The Connecticut Audubon Society, founded in 1898 and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to "conserving Connecticut’s environment through science-based education and advocacy focused on the state’s bird populations and habitats." Connecticut Audubon Society is independent of the National Audubon Society (NAS), just as in the neighboring state of Massachusetts, where Massachusetts Audubon Society is independent of the NAS. The Society operates nature education facilities in Fairfield, Milford, Pomfret, Old Lyme, and Sherman, and manages an additional 22 wildlife sanctuaries around the state, protecting over 3,400 acres of open space. The Society uses science and advocacy to help protect the state's birds and their environment. The organization's Environmental Advocacy program is operated in Hartford, the state's capitol. The Society's scientists, citizen scientists, and volunteers monitor birds and their habitats around the state. Each year the Society publishes a report, titled Connecticut State of the Birds, that discusses the impact of habitat loss and other issues on local bird populations. The Society also operates an EcoTravel office in Essex, Connecticut for bird watching trips around the state and the world.

Centers

The Society's six centers feature education buildings, wildlife sanctuaries and trails on their properties, which are open to the public.

Other wildlife sanctuaries

Connecticut Audubon Society's other wildlife sanctuaries are open to the public unless noted.

History

The Connecticut Audubon Society was founded in 1898 by Mabel Osgood Wright with a mission of conserving birds and their environments in the State of Connecticut through science-based education and advocacy. The Society's first sanctuary was created in 1914 in Fairfield through the donation of 10 acres of land by philanthropist Annie Burr Jennings, daughter of Oliver Burr Jennings. This property was the first-of-its-kind songbird refuge in the nation, and the museum at this sanctuary was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1993.