Bird Friendly Communities
Live Bird Cameras
Menunkatuck in Action
Community Programs, Field Trips, and Festivals
Fun, free, family-friendly activities at Newhallville’s Learning Corridor.,
Bird Walks
Bird-friendly Gardening Tips
Native Plants for Sale
Scavenger Hunt
Information about New Haven’s Urban Oases and Schoolyard Habitats
Learn about the amazing distances that some birds travel in migration
Kids’ activities
Pancake breakfast 10:00-12:00
Live Raptor Show - 12:30
Live bird shows are not being offered because of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza.
Sponsored by Audubon Connecticut, Menunkatuck Audubon Society, and Community Placemaking Engagement Network.
Presented by Meredith Barges, Co-Chair of Lights Out Connecticut, bird-friendly building advocate, and former policy researcher at the Yale Bird-Friendly Building Initiative. Through her work, Meredith helps people to understand and appreciate the complex lives of birds, how birds interact with the built environment, and how our decisions about buildings, lighting, and landscaping affect bird populations. She helped to lead the successful campaign to pass Connecticut's new lights out law, Public Act 23-143, in 2023. She also co-authored Building Safer Cities for Birds: How Cities Are Leading the Way on Bird-Friendly Building Policy (American Bird Conservancy & Yale Law School, 2023).
Vultures are often overlooked, under-appreciated, and unloved, despite the vital roles they play in healthy ecosystems. Worldwide, vultures are primarily scavengers; they can help stop the spread of disease by quickly and efficiently removing dead animals from the landscape. Unfortunately, due to poisoning, direct persecution, habitat loss, and other threats, vultures are more likely to be threatened or endangered than any other group of raptors. But in the Western Hemisphere, Turkey and Black Vultures counter this trend and are increasing in number.
Based on Katie Fallon’s recent book, this fun presentation will explore the life and times of the noble Turkey Vulture, including its feeding, nesting, and roosting habits, migratory behaviors, and common misconceptions. Katie will also discuss what it’s like to be up-close-and-personal with Turkey and Black Vultures through her work with the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia.
Katie Fallon is the author of the nonfiction books Vulture: The Private Life of an Unloved Bird (2020, 2017) and Cerulean Blues: A Personal Search for a Vanishing Songbird (2011), as well as two books for children. She is a founder of the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia, a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving the region’s wild birds through research, education, and rehabilitation, and has served as President of the Mountaineer Chapter of the National Audubon Society. A member of the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators, Katie has worked with birds since 1998; over the last twenty years she has given educational presentations featuring live raptors, vultures, parrots, and corvids. She is also a columnist for Bird Watcher’s Digest and has taught writing at West Virginia University, Virginia Tech, and elsewhere. Her first word was “bird.” For more: www.katiefallon.com.