Connecticut State of the Birds

The Connecticut State of the Birds report is an annual publication of the Connecticut Audubon Society. It provides an overview of the health and status of bird populations in the state, highlighting conservation concerns and successes. The report covers a range of topics, including:

Population trends
Habitat changes
Conservation priorities
Research findings
Policy recommendations

Connecticut State of the Birds serves as an important resource for scientists, policymakers, conservationists, and bird enthusiasts. It helps to raise awareness about the challenges facing birds in Connecticut and beyond, and informs efforts to protect them.

All Connecticut Audubon members receive a copy in the mail.

Connecticut State of the Birds 2023

5 Key Issues: New knowledge and better technologies are changing conservation
The 2023 report looks at five key areas of conservation that previous Connecticut State of the Birds reports examined. They are examples of how new knowledge, new realities, increased human effort, and better technologies are either resulting in changes or resulting in the awareness that things had better change, and fast.
Get a PDF of the 2023 report HERE.

Connecticut State of the Birds is edited by Tom Andersen, Connecticut Audubon’s communications director, and overseen by Milan Bull, senior director of science and conservation.

Connecticut State of the Birds 2023 is sponsored by

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
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
Viveca Morris, executive director of the Yale Law School’s Law, Ethics & Animals Program.
Danica Doroski, Ph.D., Connecticut’s State Urban Forester with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
Robert A. Askins Ph.D., the Katharine Blunt Professor Emeritus of Biology at Connecticut College.
Min T. Huang, Ph.D., the Migratory Bird Program leader for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
David Foster, Ph.D., Director Emeritus of the Harvard Forest at Harvard University and co-coordinator of the Wildlands, Woodlands, Farmlands & Communities initiative.
Brian Hall, Ph.D., the Harvard Forest and Highstead .
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
Bill Labich, senior conservationist, Highstead Foundation.
Sally Harold of The Nature Conservancy
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