Menunkatuck Audubon Society

08/12/2026

08/08/2026

UrbanScapes Native Plant Nursery is temporarily closed.

08/08/2026

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1495173442638391&id=100064372494200

📣Records are meant to be broken 👏🥇

Earlier this week, while banding Black Swifts in Southwest Colorado the unexpected happened, we recaptured a female that was first banded as an adult in 2004, making this swift at least 23 years old. Therefore, breaking the longevity record we had last month! This swift was only captured 6 times during that time period.

This swift was so old that the numbers on it's original band were wearing off. We replaced it with a new band so she can keep breaking records!

📸A photo of the new Black Swift longevity record holder.

Note: All banding, marking, and sampling is being conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey.

08/04/2026

Let’s get this done in Connecticut.

06/26/2026

https://preview.mailerlite.io/emails/webview/531763/191331715215525123

Join the Less Lawn More Life Challenge! This free, nationwide, 12-week challenge guides you through turning your outdoor space into a thriving habitat, with one expert-led action each week. Launched by Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass, the challenge has drawn over 22,500 participan...

06/25/2026

https://preview.mailerlite.io/emails/webview/531763/191241095176258707

Did you know that fireflies can be found around the world in various habitats? Or that they communicate with each other using light?

04/21/2026

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=810043618841858&set=a.132923229887237&type=3

In 1934, a wealthy New York socialite did something that baffled the locals in rural Pennsylvania. She walked into a real estate office and leased a mountain just to evict them.

Her name was Rosalie Edge, and she was 57 years old.

At the time, Kittatinny Ridge was known locally as "The Slaughterhouse." Every fall, thousands of hawks, falcons, and eagles migrated along the ridge, riding the air currents south for the winter. But waiting for them were hundreds of men with shotguns and easy targets.

It wasn't hunting for food; it was slaughter for sport. The ground was often carpeted with the rotting bodies of magnificent birds, while many others were left wounded to die slowly in the brush.

The state of Pennsylvania actually encouraged it, even paying a $5 bounty on goshawks. Predators were seen as "vermin" that threatened chickens and game birds, and the general consensus was that they should be wiped out. Even the National Audubon Society refused to intervene, telling Mrs. Edge that protecting hawks simply wasn't a priority.

She was furious. She famously stated, "The time to save a species is while it is still common."

But she didn't just write letters—she took action. She founded the Emergency Conservation Committee, and when established conservation groups wouldn't buy the land to stop the shooting, she did it herself. She secured a lease on 1,400 acres of the ridge and hired a warden, Maurice Broun, to guard it.

When the hunters arrived that season, expecting their usual sport, they found "No Trespassing" signs and a determined woman and her warden blocking the path. The shooting gallery was officially closed.

The hunters were angry. There were threats against her life and promises of violence, but Mrs. Edge stood firm, relying on her legal rights as a private property holder.

She turned a place of death into the world’s first sanctuary for birds of prey. She understood the value of predators, the delicate balance of the ecosystem, and the future of conservation. Her sanctuary, Hawk Mountain, later provided the crucial data that proved the dangers of DDT. Without her stubbornness, we might have lost the bald eagle entirely.

Rosalie Edge proved that a single citizen with a lease and a backbone can change the course of history.

04/10/2026

https://www.instagram.com/p/DW9YadokaCR/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==