Connecticut State of the Birds
Connecticut State of the Birds 2022
125 Years of Bird Conservation Through Local Action
2023 is the 125th anniversary of Connecticut Audubon’s founding. Connecticut State of the Birds 2022 marks the occasion by telling the story of significant bird conservation issues through the examples of avian families or groups.
Each article focuses on whether their populations are secure now nationwide, in the region, and in the state; on the conservation issues they face; and the conservation history of those species.
Here are the 2022 contents:
- “A Look Back: 125 years and More of Assaults on Birds, and Solutions by Conservationists” & “Responses to Bird Crises,” an essay and a timeline.
- “Hats Off to the Conservationists Who Saved the Egrets and Started a Movement,” by Milan Bull, Connecticut Audubon’s Senior Director of Science and Conservation.
- “Connecticut’s Oystercatcher Revival Has an Increasingly Murky Future,” by Elizabeth Amendola, Coastal Program Coordinator for Audubon Connecticut.
- “The Decline of Native Birds? The Fault Lies Not in Our Starlings but in Ourselves,” by Julia Zichello, Ph.D., Evolutionary Biologist, Hunter College, the City University of New York.
- “Vulnerable to Wetland Loss but Responsive to Conservation Work, Waterfowl Are Doing Well in North America, For Now,” by Paul Schmidt, Director of The Road to Recovery/Saving Our Shared Birds.
- “Raptors Are Back and in Good Shape. The Effort it Took Was Enormous,” by Brian Hess, Wildlife Biologist with the Wildlife Division of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
- “Actions and Recommendations”
All Connecticut Audubon members receive a copy in the mail.
To become a member, click HERE!
For a PDF of the 2022 report, click HERE!
The report is edited by Tom Andersen, Connecticut Audubon’s communications director, and overseen by Milan Bull, senior director of science and conservation.
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
- Robert Askins, Ph.D., and Glenn Dreyer, Ph.D., of Connecticut College
- 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
- 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
- David Foster, Ph.D., director emeritus of the Harvard Forest, co-director of Wildlands and Woodlands.
- Bill Labich, senior conservationist, Highstead Foundation.
- Sally Harold of The Nature Conservancy
- Min Huang, Ph.D., of the CT DEEP
- 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 the titles to download copies of Connecticut State of the Birds
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
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
