Natural Nutmeg

Who knew that by wearing condoms you could protect the world !

The Center for Biological Diversity believes that the major reason that dozens of animals, birds, and plants face extinction is the vast overpopulation of the human race. The Center points out that humans are destroying habitat and creating greenhouse gases that are drastically changing our climate to the detriment of many endangered species.

To raise awareness of the human overpopulation problem, the Center has started the Endangered Species Condom Project. To help people understand the impact of overpopulation on other species, and to give them a chance to take action in their own life, 3,000 Center volunteers are distributing 100,000 free packets of Endangered Species Condoms.

As part of the education process, the condoms will be enclosed in six beautifully designed special packages, featuring clever slogans and each highlighting a different endangered species: the polar bear (Wrap with Care. Save the Polar Bear.), snail darter (Hump Smarter. Save the Snail Darter.), spotted owl (Wear a condom now. Save the spotted owl.), American burying beetle (Cover your tweedle. Save the burying beetle.), jaguar (Wear a jimmy hat. Save the big cat.), and coquí guajón rock frog (Use a stopper. Save the hopper.).

The condoms will be handed out at concerts, bars, universities, spiritual groups, local events, and farmer’s markets. Along with two condoms, each package contains original artwork and information on the species, facts about overpopulation and the extinction crisis, and suggestions on how the human population can be stabilized.

You can learn more about overpopulation and extinction rates at the project’s website where you can also donate or volunteer to help.

If you have a question or comment, or a nature topic you would like to hear about on my blog, please feel free to comment below here on this blog, or email me at madelinedennis@optonline.net.

If you would like me to let you know when my next blog is posted, please send me an email at madelinedennis@optonline.net.

Check out my listing of Connecticut nature and environmental web sites to the right on this page.

Madeline Dennis
Natural Nutmeg

Quick before the Vancouver Winter Olympics are over, I wanted to write this blog…

In 2008, Beijing tried very hard to make the Summer Olympics as environmentally-friendly as possible. Now the Vancouver Winter Olympics are being compared to those efforts. And in terms of sustainability and  greenness, Vancouver is pretty impressive. For a good overview of all the Vancouver green initiatives, click here for all the details on the Olympics web site.

The Vancouver Olympics are the first to incorporate sustainability into their mission statement and fully embed sustainability into their operations, everything from green transortation, to buildings and green sponsors. The Vancouver Olympics organizers have used energy-efficient technology, clean energy and carbon offsets. And it all started very green on day one when  Wayne Gretsky clutched a recyclable torch as he rode in a hybrid pickup en route to ignite the natural gas Olympic flame.

The Olympic Village buildings were all LEED certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified projects adhere to a strict set of building standards to improve energy efficiency and sustainability) and will be turned into mixed-use mixed-income housing. The buildings were also fitted with solar panels and “green-roofs” that will use a rainwater collection system to become self-sustaining. Many buildings used local wood from trees that were destroyed by storms. The Richmond Oval, where the speed skating took take place, was constructed using wood from trees that had been destroyed by a beetle infestation. 

The hydrogen-powered Chevy Equinox was the official automobile of Vancouver 2010. The Zamponi ice-cleaning machines were electric. Public transit improvements were key. A new Sky Train was built that runs from the airport to the downtown city center. Once downtown, all subways, streetcars, sea bus and buses were free to Olympic ticket holders. That included buses up to the mountain events. In fact, car usage declined 30% during the Games.

The Vancouver Olympic organizing committee pressured corporate sponsors, to reduce their environmental footprints. Many did, but the stand-out was the official beverage sponsor, Coca-Cola, which went completely green at this Olympics and was one of the first major marketers to embark on a zero-waste, carbon-neutral sponsorship of an event as complex as the Olympic Games. Coke’s cafe furniture was made from pine-beetle-salvaged wood. Their beverages were delivered via hybrid vehicles and electric carts. All of the uniforms worn by Coca-Cola’s staff were made  of recycled bottles. Compostable cups and lids were used for coffee. Coke introduced bottles called PlantBottles made from 30 percent plant-based materials that were used for all their beverages and water.

