Nature Book Club: Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben
Delve more deeply into nature, ecology and wildlife with a new book club focusing on science, conservation and natural history. Whether you’re an avid birder, a devoted gardener or an...
Delve more deeply into nature, ecology and wildlife with a new book club focusing on science, conservation and natural history. Whether you’re an avid birder, a devoted gardener or an...
This program is full, but we are taking a waiting list Get in on the fun during this monthly 3-part series full of outdoor nature adventures! Each week we will...
Join us for this monthly 3-part series full of outdoor nature adventures. Each week we will explore the property and make exciting discoveries in our woodlands, wetlands, gardens, and meadow....
Each year in memory of one of our founding board members, Helen Hermes, we take a leisurely stroll down our stream-side trail to discover some of her favorite spring ephemerals....
Join an enthusiastic group of scientists and staff as we work to inventory the biological diversity of our pond, marsh and stream. Help us better understand the local flora and...
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...
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...
Delve more deeply into nature, ecology and wildlife with a new book club focusing on science, conservation and natural history. Whether you’re an avid birder, a devoted gardener or...
This program is full, but we are taking a waiting list Get in on the fun during this monthly 3-part series full of outdoor nature adventures! Each week we will...
Join us for this monthly 3-part series full of outdoor nature adventures. Each week we will explore the property and make exciting discoveries in our woodlands, wetlands, gardens, and meadow....
Join us while we celebrate mom on a leisurely hike around the Farm. This walk is open to moms or grandmas who wish to spend some quality time with their...
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...
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...
Join us while we celebrate dad on a leisurely hike around the Farm. This walk is open to dads or grandpas who wish to spend some quality time with their...
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.