The DEEP has announced that Charles Island in Milford and Duck Island in Westbrook will be closed to the public beginning today, May 24 through Sept. 9, 2013, to prevent disturbances to nesting birds. Click on this Environmental Headline for more on this story from the DEEP.

Audubon Greenwich, in collaboration with the Greenwich Tree Conservancy and the Bruce Museum, recently presented their Urban Oases, Expanding Bird Habitat for Migrating Songbirds, a research program spearheaded by Michelle Frankel, Audubon Connecticut’s conservation biologist. For more on this story, visit: Tree Conservancy needs help to save songbirds | Greenwich Post.

In the state’s first bald eagle nesting survey, the state Department of Fish and Game has verified 30 active nests this spring, including eight along the Connecticut River, six at Quabbin Reservoir and four along the Merrimack River. The survey, coordinated by the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and involving agency staff and 35 volunteers,
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Vandalism to nets at the Connecticut Audubon Society Birdcraft Museum and Sanctuary — when mist netting nets are tampered with, birds can get caught and die. For more on this story, visit: Net vandalism harmful to birds – Connecticut Post.

To many East End residents, it was sad enough to see the body of a nearly 48-foot-long humpback whale washed ashore in East Quogue last Wednesday, but to marine biologists, it was the loss of one of the most famous humpbacks to be tracked and studied throughout its lifetime. For more on this story, visit:
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Right on time, ospreys are returning to their nests in and around Madison. The magnificent hawks overwinter in Florida, northern coastal Mexico, and northern South America. They then return to Connecticut in late March. For more on this story, visit: Ospreys Return To Summer Home Near Neck River – Madison, CT Patch.

The Connecticut swamps are filling with huge flocks of red-wing males singing “O-Gurgl-eeee!” The guys welcome spring with those boisterous calls. The season is all that they have to sing to, for their wives-to-be are still dawdling in Florida. Like me, the ladies cherish this last little warm comfort before diving into the intensive life
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Climate change is bringing some new species to the area. Scott Tucker with Expedition New England, and his son Race, were here to talk about rare birds like the American Bald Eagle, which was on the brink of extinction back in 1970, but now back in the environment. For more on this story, visit: Climate
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Concerned with the dramatic decline of 17 species of birds that nest in Connecticut and eat only insects caught while flying, Connecticut Audubon Society is calling for a multi-agency program of research and assessment along with immediate remedies such as cuts in pesticide use and the creation of man-made nesting sites.

The recommendations and action plan are contained in the Connecticut State of the Birds 2013 report, “The Seventh Habitat and the Decline of Our Aerial Insectivores.”

Though police and animal control officers have responded to coyote complaints, police say they don’t proactively manage local wildlife. Some are concerned, particularly because at least one of the animals appears to be sick. For more on this story, visit: Coyote sightings rise in western Greenwich – GreenwichTime.

The environment takes center stage at the Connecticut Audubon Center at Glastonbury over the next few weeks. For more on this story, visit: Glastonbury: Programs on the environment – Courant.com.

The Connecticut Audubon Society is planning to study how Hurricane Sandy’s significant damage to shoreline nesting habitats will affect endangered birds, and whether it could benefit some of them. For more on this story, visit: Hurricane Sandy’s damage to Connecticut bird habitats studied- The Register Citizen.

  Stresemann’s Bristlefront by Ciro Albano – NE Brazil Birding. Photo may be used with credit. (Washington, D.C., January 17, 2013) The first known nest of one of the world’s rarest birds – the Critically Endangered Stresemann’s Bristlefront – has been discovered in Brazil. Of perhaps equal significance is that strong evidence of active nestlings
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As of mid-December, the USDA had taken 23 deer off airport property in 2012.

If you build it, they will come. Sounds simple, right? This common phrase is often used to describe situations with definite outcomes. Hang up a bird feeder and you get birds. Plant wildflowers and you get bees. Put up a bluebird nest box and you get bluebirds . . . well maybe. Truth be told, it may not be quite as straightforward as “build it and they will come.”

Loons, loons and more loons. That’s what The Hour saw during a recent birdwatching boat trip out to the Norwalk Islands this week.

Stunning images of animals from land and sea feature in this selection of the best wildlife snaps of the GDT European wildlife photographer of the year awards GDT European wildlife photographer of the year 2012 – in pictures | Environment | guardian.co.uk.

Following today’s National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska announcement by Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, National Audubon Society President and CEO David Yarnold said: “The secretary’s plan shows that Americans can protect nature even on lands designated for energy production. It would be a great victory for birds, wildlife and common sense. And it says that some places really are too precious to drill, and there’s no better example than the Teshekpuk Lake area, one of the planet’s most prolific bird nurseries.”

Motorists in the Thomaston area are advised to use extra caution and be observant while driving due to the sighting of a moose near Route 8. Moose near roadways pose a particular danger because their dark color and tall stance make them difficult to see at night and, once struck, more likely to collapse through the vehicle windshield.

Contractors have started building a major fishway on the Mattabesset River, a Connecticut River tributary. NEW HAVEN, CT — Work is now underway on a state-of-the-art fishway on the Mattabesset River in East Berlin. Led by The Nature Conservancy’s Connecticut Program in partnership with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), the project
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