Another Olympic sponsor was the Canadian mining company Teck Resources who provided the metal for the Olympic medals. These medals were the first to be made out of recycled metals and circuit boards. Teck Resources was able to harvest gold, silver, and bronze from the circuit boards of old computers and have it melted down and cast back into the Olympic medals. They included 1.52 per cent junk gold, 0.122 per cent recycled silver and 1.11 per cent recovered copper. It’s a pretty small percentage, but the real point was to create awareness that metals can be reused and recycled. And these beautiful medals look nothing like any other Olympic medals! Did you know the design is an orca, no two medals have the same design and the artist is from a First Nations’ tribe? Click here for a fascinating video about the artists and the process. 

I understand that London is already planning for a very green Olympics two years from now incorporating many of the same plans as in Vancouver and with more creative environmental ideas.

If you have a question or comment, or a nature topic you would like to hear about on my blog, please feel free to comment below here on this blog, or email me at madelinedennis@optonline.net. (more…)

Windmills are a wonderful clean safe source of green energy… right? Not everyone thinks so, especially some environmentalists and biologists. The spinning blades of wind mills can be fatal to flying birds and also can act as giant scarecrows discouraging birds from nesting in an area.

Birds, of course, collide with all sorts of human structures. Cars kill millions of birds each year in the US. Almost a billion collide with tall building and windows. Birds are killed by utility lines and lighted towers. Then of course there are the bird deaths due to non-collision causes such as pesticides. habitat loss, toxic emissions from power plants and being killed by domestic cats. So the bottom line is nothing is totally safe for birds,

However, according to various studies bird collision mortality associated with wind turbines is much lower than other sources of collision mortality. Even if wind plants were quite numerous, they would likely cause no more than a few percent of all collision deaths related to human structures.

Public attention has focused on the large Altamont Pass wind farm in California, where unusually high numbers of raptors die, in part due to the large size of the wind plant, old turbine design and unfavorable siting of the turbines in an area of large raptor population. According to some estimates, as many as three dozen golden eagles die there annually. Here is one of the few videos of an actual bird strike and the touching rescue attempt at Altamont.

In addition to killing birds, a new study published in the Journal of Applied Ecology has found that the wind farms are acting as giant scarecrows, frightening birds away. The study found that seven species of birds tended to stop nesting within one half mile of any turbine. Bird nesting was reduced in three quarters of a square mile around each structure.

Siting wind plants in areas with low bird and raptor use is currently the best way to minimize collision mortality. Also environmentalists still need to determine all the various factors that contribute. Here is a good video with an overview of the problem.

The engineer who designs a bird-friendly windmill and the company that markets it will carve a huge place in the energy marketplace. The diversity of wind turbine designs now being developed is remarkable. Here is a video of bird-wind turbine controversy (with some graphic images), but it also shows a unique solution provided by a  Spanish wind turbine company.  It shows vertical wind turbines, one example of these many new technologies.

While there are few sites in Connecticut suitable for large wind installations, the state offers many opportunities for small wind projects. In fact did you know that in 1854 Daniel Halladay invented and sold the first commercially successful windmill in the New World right here in Ellington CT.  Many towns in Connectuct have been vying for funding from the recently passed federal stimulus bill for clean energy projects like wind turbines. 

Here below are a few of the wind energy projects being constructed or considered throughout the state:

• Shelton:  a 37-foot structure by Poulson Hybrid
• Torrington: Sewer District plant and a 199-foot wind turbine on a private farm
• Old Lyme: Clean & Green Energy’s pair of 300 ft. wind turbines to power homes
• Middletown/Middlefield:  possibility of installing a wind farm on Mount Higby
• CT Clean Energy Fund’s Small Wind Turbine Project: Coventry High School, Lebanon High School, Mountain Day Mist Camp Meriden YMCA, New Haven Visitor Center
• New Haven: Phoenix Press constructing a 150-foot wind turbine on the banks of the Quinnipiac River
• Avon: the first private home wind turbine in Connecticut
• Hamden: the first US university wind farm at Quinnipiac University installing 25 vertical wind turbines
• State of Connecticut:  may install and operate wind turbines at a correctional facility

While there have been studies done on bird mortality caused by large commercial wind installations, I doubt there have been any done on the impact of smaller and home-sized wind systems on birds. I suppose the small problem is not considered biologically insignificant. Perhaps the smaller blades and short tower heights of residential windmills do not represent a threat to birds. But I truly hope that when towns consider environmental impact statements for their projects they.

