I love this time of year. After the exuberance of summer and the vibrant colors of fall, I’m thankful for the days growing shorter. The nights longer. Temperatures falling. Silhouettes of bare branches against a leaden sky promising snow. All of nature winding down. Encouraging quiet. Reflection. Introspection. [more]
For the Trees
Joan Maloof is the Founder and Director of the Old-Growth Forest Network, a nonprofit organization creating a network of forests across the US that will remain forever unlogged and open to the public (www.OldGrowthForest.net ). She is the author of two forest related books: Teaching the Trees: Lessons from the Forest, and Among the Ancients: Adventures in the Eastern Old-Growth Forests. Maloof studied Plant Science at the University of Delaware (BS), Environmental Science at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (MS), and Ecology at the...
read moreLong Beach Down, Sandy/Morse Up
Here are a few more photos of the string fencing and signage removal effort last week by us at the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Thank you to those of you who joined us! We really need more assistance this Thursday, August 20th at 10:00AM at Sandy/Morse Points in West Haven. Any and all volunteers are greatly appreciated! It is one of the best sites in the entire state for birds in August, and you can expect to see a lot of wonderful shorebirds, terns and other...
read moreArt on the Way
Earlier today Beatrice Bork sent out a tweet with an at reply including us as she told her followers that she was shipping this gorgeous painting for the Society of Animal Artists exhibition here at RTPI! She also told me that “[a]s a birder I love the venue for this show!” which we are always thrilled to hear. August 28, 2015 – October 25, 2015 Art and the Animal RTPI presents Art and the Animal, the 55th Annual exhibition of the Society of Animal Artists, from August 28-October 25, 2015. The highlight of our gallery programs...
read moreFencing Removal Dates
We now have two waterbird string fencing and signage removal dates set by the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) for a couple of our beaches. The Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds – Audubon Connecticut and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History – would appreciate any volunteers who could help us out at these locations and times: Friday, August 14th at 10:30AM – Long Beach in Stratford Thursday, August 20th at 10:00AM – Sandy/Morse Points in West Haven Bluff...
read moreArt and the Animal
August 28, 2015 – October 25, 2015 Art and the Animal RTPI presents Art and the Animal, the 55th Annual exhibition of the Society of Animal Artists, from August 28-October 25, 2015. The highlight of our gallery programs this year, this promises to be a museum experience like no other and is sure to leave visitors impressed and inspired! The Society of Animal Artists (SAA) is a world-renowned organization that has become the standard bearer of excellence in the field of animal art and within the greater fine art community. The Society of...
read moreBirding By Impression
The following is an excerpt from the Birding Community E-bulletin – July 2015 which is edited and distributed by Paul Baicich and Wayne Petersen. You can find the July 2015 edition here and all of Birding Community E-Bulletins here. BOOK NOTES: REVISITING BIRDING BY IMPRESSION (BBI) Practically all modern bird identification guides reflect a response to, or dialogue with, a 26-year-old Roger Tory Peterson who, in 1934, created a birding breakthrough with the creation of his A Field Guide to the Birds (1934). Does this claim sound...
read moreWhere the Wild Things Are; Jamestown’s Chadakoin River
Where the Wild Things Are; Jamestown’s Chadakoin River by Melanie Smith RTPI Communications Coordinator Roger Tory Peterson Institutes ‘Wild America’ initiatives aim to reinvigorate and perpetuate appreciation of our local natural heritage. This year marks the 60th anniversary of Roger Tory Peterson’s telling of his own journey to discover the untamed reaches of our continent in the book by the same name. RTPI’s Project Wild America Youth Ambassadors, a group of 6 area high school students and 2 JCC students supervised by RTPI staff,...
read moreWildLife Guards in Action
Have you visited Bridgeport, Connecticut’s Pleasure Beach? If you are a birder, butterfly lover, or all-around naturalist, we encourage you to stop by soon via the water taxi! Getting to Pleasure Beach is easy with free parking at the water taxi pier lot, 91 Seaview Avenue, Bridgeport. The water taxi will bring visitors to and from Pleasure Beach, and is also free. While there you can enjoy our WildLife Guards program, which trains, mentors, and employs ten local high schools students and two crew leaders to monitor nesting birds and...
read moreSkunk Showdown
This…this is no good. In between all of the time the pictured Striped Skunk spent foraging, digging zealously for grubs in the wet soil, it had an encounter with a local cat. I did not think this showdown was going to end well for the neighborhood feline to say the very least. I personally know this cat to be a bold, inquisitive and mostly fearless individual – in other words, a cat. I focused on the skunk in the above photo and the cat in a subsequent shot having to keep the aperture wide open in the low evening light. You can...
read moreLyme Disease
I have Lyme disease. Thankfully most people have now heard of Lyme disease, but for those who have not, Lyme borreliosis is an infectious disease caused by bacteria of the Borrelia type and transmitted to humans (or pets!) by a black-legged/deer tick bite and subsequent feeding by the parasite. It typically takes 24 or maybe 36-48 hours of feeding for the disease to be transmitted if the tick is a carrier, though this is not a guarantee either direction. Lyme disease can cause flu-like symptoms nearly immediately, and if untreated they can be...
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