We Conserve and Restore Land, Focusing on Birds and Wildlife
— Our Mission —
The mission of the Litchfield Hills Audubon Society is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife and their habitat, for the benefit of the community, through conservation, education and research.
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Upcoming Programs
November 1, 2021 The Altai Mountains and Eagle Hunters of Mongolia December 6, 2021 A Namibia Birding Safari January 3, 2022 Wildlife and Connecticut's Changing Landscape |
- EDUCATION -
Litchfield Hills Audubon Society aims to provide environmental experiences to people of all ages, particularly in the Litchfield County and surrounding areas. LHAS offers free monthly programs, bird walks and environmental events that are open to the public. We also support and offer National Audubon’s Audubon Adventures tailored for elementary school children.
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Top Story
Extreme Birding Competition Is a Cutthroat Test of Skill, Strategy and Endurance
A team of birders race to find as many birds species as possible in 24 hours
Scientific American - October 1, 2021| Kate Wong
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On a warm day in late April, Frank Gallo is getting his steps in at one of his regular haunts: the sewage plant. He strolls along the paved trail outside the facility in Norwalk, Conn., scanning the pines on the left, the river on the right. Overhead eight Northern Rough-winged Swallows wheel in the cloudless sky, taking turns swooping into the water-treatment tanks to catch insects drawn to the nutrient-rich pools below. A Yellow Warbler belts out its not so humble brag--sweet sweet sweet I'm so sweet.
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Gallo, a naturalist and birder, has been coming to the sewage plant regularly since last fall, when a motley crew of warblers—Prairie, Cape May, Tennessee, Palm, Pine and Yellow-rumped—that should have headed south for the winter decided to stay here instead. Birders flocked to the site all winter, trudging up and down the icy trail in hopes of glimpsing the rarities foraging in the tanks and evergreens. Now, with spring migrants starting to appear throughout the northeast, the sewage plant crowd is thinning. But Gallo keeps returning because he wants to see when the Cape May and Tennessee Warblers depart for their breeding grounds up north. Although overwintering in Connecticut was risky, the survivors are now that much closer to where they need to be to establish a territory for the summer, find a mate and reproduce. Maybe they'll get a head start, he muses. Such are the pleasures of birding—marveling at life's diversity, pondering the rhythms of the natural world, feeding curiosity one question at a time, even in unglamorous locations.
Today Gallo is preoccupied with his next avian pursuit. In just a few weeks he and five of his friends—some of the top birders in the state—will be doing their annual Big Day, competing as a team to find as many bird species in Connecticut as they can by sight or sound in a 24-hour period. They'll go midnight to midnight on a day of their choosing. Their goals: get 200 species, which no team in New England has ever been able to do; beat the existing New England record of 195 species, set by their arch-rivals in Massachusetts in 2014; best their own 2018 record of 193. < Read More >
Today Gallo is preoccupied with his next avian pursuit. In just a few weeks he and five of his friends—some of the top birders in the state—will be doing their annual Big Day, competing as a team to find as many bird species in Connecticut as they can by sight or sound in a 24-hour period. They'll go midnight to midnight on a day of their choosing. Their goals: get 200 species, which no team in New England has ever been able to do; beat the existing New England record of 195 species, set by their arch-rivals in Massachusetts in 2014; best their own 2018 record of 193. < Read More >
Join Us at a Meeting:
Unless otherwise indicated, General Meetings are held on the first Monday of each month at the Litchfield Community Center, 421 Bantam Road (Rt. 202), Litchfield, CT. When the first Monday of the month falls on a holiday, the meeting is held on the second Monday. Refreshments are served at 6:45 p.m. The business meeting starts at 7:15 p.m. and the program follows. The April and October meetings are Potluck Dinners starting at 6:30 p.m. The June meeting is the Annual Meeting and Dinner held at a local restaurant; it begins at 6 p.m. Our August meeting is the annual Picnic at Boyd Woods Sanctuary; it begins at 6 p.m. Board of Directors Meetings are held the third Tuesday of every other month at 7:15 p.m. in the Learning Center at the Litchfield Community Center.
Unless otherwise indicated, General Meetings are held on the first Monday of each month at the Litchfield Community Center, 421 Bantam Road (Rt. 202), Litchfield, CT. When the first Monday of the month falls on a holiday, the meeting is held on the second Monday. Refreshments are served at 6:45 p.m. The business meeting starts at 7:15 p.m. and the program follows. The April and October meetings are Potluck Dinners starting at 6:30 p.m. The June meeting is the Annual Meeting and Dinner held at a local restaurant; it begins at 6 p.m. Our August meeting is the annual Picnic at Boyd Woods Sanctuary; it begins at 6 p.m. Board of Directors Meetings are held the third Tuesday of every other month at 7:15 p.m. in the Learning Center at the Litchfield Community Center.