Due to declines in many species of birds, and as wind farms become more prevalent any additional mortality should be a cause for concern. Hopefully monitoring programs at many of the newer wind plants will provide information to better understand avian mortality levels and to continue to determine factors important for siting wind plants. Because birds populations continue to decline due to so many environmental factors, efforts by every industry are important to reverse avian mortality trends and to minimize bird deaths.

If you have a question or comment, or a nature topic you would like to hear about on my blog, please feel free to comment below here on this blog, or email me at madelinedennis@optonline.net. (more…)

Birdwatchers are loving this really cool video making the rounds of the internet.  Take a look at it first…click here to see the video … before reading any further.  What do you think this crazy woodpecker is trying to do ! ?  Get killed or what ? !

Here is the scoop.  And okay, it is not Connecticut, but battles like this one go on every day among our animal friends right here too.

In the video this female crimson crested woodpecker has been filmed repeatedly attacking a 10 ft olive whipsnake which invaded its nest on Peru’s Yarapa River in the Amazon.

The featherweight battler made repeated attempts to drive the snake out of the tree and was bitten by the lightening-quick reptile five times. On each occasion the snake held the much smaller bird in its mouth and then let it fall to the ground below. After a fight lasting four minutes, the wounded bird left the area and is likely to have died of its injuries or been killed by a predator.

For the woodpecker to have been so tenacious, it is most likely the snake was stealing eggs or attacking chicks in the woodpeckers’ nest. It is thought the snake was looking for eggs or chicks and the woodpecker arrived to find it had moved in while she was away. If you take a look at the very beginning of the video when the snake first appears out of the woodpecker hole, you will see it seems to have just swallowed something and you can see an egg shaped bulge in its neck.

An incredible nature battle caught on video !

If you have a question or comment, or a nature topic you would like to hear about on my blog, please feel free to comment below here on this blog, or email me at madelinedennis@optonline.net. (more…)

Although the deer breeding season, or the rut, is mainly over in our area, I came across some fascinating video footage of bucks sparring so I thought I would write a short blog about this marvelous phenomenon.  I have a fun small collection of some other nature videos which I will share in future postings of this blog.

In early fall, less daylight triggers an increase in the bucks’ testosterone, the hormone responsible for, among other things, antler maturation. Male white-tailed deer grow and shed antlers annually. In the warmer months the antlers are soft and covered with a sensitive tissue known as velvet. By fall, the antlers harden the velvet that covers them dies and dries up; the deer scrape them against trees to remove the velvet in preparation for the rut. Antlers are used in sparring with other bucks during the mating season. The antlers are shed from mid-December to late-January.

To establish dominance in a hierarchy, bucks engage in sparring with each other. They lock their antlers and push until one buck backs down, yielding dominance to the other buck. Sparring is not fighting. Once a buck gains dominance, he maintains his position in the hierarchy just by staring down other bucks. If another buck rises to the challenge, the two deer engage in a fight, clashing antlers and pushing until one buck backs down.

This video is a real find and rare footage of a dramatic and rare occurrence in nature. The outcome is really special. You must take a look and do not worry…in spite of what you think might happen, no deer is injured at all although it is very dramatic.

Deer In Winter

The rut leaves a buck frail and tired. Sometimes a dominant buck is so weak that he can barely survive the winter. Bucks use up testosterone during the breeding season, and this causes their racks to fall off in the winter.

Deer metabolism slows down in the winter, so the animals don’t have to eat as much to keep their bodies going. They survive on whatever twigs or brush they can find and their thick winter coat keeps them warm.

