Chapters Represented
Bedford Audubon Society
Bronx River – Sound Shore Audubon Society
Buffalo Audubon Society
Chemung Valley Audubon Society
Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society
Four Harbors Audubon Society
Genesee Valley Audubon Society
Litchfield Hills Audubon Society
Menunkatuck Audubon Society
North Shore Audubon Society
Orange County Audubon Society
South Shore Audubon Society
Union College Campus Chapter
Yale Birding Student Association
Announcements:
I will be hosting open office hours on Zoom throughout October if you have any questions or would like additional information on anything coming up! Just pop in at the link.
(https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82476992188?pwd=2oyNT5omfzbSJUMPsHxSRPAdZf1kdZ.1)
Monday, 10/5 – Noon-1:00 PM
Thursday, 10/8 – 6:00-7:00 PM
Tuesday, 10/13 – Noon-1:00 PM
Monday, 10/19 – Noon-1:00 PM
Thursday, 10/22 – 6:30-7:30 PM
Warmly,
Susan O’Handley, Audubon NY/CT Council Board Chair
Dates
OCTOBER 7, 2026 (Wed) – NOON
– NYS Policy Committee Meeting on Zoom
OCTOBER 8, 2026 (Thurs) – 7PM
– NY/CT 2027 Chapter Collaborative Projects (ARUs) on Zoom
OCTOBER 25, 2026 (Sun) – 3PM
– Campus Chapter Roundtable on Zoom – CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
APRIL 2027 – SAVE THE DATES: The Spring Council Meeting will take place in Glens Falls at the Queensbury Hotel on April 9, 10, and 11, 2027. We will again be combined with the regional advisory Board.
MARCH 2028 – SAVE THE DATES: The National Audubon Leadership Conference will be held in Orlando in Spring 2028 (March 30-April 2).
News
NEW: Bicknell’s Thrush Award – for Chapters to recognize exceptional leadership. Details on this new award is available HERE.
JoinIt – Membership Management Program for Audubon Chapters – We are still working on getting additional chapters online in this program. Contact Susan at s.ohandley@doas.us for more information. (We have 3 chapters actively implementing at the end of September/early October.) Off
NY & CT Chapter Leader Retreat Recap and Follow-up
We enjoyed a weekend of great company, learning and birding at the White Eagle Banquet and Conference Center on the shore of Lake Moraine in Hamilton, NY at our Chapter Leader Retreat!
Thank you to all who attended (14 community chapters and 2 campus chapters). Thank you also to Audubon NY/CT Staff, Laura McCarthy and Daphne Lumpkin, who do so much of the behind the scenes work for planning and implementation support, and to our special guest, Jessica Tantin, National Audubon’s Senior Director of Equitable Conservation.
Thank you to our planning team: June Summers, Jennifer Wilson-Pines, Leslie Brill, Mikayla Ploof, Dennis Riordan and Susan O’Handley.
June Summers did an outstanding job, once again, in organizing our donation grab bags – all our ‘winners’ went home happy with some special treats, and we added cash to the Council coffers to help cover some of our expenses for speakers, stipends and meeting fees. Thank you, June!
Thank you also to National Audubon’s Campus Chapter Program for making it possible for our young leaders to attend for the full weekend!
We had beautiful weather on Friday evening after dinner, so we did a demonstrative Night Walk activity, followed by smores at a well tended campfire. Thank you, Joy Cirigliano, for bringing all the smores supplies (including the sticks)! They were definitely a hit.
Here’s a write up for the Night Walk for those who might be interested in running one. Possible extensions/additions to this could be an owl prowl or a bug hunt.
I hope I didn’t miss any acknowledgements! It was a lot of fun and wonderful to be able to spend time with you all. –Susan
On Saturday Morning, Jennifer Wilson-Pines carpooled with a group to the Woodman Pond/Chenango Tow Path for a Sunrise Birding trip to a local hotspot, while Joy C. introduced another group to mindful birding on the grounds of the conference center.
Photo of birders at left by Richard Martin. (More photos are compiled at the end of our weekend summary.)
Equitable Conservation Partnerships
After a warm welcome to everyone from Council Chair, Susan O’Handley, Jessica Tantin presented information about ways to integrate equitable conservation principles into chapter work. This discussion was so helpful and engaging, we went overtime! This topic was continued on Sunday morning. Materials from this presentation can be found at the links below.
Chapters Supporting Chapters
We ended the morning with a look at some of our chapter challenges and frustrations in order to find solutions to help each other in our real-world operations. We discussed board internal culture and ways to encourage an environment where all input is welcomed, ways to translate social media engagement into memberships and program participation, and how to keep the momentum and enthusiasm going for projects through their completion.
