits; and workshops for teachers.
The Center manages the Society’s Trail Wood Sanctuary, once the home of Pulitzer Prize-winning nature writer Edwin Way Teale. This 168-acre sanctuary offers well-developed trails and a small nature history museum with Teale memorabilia, as well as programs for adults, families, and children.
Owl Garden Party!
You are invited to join us for the Connecticut Audubon Society’s Center at Pomfret 13th Annual Owl Garden Party on Thursday, June 14, 2012 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. Feast on hors d’oeuvres featuring locally grown and created foods. Your presence enables us to help ignite the stewardship flame in our present and future generations. Each $60 per person contribution ($45 is fully tax-deducitble) will go in its entirety toward environmental educaion programming for the Connecticut Audubon Society in Pomfret. Space is limited so make your reservation now.
Education Programs
Nature Photography Working Group
Each Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Nature photographer, Fran Baranski, will provide specific photographic techniques to help you improve your photography skills. Topics will vary, however, if you are interested in working on your nature photography skills, this is a good group to work with. Cost: members free/nonmembers $5.
Children’s Programming
SUMMER NATURE DAY CAMP
June 18 – August 11, 2012. Summer fun for ages 6 -12. Openings still available in all weeks. Get your registration in now. The Center of pomfret is not doing online registration. Please call 860-928-4948 or email Sarah at SHeminway@ctaudubon.org.
Click Here for Summer Camp Brochure
Click Here For Summer Camp Forms
After School Nature Club at Pomfret
3:30-5:15 p.m.
May Session:
Grades K-2: Tuesdays – May 8, 15, 22, & 29
Grades 3-6: Thursdays – May 10, 17, 24, & 31
Do your kids need some time to blow off steam after school? Send them to the center. In the winter we are all about tracking and sledding. We will fill their afternoon with fresh air and fun on the sanctuary with wildlife lessons quietly inserted along the way. Fee per session: $40 members; $50 non-members.
Download a brochure of all 2012 Educational Programs
Bird Walks
Early Morning Bird Walks
Every Tuesday from March 20 – May 29 8:00 a.m.
Come join Andy Rzeznikiewicz as he points out the various bird species. We have access to over 1,650 acres of protected land. Wear drab colored clothing and bring binoculars (on some occasions a spotting scope is useful). Cost: free members/$5 nonmembers.
Second Annual 20 Warbler Day was an Exciting Yearly Event!
Sunday, May 13, 2012. 22 Warblers! A fabulous birding morning during peak migration. Excellent views of a variety of warblers. We observed a Black-throated Green Warbler land next to us on the ground and collect nesting material. Some other exciting sightings were Wilson’s Warblers, Hooded Warblers, Cerulean Warblers, Blackburnian Warblers, and Worm-eating Warblers. We ended our morning viewing a Black-throated Blue Warbler. We hope you can join us next year for this wonderful outing.
Woodstock Bird Walk is Another Yearly Event
Monday, May 14, 2012
Each year we explore a Wyndham Land Trust preserve in Woodstock, CT. This year we found a Hooded Merganser with young, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, 4 different species of vireos, and 12 differnt species of warblers. We hope you can join us next year when birding in this nearby area.
Seventh Annual 90 Bird Day
Sat., May 19, 7 a.m. – 4 p.m.
The goal is to hear or see at least 90 species of birds in nine hours or less. We will be visiting many locations within a 10-mile radius. Interesting sightings from past years include: Olive-sided Flycatcher, Bald Eagle, and Hooded Warbler. Bring lunch, drinks, and a snack. Cost: $20 CAS members; $35 non-members.
Spaces are still available, and you will not be dissapointed. Call to register!
Bird Banding Demonstration
Sat., May 26, 9 a.m.
Join Andy Rzeznikiewicz and fellow bird banders to see various songbirds up close. You will see how we gently catch them, record data, and safely release the birds. Participants may release a bird. Cost: $5 CAS members; $10 non-members.
Thompson Bird Walk
Mon., May 21, 8 a.m.
We will explore a new 127 acres Wyndham Land Trust preserve in Thompson, CT. The property contains many evergreens and shrubland. The Little River flows through the preserve. Expect Prairie Warblers and Black-throated green warblers.
Cost: $7members/$12 nonmembers.
Sanctuary Walks
Wednesday Noon Walks
Through May 30, noon
Get out of the house or office to stretch your legs and clear your head. Join Connecticut Audubon Society staff for fresh air, exercise, good company and naturalist lessons along the way. Seniors and parents with babes in backpacks welcome. Free
Thursday Morning Walks
Through May 31., 8:30 a.m.
Third Sunday Walks
Sun. May 20, 2 p.m.
Longtime volunteer and naturalist Fran Baranski and other Center volunteers will lead walks on the Bafflin Sanctuary and Wyndham Land Trust properties. Walk for fun and exercise, visiting different locations each week. A tracking lesson will no doubt present itself. Cost: Free CAS Members; $3 Non-members
Monthly Art Exhibits
Amy Bartlett Wright 
Exhibit and Sale through June 15
Amy Bartlett Wright is a well known Rhode Island artist whose paintings reflect her focus on natural science. Trained as a scientific illustrator, she has illustrated over 60 books, most notably for the Peterson Field Guide series. She has embraced larger format pieces and now paints murals and fine art showing native animals in their habitats. Accuracy and realism remains important to her whether working large or small. Her clients include Museum of Science, Boston, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Museum of American History as well as several New England zoos. She also teaches in the Scientific Illustration Certificate Program at Rhode Island School of Design, Continuing Education. See her work at: www.AmyBartlettWright.com. A percentage from all sales will benefit the Center. Free to the public
Citizen Science Programs
Citizen Science Program Overview
Registration is required for all projects. For information call Paula Coughlin, Citizen Science Coordinator, 860928-4948; pcoughlin@ctaudubon.org . Learn about your natural environment with your friends and neighbors. Become a Citizen Science Volunteer!
Vernal Pool Survey 2012
Vernal pool season passes quickly. Don’t miss out on the fun.
On Friday and Saturday mornings in April and May, our trained volunteers document vernal pools in towns in northeast Connecticut.
Vernal pools may be dry in summer but by the next spring they’re again filled with water. That’s when the peepers and wood frogs start croaking (and you thought those were ducks quaking in the woods). If you think you have a vernal pool near you, please give us a call.
Call to register for one of the vernal pool training sessions at the Center at Pomfret:
Mammal Monitoring Program
This Citizen Science project runs throughout the year with our trained Citizen Science volunteers monitoring study sites in Willington, Eastford, and Woodstock quarterly, as well as our new site planned for Canterbury. This is our tenth year of documenting the presence of large mammals such as fisher, river otter, black bear, and bobcat.
Begin or continue training to become a Citizen Science wildlife monitor by attending training hikes that suit your schedule throughout the seasons. Contact Paula Coughlin for information and training hikes. 860-928-4948. training fee per hike: $50 CAS members/$60 non-members.
