2026 Biodiversity in the Connecticut River Watershed Lecture Series, Lecture 6/6: Where Are The Birds and How Do We Protect Them: Results from the CT Bird Atlas, by Dr. Chris Elphick

The Connecticut Bird Atlas is a project to map all species of birds that occur in the state of Connecticut. Connecticut conducted its first atlas from 1982-86, with the results published in 1994 as the Atlas of Breeding Birds of Connecticut by Louis Bevier. Field work for the second atlas took place between April 2018 and February 2022, and involved nearly a thousand volunteer birders, who submitted more than 600,000 bird observations. This talk will provide an overview of the results of the Connecticut Bird Atlas, an overview of the Birds of Connecticut web site, and a discussion of the conservation implications of the project. 

Chris Elphick is a professor of conservation biology in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut. His research centers around describing, understanding, and mitigating biodiversity loss. He has been studying birds in Connecticut since 2002, and his lab group has conducted research on birds in tidal marshes, forest fragments, farmland, and montane shrublands. He is also one of the lead investigators for the Connecticut Bird Atlas.