Connecticut State of the Birds

Click HERE for a copy of the 2024 Connecticut State of the Birds report

The Connecticut Audubon Society publishes Connecticut State of the Birds each year around Thanksgiving. The report delves into conservation topics that affect Connecticut’s birds in the context of nationwide concerns.

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. Because the problem of insecticides is so important, we will also email a PDF of the report to people on our email list.

Connecticut State of the Birds 2024

The Next Conservation Frontier: Protecting Birds from Insecticides

The 2024 edition of Connecticut State of the Birds examined the widespread use of neonicotinoid insecticides—known as neonics—and their role in declining bird populations in Connecticut and across North America. The report explored the science, raised public awareness, and laid out the urgent need for regulatory action.

Through a series of expert contributions, the report helped build a compelling case for stronger restrictions on neonics, aiming to persuade the public, policymakers, and state agencies that the time had come for meaningful reform. That groundwork proved influential: in 2025, Connecticut enacted a new law banning the use of neonics on lawns, golf courses, and other turf grass areas.

Contributors to the 2024 report included Dan Raichel of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Hardy Kern of American Bird Conservancy, Emily May of the Xerces Society, Murry Burgess, Ph.D., of Mississippi State University, and Pam Hunt, Ph.D., of New Hampshire Audubon. Local voices included Bill Hobbs of Stonington, Allison Black of Norwich, and Connecticut Audubon’s Milan Bull and Andy Griswold.

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 2024 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