Yellow Bellied Sapsucker Photo by Fran Zygmont

Join Fran Zygmont for a beginning birder and birding by ear walk in Stub Hollow and Maple Hollow. If you have always wanted to know more about birds, this is the walk for you! Fran will go over some basics about bird watching and share his knowledge so you will know what to look and listen for. There will be ample opportunity to ask questions and to see a variety of birds. The walk will last two to three hours. We encourage you to pre-register by e-mail or phone (860-489-4118). Rain will cancel. Park in the driveway at 190 Stub Hollow Road. We will gather at the bottom of the driveway for the walk.

Fran has birded for 30+ years and has led many bird walks and trips aimed at bird education and encouraging others to enjoy the wonders of birds. His list of birding accomplishments is so long that we will name just a few here. Did you know that there is a World Series of Birding? Fran has competed in it. He is also a member of the team that holds the current Big Day birding record for our state - 192 species in a 24-hour period. He maintains a bird list of over 1,000 species and he has extensive knowledge of the local birds one is likely to see throughout the year in Litchfield County and the state. Fran's roots are in New Hartford as he grew up on Cotton Hill and now lives close by in Barkhamsted. 

Come out for the NHLT's Spring Bird Walk and see if you can tell the difference between Fran and the real thing! He has a particular expertise in bird calls and often fools people who attend walks. We are delighted that he is 'coming home' to lead this walk for NHLT and we have heard that he has recently seen some interesting birds in Stub Hollow!

Please let us know you are coming as we would like to limit the group to about 20. For more information, please e-mail us. We can put you in touch with Fran if you have questions for him.

Black-Capped Chickadee

Indigo Bunting Photo by Fran Zygmont

Chimney swift roosting event in Pine Meadow on May 22nd - see article below!

Join us for "the Best Air Show in Town" at the New Hartford Elementary School, Thursday May 22nd at 7:00 p.m. You will get to see an amazing sight:  a colony of chimney swifts roosting en masse at sunset. Bring a lawn chair or a blanket and join neighbors to watch the aerials!

Chimney swifts are little dusky birds, resembling flying cigars, that rarely fly below roof or tree canopy height. They often go unnoticed, because they spend so much time high in the air, but what we should notice is that they eat one-third of their mass in insects every day! Come learn from our state researchers about these amazing small birds that fly at least 3,000 miles every year to raise their young here in our Connecticut homes.

New Hartford Elementary School has been identified as an important summer roosting site for chimney swifts in Connecticut, and has been the focus of state research for the past four years. Roosting chimney swift colonies are among the most entertaining bird sighting events you could experience in Connecticut. About 20 minutes before sunset (sunset is about 8:10 p.m. on May 22nd), chimney swifts from around the area will begin to congregate in swirling, "chittering" groups above the roost chimney. Groups of birds can be in the tens or hundreds. Swifts will continue to circle, dive, chase each other, disappear into thin air, return as quickly as they disappeared, fly in formation, so on and so forth, until about ten minutes after sunset when they will pile and literally flip over as they drop into the chimney.

Join us at 7:00 p.m. or after to socialize and learn about the birds from Shannon Kearney-McGee, a bird expert with the CT DEEP Wildlife Division. Be sure you arrive by 7:45 p.m. to see the main event!

New Hartford Land Trust