125th Anniversary

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