Great Egret and The Great Stratford Bird Festival

The Great Egret is the 2012 Spotlight Bird at The Great Stratford Bird Festival happening this upcoming weekend in Stratford. The festival is run by the Town of Stratford in coordination with organizations like the Connecticut Audubon Society and Audubon Connecticut. We bring the event to your attention not only because of the Great Egret, as it is one of our target species in the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds, but also because of some of the events and the opportunity they afford to view shorebirds and long-legged waders that remain in our state.

First of all, you can check out all of the information on the festival at its website here: http://www.stratfordbirdfestival.com/

If you navigate to the schedule section you can see a rundown of what will be going on from October 5-7, with bird walks and trips along some of the great coastal sites in Connecticut. Additionally, Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds staff will be leading some events, with Corrie Folsom-O'Keefe and Scott Kruitbosch around all weekend for walks at Stratford Point, Roosevelt Forest, Boothe Park, and more.

The "headquarters" of the festival is Stratford Point, the spectacular coastal grasslands property managed by Connecticut Audubon Society. If you are looking for a time to take your first trip there and view the mouth of the Housatonic River and Long Island Sound from the opposite side (of the Coastal Center at Milford Point) this would be a great time to do so. It would also be a good chance to bring more people into the fold - family, friends, colleagues, whomever - and get them interested in birds and birding now so that they can be all set to join you in the field in 2013. We hope to see you this weekend!


Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds, Audubon Connecticut and the Connecticut Audubon Society partnering to improve conditions for coastal waterbirds in Connecticut.