Ted Gilman, education specialist at Audubon Greenwich, is the point man for two February national events for bird lovers. On Thursday at Cos Cob Library Gilman will address the significance surrounding National Bird Feeding Month and also how to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count that takes place in Greenwich from February 17-20. For
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Spotted salamanders exposed to contaminated roadside ponds are adapting to their toxic environments, according to a Yale paper in Scientific Reports. This study provides the first documented evidence that a vertebrate has adapted to the negative effects of roads apparently by evolving rapidly. “This adaptation is certainly encouraging for conservation,” said Steven Brady, the study’s author and a doctoral student at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. “But our modern footprint is fundamentally changing species in ways we don’t understand and, critically, we don’t know if these adaptive responses will keep pace with environmental change.”

Animal advocates and hunters disagree about the best way to control wildlife intruders that find their way into your backyard. But animal advocates, hunters and wildlife experts agree that development encroaches on wildlife habitats, forcing many species to venture into the suburbs to seek food and shelter. And now deer, coyotes, fox, raccoons and even
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Beardsley Zoo says it’s receiving a $78,000 grant to help it train youths in wildlife conservation. The three-year grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services will support the Bridgeport zoo’s Conservation Discovery Corps teen program. For more on this story, visit: Beardsley Zoo Gets Grant « CBS Connecticut. Blog this! Bookmark on Delicious
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If you build it, they will come. That’s the hope of these folks who tramped around the soggy salt marsh in 14 degrees, bundled up against bone-chilling winds at Hammonasset Beach State Park last Sunday morning. For more on this story, visit: An aerie: Volunteers build nesting platform for Osprey at Hammonasset – News –
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Scientists say they’re especially concerned about a national decline in one duck species — the scaup — which may be linked to habitat change. The latest Connecticut scaup count was 1,000, down from 5,400 last year. For more on this story, visit: Connecticut mid-winter survey finds fewer ducks along Atlantic Flyway migration route | The
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To promote wetland conservation, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is initiating a contest where artists can enter an original piece of artwork that depicts a waterfowl species (duck, goose, or brant) that occurs in Connecticut.

The winning entry will be featured on the 2013 Connecticut Migratory Bird Conservation Stamp. Note: This is not a postage stamp.

Click on this environmental headline for more on this story from CT Environmental Headlines.

Connecticut wildlife officials have quietly drafted plans for a bear-hunt lottery — a way of deciding who gets to kill a limited number of the animals — and the plan is being reviewed this week by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s office. The Hartford Courant reports. Click on this environmental headline for more on this story.

Razorbills are showing up on Long Island Sound up and down the Connecticut coast. They were a welcome addition to the coastal Christmas Bird Counts in Connecticut. I was lucky enough to see two of them yesterday off the coast of Stamford.

Trinity College has started a special project to display every page of its rare edition of “Birds of America,” John James Audubon’s illustrated field guide on identifying and documenting birds. The large book is in a protected display case at Trinity’s Watkinson Library, where its head curator will turn one page each week for viewing
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If you are a beginning birder, you can join a group that includes an experienced birdwatcher. If your home is within the boundaries of a Count Circle, then you can stay home and report the birds that visit your feeder once you have arranged to do so with the Count Compiler! Naturally, fun.

According to the National Wildlife Federation, roughly 6.5 million turkeys inhabit 49 states and six Canadian provinces. According to Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, there are between 35,000 to 40,000 such birds in this state alone. And, though Connecticut’s gobbler contingent has hit peaks and valleys over the past decade, experts said the
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Armed with drills, hammers and scissors, Connecticut College students recently spent an entire Saturday helping cadets from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and members of Audubon Connecticut build 200 nesting boxes for endangered roseate terns. The boxes will replace those that were destroyed during Tropical Storm Irene
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As part of a national-level program to reduce the massive and growing number of bird deaths resulting from building collisions in the United States, American Bird Conservancy (ABC), the nation’s leading bird conservation organization, today announced the availability of a new, national publication, American Bird Conservancy’s Bird-Friendly Building Designs.

The Connecticut DEEP announced the results from the 2011 piping plover and least tern nesting season. Fifty-two pairs of piping plovers nested along the Connecticut coastline during the 2011 breeding season; nine more than last year. The number of young that fledged (reached flying stage) was 71; 11 less than the 82 plovers that fledged in 2010.

Described on the cover as “a comprehensive guide to all the rivers and streams in your own backyard,” Yates’ new book takes a detailed look at the 20 Fairfield County trout streams and rivers listed in the 2011 Connecticut Angler’s Guide.

On Saturday, about 60 people – Coast Guard cadets and staff, students from Connecticut College and the New London Science and Technology Magnet School and volunteers with Audubon Connecticut – built 200 new nesting boxes during a daylong project at the Coast Guard Academy. For more on this story, visit: The Day – Volunteers build
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Since a mysterious disease was first found in upstate New York in 2006, more than a million bats have died. In some caves, more than 90 percent of bats have been lost. Bats are a favorite scary symbol of Halloween, but really, we should be frightened for the bats that are so important to our environment.

The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Wildlife Division is once again offering 50 bundles of rough-cut lumber to groups, free-of-charge, for building bluebird nest boxes. Although lumber is only available for groups, individuals interested in aiding Connecticut’s bluebird population may obtain an eastern bluebird fact sheet by visiting the Wildlife Publications section of the DEEP Web site (www.ct.gov/deep/wildlife).

Ordinarily, you would rarely see a black tern in Connecticut and only along the shoreline. A Leach’s storm-petrel is a seabird that stays out in the Atlantic entirely. It does not frequent Litchfield County lakes. But after Irene, there were dozens of black terns in the state. Read more here: EARTH MATTERS: Robert Miller Ill
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