We had a lot of great submissions and will be running a few ‘Birds of a Feather’ zoom calls to share ideas and solutions on those, including tips on running an efficient and effective Board Meeting, Fundraising, and more.
At Left: Shared Norms Slide – This was posted at the entrance to each session at the Leadership Conference last summer in Montreal. Create something similar with your board to agree on ways to make sure everyone has a voice at the table!
Campus Chapter Chat
Erica Yu and Joy Zhou from the Yale Birding Student Association presented about how they recruit their members and how they market their programs for best engagement. Removing transportation barriers by enabling participants to come to bird walks using a club Uber account, and answering questions of members through GroupMe were two takeaways from their presentation. Lots of good questions from chapter leaders and great responses and guidance from YBSA reps!
Union College Campus Chapter Leaders, Maya Corridore and Maryann Fuentes shared information about their bird-friendly windows program on campus and celebrated the adoption of, and commitment to, this work from the campus facilities department, opening up facility budget funding towards retrofits using UV window applications as well as incorporating bird-friendly glass into their planning for all future construction. Audubon grants and support from Chapter and National teams helped to get them there. A strong success with academics integrated into their program with continued data collection and assessments makes this project a win on all fronts.
Hemispheric Conservation, ARUs and Group Grants
Dennis Riordan from Menunkatuck Audubon provided an overview of ARUs (Acoustic Recording Units), options of those available in the marketplace for consumer devices and research uses, as well as application during a project this past spring/summer on town property (a former golf course) in Woodbridge, CT.
Susan O’Handley, Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society shared info on TerraListens device that is operating at the DOAS Sanctuary. DOAS is focusing on education about the importance of research to conservation as well as highlighting the use of new technologies in bird research.
New advances through Terra will allow units to add NFC (Night Flight Calls) recordings as a firmware update coming soon, as well as nano-tag detections 3-10k range using their motus extension equipment.
Data validation is one of the biggest challenges, but can be an accessible citizen science project or intern program.
There are still a lot of unanswered questions, and discussion to be had, so we will be following up on a zoom call (all chapters are invited), on Thursday, October 8, at 7pm. HERE’s the LINK to JOIN the Meeting!
- How does this fit into our hemispheric work?
- What can chapters do in their region as part of a 2-state collaboration? ($1000 collaborative grant)
- What resources or materials would be most helpful for the Council to provide for Chapters? ($5,000-$10,000 Action Grant)
Bring your ideas and questions so we can begin to work on details for grant applications.
Policy Update, 2027-28 Legislative Priorities, and other Notes
Policy Update September 2026
(Also available online at https://tinyurl.com/ANY-PolicyNotes-Sept26 )
NYS Policy Committee Meeting
Wed, Oct 7 at noon. Zoom Link is below.
https://audubon.zoom.us/j/96259059610?pwd=7U3c0kak9HpUWraLyPvivzkc2gkrx5.1&from=addon
This meeting will include updates and info on the following:
- NYS political landscape
- draft EIS for data centers
- Energy, Water, Habitat and Wildlife, Community Engagement and Transparency
- the menhaden issue
- the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
- the National ESTUARIES Act
- the Roadless Rule
- an update on the legislation that’s still pending
- an update on our priorities for next year
2027 Policy Resolutions
– Download a PDF Version of the working file here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S1rjm8QYw1mySlVZO5mlM9j0Gjy5xa0_/view?usp=sharing
We are in the process of updating the Council’s Policy Resolutions for 2027-28. The timeline for this is below:
- Edits and new proposed resolutions are due by October 31. (For any new proposed resolutions, please submit using the format that is consistent with current resolutions.)
- In November, the final draft will be circulated to chapters at the beginning of the month.
- At this time, we have not received any proposals for new resolutions and will only be considering updates.
- The ANY Policy Director will convene a call during the week of November 16th to review the final draft resolutions.
- A vote on whether to adopt the resolutions will be held following the call and votes will be submitted via email to the ANY Policy Director.
From Russ Comeau (9/22/26 Email to Chapter Leaders Listserve)
Dear Audubon New York chapter leaders,
Hope you have enjoyed a relaxing summer. Welcome to a crisp autumn!
I’ve been keeping up on unsigned legislative commitments to bird and habitat conservation in NY for 2026
Governor Hochul has until yearend (the legislative deadline) to sign these 12 bills into law.
