Join NPF Apiary Manager, Ann Murray, for a tasty exploration of one of the most popular products of the beehive — honey! Our honey bees forage on many different types of flowers throughout the spring, summer, and fall. As the floral sources change, so does the flavor of their treasured honey. We will discuss the...
Miley Bull is a one-of-a-kind treasure, a well- known ornithologist, a world traveler, a raconteur, and CT Audubon Society’s Senior Director of Science and Conservation. Please join Miley for a fascinating morning in search of spring warblers, bluebirds, swallows, and other feathered residents. Breakfast treats await when you return to the Learning Center. This program...
Catch the spring migration by joining expert birder and environmentalist Joe Bear on a leisurely 2-hour walk through our diverse habitats. We will search in open fields, woodlands, and wetlands - seeking those on their way back to their summer breeding grounds. Free. Registration is required. Register Here
Spring Migration: Birding with Joe Bear Catch the spring migration by joining expert birder and environmentalist Joe Bear on a leisurely 2-hour walk through our diverse habitats. We will search in open fields, woodlands, and wetlands – seeking those on their way back to their summer breeding grounds. This program is:Free. Registration is required
Connect with the local landscape by learning to identify trees using their silhouette, branching patterns, leaf shapes, bark, and more. Join arborist Robert Finch for a fun and informative hike around the property and learn how to recognize common species. (Rain Date: Sunday, June 2) $10 per member, $15 per non-member Registration is required. Register...
Come learn a variety of common embroidery stitches while creating either a sampler style or small flower pot design. Finished work will be displayed in a small hoop. This program for adults is: $20 per member, $25 per non-member Registration is required, space is limited. Register Here
101 Marchant Rd West, Redding, CT 06896
Phone: (203) 938-2117
Email: info@newpondfarm.org
Learning Center Hours: 9 AM-5 PM
Dairy Annex Hours: 7 AM – 7 PM
© 2025 New Pond Farm Education Center, All Rights Reserved. Website by Social Graces Communications.
An Avian Success Story: In the early 1900s European Starlings and English Sparrows were introduced into the northeast. For decades, these aggressive cavity nesters out-competed the more docile bluebirds for nest sites, so their populations were in serious decline. Environmental groups and individuals came to the rescue. Wooden nesting boxes were installed throughout the area and thankfully the Bluebirds proved to be quite adaptable, successfully raising their families in these new homes.
As you walk through our lower pastures and wildflower meadow, you may be fortunate enough to see bluebirds sitting on our nesting boxes. The males have brilliant blue plumage on their wings and back, a rusty colored breast and sides, and white undersides. The wings and back of the females are a more subtle grayish blue.
Once you learn the warbling vocalizations of these members of the thrush family, you will hear them frequently throughout your walk.
In addition to the many insects that make up their summer diet, our bluebirds feast on the berries of native shrubs throughout the fall and winter. We have planted stands of native winterberries (Ilex verticillate) and flowering dogwoods (Cornus florida) to add to our native staghorn sumacs (Rhus typina), and elderberries (Sambucus nigra).
Another bird that DEEP considers a species of special concern is the Purple Martin. Once commonly seen flying over open agricultural lands across the State, these aerial acrobats have been in decline for decades due to lack of open fields and pastures, lack of suitable nesting sites, and competition from aggressive non-native European starlings and house sparrows
For several decades, conservation efforts have been in place across the State to bring back the Purple Martins, and efforts are paying off! Arrangements of specially-sized, artificial hollow gourds have been hung from tall poles in appropriate habitats. Groups like the CT Audubon Society have well established banding programs, and DEEP reports that the Martin populations are on the rise.
New Pond Farm’s pastures seem like a perfect habitat, so during the nesting season, we too have positioned an arrangement of hanging gourds near the white fenceline along the pasture. If you venture over here during the early morning hours in the spring, you may hear the loop of pre-recorded twittering calls that we play in an attempt to attract any migrants. So far, we have just attracted a few scouting birds. Hopefully the spring of 2024 may be our lucky year
Back in the 1980s, a pair of kestrels nested reliably in a box positioned in the large sugar maple along our Farm Road. These exquisite, robin-sized, falcons were an absolute joy to behold as they would soar, hover, and plunge over the pastures and lawns searching for insects, small mammals, amphibians, and reptiles.
For many years we have been without a nesting pair, and for the past several decades DEEP has listed American Kestrels as a species of special concern.
Working with Art Gingert, who is well known in the State for his decades of d devotion to reestablishing nesting pairs of kestrels, we have installed a kestrel box on the eastern side of our pasture. No takers yet, but the box will be back up early in the spring of 2024, and we are hopeful.
