Monarchs, Migration Festival in Connecticut

Monarch,  Moo Dog Press image.

Butterflies, hawks, and other migrating creatures that pass through our area every fall are the center of attention at the Migration Festival at Lighthouse Point Park, New Haven on Sunday, Sept. 25, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Falconry demonstrations, Monarch tagging, lighthouse tours, and bird walks. Donation of $5 per car goes to help fund next year’s event. A joint event with New Haven Parks, Recreation and Tree Department, New Haven Bird Club, Connecticut Butterfly Association, Audubon Connecticut, CT Ornithological Association, CT Audubon Society and the New England Hawk Watch.

Another place to watch the butterflies is at the Meigs Point Nature Center's butterfly garden at Hammonassett Beach State Park in Madison, Connecticut.

The Friends of Hammonassett Beach State Park will be at the Durham Fair with other groups devoted to the outdoors and the creatures that inhabit it.

Autumn Equinox: Migration Time

September is my favorite month of all.

Monarch butterflies are migrating overhead, following air roads only they can see and travel to their winter homes.

Autumn officially starts with the equinox, but for insects and birds and trees (and anyone who rises at dawn) the journey that leads to a New England winter is already in progress

Welcome to fall. Orange and deep purple are the colors of September.

Pumpkins and mums, orange-yellow goldenrod and the purple New England asters - cold nights and colorful leaves overhead, the sound of birds flocking to fly south. Time to don wooly sweaters and workboots and chop some firewood, clean the chimney and ready the woodstove.