The attached PDF combines 12 letters of support I sent for the following environmental legislation:
- A10102 / S9133: Enables native plant gardening and home landscaping rights in HOAs
- A10936 / S9479: Clarifies tidal wetland definitions to protect vulnerable coastal zones
- S3207 / A8634: Keeps toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” out of our drinking water
- S4574 / A5832: For industries to disclose toxic PFAS discharges into state waters
- S1574 / A2657: Electric landscaping equipment rebate program (THIS HAS BEEN SIGNED)
- S1335 / A5404: Finances commercial property owners clean energy/resiliency upgrades
- S10642 / A11560: One-year Data Center Moratorium
- S8512 / A9111: SUNNY Act (Lowers utility bills using plug-in solar energy devices)
- S8938 / A9411: Adds Sullivan Co. to Hudson Vy. community land preservation program
- S7618 / A7291: Standardizes food expiration labels to avoid unnecessary disposal
- S9452 / A10344: Directs excess supermarket food to local food banks instead of landfills
- S9462 / A10633: Manages Upstate deer to reduce tickborne disease, native plant loss
Thank you for your time and continued dedication to bird and habitat conservation.
Cordially,
Russell Comeau
Dir., Audubon NY/CT Council
Template Letters for unsigned legislative items impacting the environment.
These are available in a shared google document file at the link below:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wm61O1k8nwtxLkQoC0_LauQ5OUdGTUug55lZdijOGkQ/edit?usp=sharing
This is a view only file. To use it to write your own letters, use File/Make a Copy in the top commands in google docs. The ‘Copy of’ file will be editable for you in your own google doc. You can also use File/Download and select ‘Word Doc’ so that you can edit on your own computer instead of in google drive.
Afternoon Fun and Networking
After Lunch Volunteers helped set up the Great Bird Migration Challenge, a life-size outdoor board game to show the challenges that birds face during migration.
The template files for printing your own signs are available on Canva (you can make a copy for your own Canva account and edit as needed). The link to the template is HERE.
You can also request to borrow the entire setup. Menunkatuck Audubon currently has them and will be bringing them to the Council Meeting in Glens Falls in April (9-11).
Photos by Linda Howell, Genesee Valley Audubon Society.
Boat Ride and Catch Up Time
Conference center neighbor, Robin, was kind enough to once again provide participants with a boat ride around the lake! (The lake levels are low due to an ongoing infrastructure project.)
Thank you to the following for their photos!
- Richard Martin, Litchfield Hills Audubon Society
- Maya Corridore, Union Springs Campus Chapter
- Lynn Wescott, Buffalo Audubon Society at Trillium Nature Center
- Leslie Brill, Bronx River – Sound Shore Audubon
Thank you to Walter Jahn for providing some upbeat silliness and creative entertainment – and the video below (in the birds section)!
Behold some of our Birds!
Photos from Ashley Pichon, North Shore Audubon Society.
Photos and video from Walter Jahn, Orange County Audubon Society.
If you didn't make it - we missed you!
Hope to see you in the Spring in Glens Falls.
Pre-Retreat Promotional Info
NY & CT Chapter Leader Retreat
We are excited to return to the White Eagle Banquet and Conference Center in Hamilton, NY again this fall for our Chapter Leader Retreat! Located on the shore of Lake Moraine, this venue allows for a more casual and relaxed setting for catching up with each other and continuing our conversations from this past spring. Campus Chapter Leaders are also invited.
Our planning team is working to make this a fun weekend together that will include time for birding at a local hot spot or mindful/slow birding at the lake shore, board and table games, music, happy/social hours, campfires and smores, mixed in with some fun evening activities.
Our weekend work will center around hemispheric conservation and ways we can support continuing our collaborative work together. We will also have a special conservation principles training for chapter leaders with Jessica Tantin, Senior Director of Equitable Conservation at National Audubon, who we have had the pleasure of working with in the past at prior council meetings.
We expect to have a detailed weekend agenda finalized by early September.
We hope you will be able to join us for the weekend! Space is more limited at this venue, so we encourage you to register soon. Rooms are either single or double occupancy and will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
The fee is all-inclusive (lodging, meals, and use of buildings for our programs). We expect a late afternoon arrival on Friday and departure on Sunday following lunch (as there are less options for stopping on your way out of town). Bring cash if you might like to enjoy bar drinks at our happy hour/social times.
It would be great to have representatives from all our chapters attend – we hope you can make it!
To register for the retreat, please complete and submit the online form on this page and then mail your payment using the instructions provided.
If you prefer to Print and Mail, you can download the registration form PDF HERE or HERE for the MS Word Doc.
This event has passed. Registration form has been removed;
White Eagle Banquet and Conference Center
PO Box 679
Hamilton, NY 13346