Birds & Science >

Citizen Science

Local Opportunities

Citizen Science projects give scientists in Connecticut a more detailed picture of population trends and distributions that can be used for local conservation decision-making, such as the identification of new Important Bird Areas.

Neotropical Migrant Songbird Surveys
Volunteers are needed one morning per week from April 20 – June 1, 2011 and should have strong bird identification skills and at least a basic ability to identify common plants. Our priority sites for the surveys are coastal sites from Greenwich to New Haven, but people interested in conducting the surveys at other sites in CT are welcome to participate as well. The songbird surveys are part of Audubon’s new Habitat Oases for Migrating Songbirds program. Contact Michelle Frankel for more details.

© AJ Hand

Oystercatcher Stewardship Program
Volunteers needed to help inventory American Oystercatchers.  With support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and in partnership with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Audubon is embarking on a coastal bird stewardship program in Connecticut.  The focus of the first year of the project will be on an inventory of nesting American Oystercatchers in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Additional, more in-depth volunteer opportunities will be available this field season and next. Contact Corrie Folsom-O’Keefe for more details on how you can help protect American Oystercatchers and other beach nesting birds.

New Haven Breeding Bird Atlas
With support from the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, Audubon is looking for volunteers to help conduct a pilot breeding bird atlas for greater New Haven.  The greater New Haven area includes 20 towns, from Milford to Madison and stretching inland as far as Cheshire.  Volunteers can participate at a variety of commitment and bird identification skill levels and perform surveys at locations close to home or farther in the field. 

A minimum of two mornings recording the presence/absence of bird species or collecting abundance data at a few spots close to home is all that is required. More ambitious volunteers can travel to additional locations. The surveys will take place from the last week of May until the end of June. Two volunteer training days will be offered:

• May 22nd – Kellogg Environmental Center, Derby CT, 8:30-10:30am
• May 23rd – Brooksvale Park (at the pavilion), Hamden, CT 8:30-10:30am

Quaker Ridge Hawk Watch is the best site in Fairfield County to see thousands of broad-winged hawks and 16 other species of hawks, eagles and vultures migrate southwest over the hilltop at the Audubon Greenwich Center each autumn.

Greenwich Summer Bird Count is a one day event held in mid-June that provides important information about the location of breeding birds.