News at Deer Pond Farm

Habitat enhancement in progress: overcoming insect damage and creating pockets full of 1000+ plants

Jim Arrigoni, CT Audubon conservation biologist with Earth Tones Native Plants Owners and Staff

In 2019, two grants were awarded to Deer Pond Farm to enhance birding habitat. The Hollis Declan Leverett Memorial Fund and the Robert F. Schumann Foundation provided funding for planting and purchase of meadow wildflowers, shrubs and small trees to increase diversity and abundance of birds and other wildlife.

The Connecticut Audubon Society developed a three-acre site within their Deer Pond Farm sanctuary in Sherman, thanks to a $10,000 matching grant from the Hollis Declan Leverett Memorial Fund, Bank of America, N.A., Co-Trustee. The new habitat replaces a grove of dead and dying white ash trees that succumbed to an invasive insect, the emerald ash borer.

The Hollis Declan Leverett Foundation funds also covered the development and installation of permanent interpretive signs. These highlight ecological attributes of the area, and educate visitors about how they also can improve habitat for birds and other wildlife.

The project location is at a spot where several trails converge, making it easily accessible to the preserve’s visitors and a top destination for hikers and birdwatchers. The habitat enhancement work builds on a pollinator garden and invasive plant species management in other sections of Deer Pond Farm.

“This project represents an amazing opportunity to attract desirable birdlife, return native vegetation to the site, and to engage our visitors,” said Cathy Hagadorn, Director of Deer Pond Farm. “We are honored to have Hollis Declan Leverett Memorial Fund as our partner to improve native bird habitats in western Connecticut.”

The Robert F. Schumann Foundation, a Wells Fargo Bank N.A. fund bolstered the project with a $13,000 matching grant. “The Schumann Foundation’s partnership is a true endorsement of our efforts to create a top birding destination in Connecticut,” said Cathy Hagadorn, Director of Deer Pond Farm. “By enhancing the habitat value for birds within the area, this project will provide improved food and shelter access for year-round birds, and increase abundance and diversity of overwintering and migratory bird species.”

Earth Tones Native Plants from Woodbury designed, installed and provided nearly 200 shrubs and trees, just over 850 perennial wildflower plugs representing a total of nearly 60 plant species.

Connecticut Audubon Society’s mission is to conserve Connecticut’s environment through science-based education and advocacy focused on the state’s bird populations and their habitats. Deer Pond Farm is our newest and largest sanctuary at 835 acres.

Hollis Declan Leverett Memorial Fund is named in honor of Hollis Declan Leverett, an avid birder, who died prematurely as a young adult. The foundation was created by his parents, Hollis M. and Helen E. Leverett, in his memory.

The Robert F. Schumann Foundation was established by Mr. Schumann out of his beliefs that the environment is essential to sustain the future of the planet,that education is essential to solve many quality of life issues for society, and that arts and cultural programs offer society hope and the ability to dream.

Click here for the Cathedral Pines Shrubs and Small Tree Plant List.

Click here for the Cathedral Pines Perennial Wildflower Plant List.

Click here for the News Times, October 18, 2019 article by Katrina Koerting, Sherman’s Deer Pond Farm turns destruction into new habitats.

For more information on Deer Pond Farm Conservation, click here.

Birds You Can See at Deer Pond Farm

This Month

Barred Owl by Deirdra Wallin

• American Crow, American Goldfinch, American Robin, American Woodcock, Barred Owl, Belted Kingfisher,
  Black-capped Chickadee, Black Vulture, Blue-headed Vireo, Blue Jay, Brown Creeper, Canada Goose, Carolina Wren, Cedar Waxwing, Chipping Sparrow, Cooper’s Hawk, Dark-eyed Junco, Downy Woodpecker, Eastern Bluebird, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Towhee, Eastern
  Wood-pewee, European Starling, Hairy Woodpecker, Hermit Thrush, House Finch, House Wren, Indigo Bunting, Mourning Dove, Northern Cardinal, Northern Parula, Palm Warbler, Pileated Woodpecker, Pine Siskin, Purple Finch, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Ring-necked Pheasant, Rock Pidgeon, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Scarlet Tanager, Song Sparrow, Tufted Titmouse, Turkey Vulture, Wild Turkey, White-breasted Nuthatch, White-throated Sparrow, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker,
  Yellow-rumped Warbler, Yellow Warbler

Click on each month to view bird list:

January   February   March   April   May   June   July   August   September   October   November   December

eBird Hotspots

Yellow-billed Cuckoo by Sharon Cuartero

At Deer Pond Farm, we have two hotspots: Deer Pond Farm, CT Audubon, (Fairfield County), Sherman and Deer Pond Farm, CT Audubon (Dutchess Co.). Please enter your observations into these hotspots while you are at Deer Pond Farm.

Connecticut Bird Atlas

Deer Pond Farm is located in block 60D, which we have adopted as the lead for collecting observations and submitting data, although anyone is welcome to submit their own observations. For more information on eBird and Connecticut Bird Atlas at Deer Pond Farm, click here

Motus Operandi: Deer Pond is participating in state of the art migratory bird tracking technology

Is it big news that a bird flew past our Deer Pond Farm preserve in Sherman?

In the case of the Rusty Blackbird at 2:15 a.m. on November 8, 2018 the answer is yes. That lone fly over – of Euphagus carolinus, to be precise – was the first bird detected by the Connecticut Audubon Society’s new Motus Wildlife Tracking System receiver at Deer Pond Farm. Since then, Swainson’s Thrush, Red Knot, Semipalmated Plover, Chimney Swift, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Sora and Bicknell’s Thrush have also been detected at Deer Pond Farm.

This Motus map show where the Rusty Blackbird that passed Deer Pond Farm (the dot near the bottom) has been detected. Click the map to visit the Motus website.

The receiver at Deer Pond Farm and another at Shepaug Dam in Southbury mean that Connecticut Audubon is now participating in a growing network of tracking sites that might well revolutionize bird research.

The receivers were funded by a $9,323 grant from FirstLight Power Resources matched with funds from Connecticut Audubon.

Click here to read the rest of this news release.