Car-Deer Collision Tips

Car-deer collisions have more than doubled in Connecticut in the past 15 or so years. The most dangerous time is during the fall and early winter breeding season but the danger is still very much with us.  The peak times for deer-vehicle accidents are after dusk during weekday rush hour in the winter darkness. Some quick tips to avoid deer accidents: Slow Down. Wear your seat belt. Use high beams when possible to watch for eyes reflecting in headlights. Be aware that deer travel in groups – if you see one, there are probably more. Avoid swerving which could result in a worse accident with another car or cause the car to spin out of control. Instead, brake and hold the wheel straight.

If you have a question or comment, or a nature topic you would like to hear about on my blog, please feel free to comment below here on this blog, or email me at madelinedennis@optonline.net. (more…)

I am so excited to report to all my friends and neighbors that the osprey nesting platform project that I have been coordinating for over TWO years is finally a reality. Our new osprey nesting platform has finally been erected on Burr Creek in Black Rock! The platform was put into place on November 21, 2009.

Osprey platform with Captain's Cove in background.

It all started when I had been in my new neighborhood for awhile and noticed that osprey often fished in Burr Creek.   I thought this would be a perfect location for a nest especially since an abandoned 30 Foot utility pole was already securely standing right at the edge of the water.  And with one successful pair of opreys nesting at Ash Creek on the other side of Black Rock , how cool would it be to have a second pair raising their chicks on the other side of Black Rock. 

A couple of years ago, I secured permission from the City for our Arthur Street Neighbors Committee to build and install a wooden nesting platform for ospreys on an unused utility pole on a small city green space directly on Burr Creek at the end of our street. 

Then I found a sympathetic teacher Charles Johnson at the Bridgeport School of Aquaculture who found a student to construct the 40 inch wooden square with mesh bottom and support beams. Material for the platform was donated by Wood, Steel and Glas Inc. of Madison. I searched a LONG time to find  someone who would help with the job and provide the necessary bucket truck to raise the structure, I was happy to finally find an enthusiastic landscaper, Nate Burns, from a great local tree company, Bartlett Tree Experts, to install the platform on top of the 35 foot pole using their bucket truck.

Jose Garcia from Bartlett Tree Experts secures platform to pole.

On behalf of the Arthur Street Neighbors Committee, I would like to thank the School of Aquaculture, the City of Bridgeport, United Illuminating, City Councilwomen Susan Brannelly, Wood, Steel and Glas Inc., neighbor Steve Patalano and Nate Burns and Jose Garcia from Bartlett Tree Experts.  I particularly would also like to thank the Ash Creek Conservancy Association, the Black Rock Community Council and neighbors Doug Fay, Betsy Ross, and Michael Raleigh for installation funding.

The project got some good press including this article from the CT Post and mention in many local Black Rock blogs.

It is not easy to get even a small project like this accomplished in Bridgeport, but with perseverance and with a strong belief in a “If I build it, they will come” philosophy, the nest platform is up and now we wait until early spring.  It is very likely that two of the many osprey we see here will discover the platform and check it out. Oftentimes, a young osprey couple will practice building a nest the first year, but not seriously breed or nest.  Then they will often return the next spring to that same location and seriously settle down and raise their family. 

Osprey dive feet first to grasp fish and adjust fish in talons with head facing forward to make itaerodynamic while flying.

 
Here’s hoping !

And I will keep everyone informed. 

If you have a question or comment,
or a nature topic you would like to
hear about on my blog, please
feel free to comment below here
on this blog, or email me at

madelinedennis@optonline.net 

Check out my listing of Connecticut
nature and environmental web sites
to the right on this page.  

Deer Hunting

Growing up in the suburbs of Long Island, I never really thought about hunting or thought it was something remote from me. It wasn’t until many years later when I moved to Greenwich, Connecticut to manage a 250 acre nature preserve that hunting became a very close reality.

Audubon Greenwich had begun a white-tailed deer hunting project the year before I got there, and it was my responsibility to manage it. There was a serious overpopulation of deer in Greenwich, and when there is an overpopulation of deer, they destroy the forest habitat by eating wildflowers and the forest understory shrubs. Ten deer per square mile can sustain the flora and birdlife, but Fairfield County it is more like… The deer strip the low-lying brush, and thereby deer threaten the local survival of those bird species, which need low shrubs for nesting. The multi-year ongoing project at Audubon Greenwich has been successful in reducing the herd, and inexpensive using a strictly monitored local bowhunting club.

