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1 month ago | 
nhpr.org | Jennifer Ahrens
As the weather warms and daylight hours grow, you might be tempted to get outside and start cleaning up your lawn. But raking or mowing last year’s leaves too soon in the spring can kill a key group of creatures in Connecticut’s food web. "Insects still have yet to come out of hibernation – or fulfill their life cycle – and most of them are going to be in leaf matter or in hollow stems of our perennials or shrubs," said Stefan Martin, the conservation manager for the Connecticut Audubon Society.
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2 months ago | 
nhpr.org | Jennifer Ahrens
The Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 is being found in many wild birds in many different areas of Connecticut according to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Waterfowl are particularly at risk. “If you're seeing dead geese, if you're seeing dead ducks, if it's near open water, the odds are likely it probably is avian influenza,” DEEP Wildlife Division Director Jenny Dickson said.
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2 months ago | 
ctpublic.org | Jennifer Ahrens
Published January 31, 2025 at 4:40 PM EST is considered one of the state’s most significant political and legal documents. It gave royal approval of the colony’s Fundamental Orders of 1639 and it became a piece of Connecticut folklore when King James II tried to revoke the charter in 1687. In response, a colonist allegedly hid it in a large white oak tree, later called the Charter Oak.
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2 months ago | 
mainepublic.org | Jennifer Ahrens
Preliminary tests have detected bird flu in a backyard flock in New Haven County, according to Connecticut’s Department of Agriculture. The announcement comes about a week after another backyard flock in New London County tested positive for the disease on Jan. 15. The birds were destroyed as a precautionary measure.
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Jan 13, 2025 | 
wbur.org | Jennifer Ahrens
Male coyotes will be on the move, not necessarily to only find a female, but to defend the mate they already have because these canines are monogamous. “They're moving around and about within that territory and they’re looking for competition,” said Marty Ortega, wildlife ecologist and associate professor at the University of Connecticut.
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Jan 10, 2025 | 
nhpr.org | Jennifer Ahrens
New England wildlife experts say residents should never leave their pets outside alone from January through March because it is coyote mating season. Male coyotes will be on the move, not necessarily to only find a female, but to defend the mate they already have because these canines are monogamous. “They're moving around and about within that territory and they’re looking for competition,” said Marty Ortega, wildlife ecologist and associate professor at the University of Connecticut.
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Nov 8, 2024 | 
nhpr.org | Jennifer Ahrens
Sixteen pairs of piping plovers called Milford Point home this summer to try and breed. They managed to fledge a record 33 chicks. They were helped by two members of The Connecticut Audubon Society: Johann Heupel and Matt Joyce. Piping plovers need protection because they build their nests on the beach, often where there is human activity. "We put up fencing around them to try and protect them and we have cameras set up so that we can monitor predator activity.
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Oct 31, 2024 | 
ctmirror.org | Jennifer Ahrens |Connecticut Public |Gabby DeBenedictis
J.P. Barsky is really passionate about trees. “We have a number of challenges in our forest. A lot of people just see a giant green wall of things and think that everything is fantastic, when in reality, it’s not,” Barsky, an agricultural research technician with The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, said. It’s his job every year to find out how Connecticut’s oak trees are reacting to environmental stressors, like droughts or the invasive spongy moth.
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Oct 24, 2024 | 
mainepublic.org | Jennifer Ahrens
J.P. Barsky is really passionate about trees. "We have a number of challenges in our forest. A lot of people just see a giant green wall of things and think that everything is fantastic, when in reality, it's not," Barsky, an agricultural research technician with The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, said. It's his job every year to find out how Connecticut's oak trees are reacting to environmental stressors, like droughts or the invasive spongy moth.
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Sep 3, 2024 | 
nhpr.org | Jennifer Ahrens
It was nearly 30 years ago that Carole Cheah, research entomologist with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, released her first batch of tiny lady beetles from Japan to combat an invasive pest that was predicted to devastate Connecticut forests. That beetle, called Sasajiscymnus tsugae is only about 2 millimeters long, but it’s been having a big impact on the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid, its exclusive food source.
