Connecticut Bobolink and Wildlife Festival in Durham

Session 2 - Keynote Presentations and Exhibit Tables

Saturday July 13, 2024 
Time: 9:30 a.m.   FREE

Location:
Durham Community Center 
144 Pickett Lane, 
Durham CT 06422

Presentation schedule:

10 a.m. Introduction

10:15 a.m. Lights Out Connecticut and the Odyssey of Migratory Birds with Craig Repasz

Come explore the amazing journeys that migratory birds make twice each year. This presentation will fill you with awe and wonder for the natural world, while you learn easy steps you can take at home to help protect migratory birds during their epic journeys through our backyard.

Craig Repasz is a founder and Co-Chair of Lights Out Connecticut, a statewide organizing and advocacy campaign of Menunkatuck Audubon Society. Craig is also president of the Friends of Stewart B McKinney National Wildlife Refuge. He is a past president of the New Haven Bird Club and currently serves as its conservation chair. He has been the volunteer coordinator for the Connecticut Bird Atlas for six years. He enjoys backpacking and conducts Mountain Birdwatch surveys for the Vermont Center of Ecostudies, focusing on the Bicknell’s Thrush and other high elevation species.

11:00 a.m. Birding by Sound with Ken Elkins

Learn to recognize the songs and calls of local bird species. Ken Elkins is currently the Director of Connecticut Audubon’s Coastal Center at Milford Point. The sheer volume of songs and calls often seem overwhelming but each of these sounds offer a curious opportunity and challenge. Ken will help you build your birding skills and love of birds by learning how to bird-by-ear and listen to lesser-known musicians such as frogs, toads and stridulating insects.

Ken is a former president of the Connecticut Ornithological Association and Education Program Manager at the Audubon Center at Bent of the River in Southbury. He created a nationally recognized therapeutic program called “Bird Tales,” which uses birds to engage people with dementia.

This festival is made possible through the partnership with New Haven Bird Club and Birding for Pleasure in Durham & Middlefield.