White-tailed deer buck

The state’s deer population has been rising for the last 50 years. Incredible as it may seem, in the early 1900s, the statewide deer population was estimated at less than 50 deer because mountain lions, coyote and other animals culled their numbers. Today wildlife experts believe Connecticut’s deer population may be around 100,000.

But in the past ten years, because of efforts by the DEP to expand hunting seasons and work with different towns to open public lands, nature conservancies, water company properties and private properties to hunting, the deer population is stabilizing and, in some areas, beginning to go down.

But not in Fairfield County ! Fairfield County has the highest deer density in the state, averaging 62 deer per square mile with pockets of up to 100. This overabundance leads to more Lyme Disease, collisions with motor vehicles and over-browsing of native plants. Deer numbers in Fairfield County particularly have grown unchecked because most the land is closed to hunting, but more and more residents are allowing hunters on their private land. Also enticed by resident’s gardens lawns. Hunting is in fact and reality the only solution today. See this excellent article from the University of CT.

Many area communities, have been promoting hunting in recent years as a way to control a burgeoning deer population. From Stamford and Wilton, to Redding and Ridgefield. The town of Fairfield is the latest community to form a committee, hold public hearings and draft a management plan for what should be done about its deer. Fairfield officials expect to release a report any day now on how to control the town’s deer population. For more information go to the Fairfield Deer Management web site.

Deer hunting season is in full swing in Connecticut. And the Connecticut deer hunting season is one of the most liberal in the United States with 120 days of possible time in the field. Bow hunters have a very long season. The bow hunting season on private land, depending on the zone runs from September 15 through January 31, The firearms deer hunting season on private land in Connecticut begins on November 19 and lasts for two weeks. Click on this DEP link for all the details.

The statistics for the 2008 Deer Harvest and road kill are fascinating. 3,600 archery, 7,100 shotgun/rifle, 1176 landowner, 690 muzzleloader, 883 crop kill, 2,190 road kill, 100 other for a total of 15,800. to read a fascinating full report of these hunting stats see the US Fish and Wildlife Report on Hunting and Fishing in CT.

There are more deer hunters in Connecticut now than ever in the state’s history. This increase may be partially do to the poor economy and the opportunity deer hunting has for harvesting ones own food and obtaining high protein, lean meat.

In order to make use of such a large harvest, a new program has been established called, Hunt To Feed. This innovative program allows a hunter to donate the venison from his harvest to the Connecticut Food Bank at no cost to the hunter. At a time when Connecticut’s food pantries are hurting for food donations and have empty shelves, this is a wonderful humanitarian program provided by hunters. In Connecticut, Hunters for the Hungry donated 41,000 pounds of venison, to food charities. For more information see the Hunt To Feed web site

I personally believe that right now in Connecticut deer hunting is the most effective and cost efficient way for management of deer in our urban environment. There are no effective, approved ways to limit the population of deer in a non-lethal way. Deer management through contraception is still experimental, cost prohibitive only isolated herds can be managed in this way, not free ranging deer. Labor intensive and almost impossible.

Animal-rights activists argue that killing deer is not the answer, and municipalities should instead allow nature to take its course to control deer. Hunting shows a lack of respect for conscious life, they say, arguing it won’t end Lyme Disease or motor vehicle collisions, but instead actually prompt more breeding and faster-growing deer populations. Here is an outline of their argument from the Connecticut group Friends of Animals.

For a good description of some of the myths in deer control and an excellent refutation of what I consider for the most part to be a flawed animal right arguments see this hunters’ web site link.

Hunting Other Mammals and Birds

Over the past half-century, we have seen the recovery of many species of wildlife in Connecticut and almost everywhere. In fact, hunting and trapping have been expanded for some species, such as deer and beaver, to manage burgeoning wildlife populations. Research, management, and habitat improvement projects, funded by license and permit fees paid by sportsmen and special excise taxes on hunting equipment, are largely responsible for this recovery.

In Connecticut many bird species are hunted, of course: various species of ducks: mergansers, coots, Virginia and sora rails, clapper and king rails, Canada Geese, Snow Geese Brant as well as turkeys, pheasants and other upland birds. Crow, quail, chukar, woodcock, snipe, ruffed grouse, partridge. Each year pheasants are purchased and distributed throughout the state on state owned, state managed and permit-required areas, similar of course to stocking our rivers and streams with fish.

The state department of environmental protection say that the number of duck hunters in Connecticut is at an all-time low to about 5500.. In the late 70’s, that number was more than 16,000. The biggest reason may be that there are simply fewer places to hunt now than ever before due to loss of habitat and development pressures.

Mammals hunted in Connecticut are: the small game animals: gray squirrel, cottontail rabbit, snowshoe hare, European hares, woodchuck and also the forbearing mammals such as raccoons, opossums , red and gray foxes, coyotes, river otters, beaver, mink, muskrat, weasel, and skunk.

The hunters I know hunt safely and ethically. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection hunting and trapping are carefully regulated. Regulations and permitting are strict and mandatory hunter safety, ethics and trapper training courses. Here is a full description of the state’s hunting rules and regulations.

The hunters I know respect the environment and wildlife. Many are conservationists and bird watchers that protect animals and the environment.. Hunters have shouldered the cost of open space conservation. Hunters willingly accept and support decisions made by wildlife management agencies for the good of all animals. Hunters fervently protect our wild lands to keep them free from development, pollution and misuse.

I object to seal slaughter in Canada and other wildlife abuse around the world. I am vehemently opposed to the abuse of circus animals. I feel the stocking of birds like pheasants just for the hunter’s sport is not necessarily a good philosophy. I believe that perpetuating hunting and killing of many American birds and mammals just because it has always been that way and is an American tradition is wrong and not any kind of intelligent justification.

But I do believe in the importance of deer hunting in Connecticut for the curtailment of Lyme disease, reduction of dangerous car collisions, the protection of wildflowers and vegetation and for the conservation of Connecticut’s environment.

If you have a question or comment, or a nature topic you would like to hear about on my blog, please feel free to comment below here on this blog, or email me at madelinedennis@optonline.net. 

Check out my listing of Connecticut nature and environmental web sites to the right on this page.  

Bird watching is a different kind of sport. It is also a hobby, and recreational and educational too. It opens your eyes to the natural world right in your own backyard and in far away places. You can do it all year round. You can do it anywhere: at home, in the car, on vacation, at work.  It’s cheap. Every season, every month, brings some new bird event: hundreds of shorebirds at the beaches, jeweled hummingbirds sipping at flowers, hawks soaring over marshes, gold finches in your yard. Spring is the peak of bird watching fervor, the time when the colorful migrating birds come back north through our area. But bird watching in the fall brings tens of thousands of birds migrating south for the winter, and is an exciting time for bird watchers.

Thousands of hawks are migrating through Connecticut right now. Look up, they are there. Volunteers even count them at they move from one state to another. One good place to see them is the Audubon Greenwich Hawk Watch every day from now until the end of November. A hawk watch counter is there every day and will give you the scoop and help you identify the majestic birds.  The hawks are also perched on highway light poles waiting for a good meal to walk by. In a few weeks, ducks and geese will be on our waterways by the thousands too. It is a spectacular site with snow geese flying in like, well, like snow.  As winter approaches there will still be much to see. Winter brings eagles, and time to observe bird behavior close range right in your yard. It is a whole year round cycle.

I did not become a bird watcher until I was in my 20’s. I lived near Manhattan’s Central Park, and there are a lot of “birders” in Manhattan.  Central Park is a green oasis in the midst of concrete that attracts birds in a concentrated area.  Organized bird watching walks are frequent, and they are a great place to meet like-minded friends. I was on only my second bird walk. I was getting the knack of it.  A little way in the distance I saw through my binoculars a couple of drab birds on the sidewalk drinking from a puddle and pointed them out to our energetic leader.  “Quick, everyone.  Look what Madeline has found – two mourning doves on the ground over there!  Aren’t they beautiful! Great spot, Madeline!”  I was proud of my first sighting and hooked on the enthusiasm of the sport. 

And ever since I have been enthused even by the most common bird.  I remember when a friend from Australia, the home of a wild array of colorful parrots and other exotic birds, was overwhelmed when he saw our common blue jay’s bright plumage. And I realized that the variety and universality of bird watching could truly be an addiction.

Photo by Alfred Yan

Bird watching was recently in the news with a report released this July by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that revealed there are 48 million adult bird-watchers who contribute more than $36 billion a year to the nation’s economy. Connecticut ranking 14th in the nation with 28%  of people watching birds. People bird watch in lots of different ways. Some folks feed birds in their backyards and you can see hundreds of birds that way.  Others go out on bird walks in the woods, beaches and marshes.  Others take the activity seriously as a real sport, and even participate in competitions.

One such group effort is coming up on Sunday, Oct 11. It is called The Big Sit It is a 24-hour international bird-finding event with more than 40 states and countries competing. The idea is for a bird watchers group to see or hear as many bird species as possible from within a 17-foot circle. It is the birding community’s most sedentary event. Some people have called it a “tailgate party for birders. “The idea is that if you sit in one place long enough, eventually every species of bird will pass by. There will be a big sit at CT Audubon’s Center in Milford and others around the state.  Check out your local bird club. The Big Sit, and other bird competitions, can also be fundraisers or Bird-A-thons,  where you can support a group’s local conservation efforts by making a pledge per species tallied.

You don’t need a lot of equipment to bird watch.  Binoculars are a good thing to have, of course. You can get a decent pair for $50 or get as fancy as a $1,000 a pair. Birding Binoculars Guide s a web site with descriptions and reviews to help you choose one. The trick with using binoculars is to first spot the bird without the binoculars and then, while keeping your head still and your eyes on the bird, carefully raise your binoculars and look through the lenses. The more you practice, the better you will get at spotting birds through your binoculars!

The only other thing you really need is a field guide to help you identify the different birds. You might want to start with a book that just has Connecticut birds or birds seen east of the Rockies. Learning to identify birds, by their size, shape, body parts, coloring, behavior and song is a fascinating challenge. Other than binoculars and a guide, you can travel light and cheap on your bird watching walks.

The cool thing about bird watching is you can do it everywhere and your skills just get better with experience. I like it better than hiking.  Hikers measure the success of their day in the distance traveled and a brisk pace.  Birders like me anyway take leisurely strolls, stopping often, listening, watching, observing.  Distance is never the object.  Blending into nature and observing the natural world is.

I have bird watched around the United States, in Mexico, Canada and South America, and seen some marvelous birds in my travels, but I have done most of my birding right here in the North East. You don’t have to leave Connecticut.  There are 400 species of birds right in the Nutmeg State.  Even if you cannot get out at all, there are many beautiful web sites where you can experience the sights and sounds of bird watching.. One I like is Bird Cinema with lots of short videos.  It is sort of like a You Tube for bird watchers.

Photo by Jayne Gulbrand

There are plenty of organized bird walks at nature centers and parks around the state at all times of year. It is a good way to get started because you have the benefit not only of folks perhaps more experienced than you, but the more eyes there are the more birds you will see.  Many of these bird walks are free or have only a minimal fee.  There are many bird clubs and groups in Connecticut that you can also hook up with. See one of the links to the right.

Or you can go out on your own.  Almost anywhere: a walk down the street, in your local park, or even bird watching from your car. I have seen some great birds along the side of the road or on a highway light pole.  Check out some of the nature areas listed in my links to the right. You can even call a phone number or go on the internet and find out what rare birds might be visiting in your area: CT Statewide Hotline:  203-254-3665, Eastern CT Hotline:  860-599-5195, or with the Virtual Birder.

I hope you might venture out and turn your eyes upward too.  If you have a bird watching question or comment, or a topic you would like to hear about in my new blog, please feel free to comment below here on this blog, or email me at madelinedennis@optonline.net. 

Next Blog – Hunting in the Nutmeg State

Check out my listing of Connecticut nature and environmental web sites to the right on this page.