April Program

Tuesday, April 21st - 7 PM

Brooks Memorial Library, Brattleboro

Birds of Prey

Anna Caputo

Meet the birds of prey! Come Face to Face with Hawks, owls and falcons as we explore what it takes to be a raptor. We'll discuss adaptations, behaviors, and the conservation of these majestic predators of the skies. Anna Caputo from the Southern Vermont Musem of Natural History will be bringing live hawks and owls as part of this program. This program is free and open to the public. Please join us!

May Program

Tuesday, May 19

Brooks Memorial Library, Brattleboro

7 PM

Birding Colombia

Cory Ross

Cory traveled with a group of birders to the Caribbean coast of Colombia and the Santa Marta Mountain in March. The Santa Marta Mountains are the highest coastal mountain range in the world. The extreme isolation produced by this steep gradient has resulted in remarkable avian diversity, with over 30 endemic bird species. Come hear about his experience and this incredible place. This program features lots of bird photos!

May Program

Tuesday, June 16

Brooks Memorial Library, Brattleboro

7 PM

Title: Owls of the Eastern Ice

Speaker: Jonathan C. Slaght, PhD

Institution: Wildlife Conservation Society

Website: www.jonathanslaght.com

Abstract: From 2006-2010, Jonathan Slaght studied Blakiston’s fish owls in Russia for his PhD degree in Wildlife Conservation at the University of Minnesota. Fish owls are endangered, with 500-850 pairs in the wild, and almost none in captivity. With weights exceeding 11 lbs, these are the largest owls in the world. They rely on aquatic prey - mostly salmon - yet live in a part of the world where most water freezes for months on end. The purpose of this PhD project, a collaboration between the University of Minnesota and the Russian Academy of Sciences, was to collect enough information about fish owl movement behavior to develop a conservation management plan to help protect them.

Slaght’s memoir of his experiences, “Owls of the Eastern Ice,” was published in summer 2020 to acclaim. It was named a New York Times Notable Book for 2020, was one of the Ten Best Books of 2020 per The Wall Street Journal, was longlisted for a 2020 National Book Award, and won the 2021 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, among other accolades. Here, he will describe the owls and his project, including details of the adventures and struggles of fieldwork, and on-going conservation efforts with this endangered species despite ongoing geopolitical tensions.

Biography: Slaght received Masters and PhD degrees from the University of Minnesota, in Conservation Biology and Wildlife Conservation, respectively, and an undergraduate degree in Russian Language from Drew University in New Jersey. He’s worked for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) since 2011, where he is the Regional Director of the WCS Temperate Asia Program. His duties include oversight and strategic conservation planning of all WCS activities in Mongolia, China, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. He also coordinates WCS avian conservation activities along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway from the tundra in the Arctic to the mudflats of Southeast Asia. Slaght’s other writings and research have been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Smithsonian Magazine, The New Yorker, and Audubon Magazine, among others. His second book, Tigers Between Empires, was released in November 2025 and named a Best Book of 2025 by the Minnesota Star Tribune, staff of Scientific American, and others.

Recordings of Past Meetings

Previous Audubon meetings are available to view online for free.

To find the June 2022 meeting and Cedar Stanistreet's presentation on birding Costa Rica, please visit: June Program

To find the April 2022 meeting and John Anderson's presentation on the history of the Putney Mountain Hawkwatch, please visit: April Program

To find the March 2022 meeting and Chad Witko and Steven Lamdone's presentation on using eBird, please visit: March 2022 Program

To find the January 2022 meeting and Jim Armbruster's presentation on VINS and Hawk Research, please visit: youtu.be/kkNNSF6-2IA

To find the November 2021 meeting and Kaitlin McDonald's presentation on tick ecology, please visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9Nw1jhBYnQ

To find the October 2021 meeting and Amy Alfieri's presentation about the Dead Creek WMA, please visit:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfsNOF3U9gw

To find the September 2021 meeting and Eric Hansen's presentation on Loon Conservation, please visit:

youtu.be/PuJ7DKCTbhI

To find the June 2021 meeting and Charlie Browne's presentation on the Northeast Kingdom, please visit:

https://youtu.be/X1yhxPq73rU

To find the May 2021 meeting and Chris Rimmer's presentation about Bicknell's Thrush, please visit:

https://youtu.be/EGJxopnXIWM

To find the April 2021 meeting and Cherrie Corey's presentation on spring ephemerals, please visit: youtu.be/4QKVRvKkM-I

To find the March 2021 meeting and Steven Lamonde's presentation on Golden-winged and Blue-winged Warblers, please visit: March 2021 Program

To find the February 2021 meeting and Patti Smith's Presentation on Wildlife Rehabilitation, please visit: https://youtu.be/2-qOjxF0xO4

To find the January 2021 joint meeting with the Bonnyvale Environmental Center and Bridget Butler's presentation on Corvids, please visit: Corvid Presentation

To find the November 2020 meeting and Eric Slayton's presentation, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp2yLbmXm54

To find the October 2020 meeting and Sam Apgar's presentation, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIxbGoJqXpQ

To find the September 2020 meeting and Audrey Boraski's presentation, please visit: youtu.be/ynrDU7Axndc

Have a Program Idea?

We'll begin to plan our fall programs for August-November very soon. If you have an idea for a program, please reach out let us know. Perhaps you took a trip somewhere fun and did some birding, or maybe you know someone engaged in bird research, education or advocacy. Please let us know your ideas! Email Cory Ross at Email Cory Ross

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April Program

Tuesday, April 21st - 7 PM

Brooks Memorial Library, Brattleboro

May Program

May Program

Recordings of Past Meetings

Have a Program Idea?

A Brown Creeper by Cory Ross

A Hooded Merganser by Cory Ross

A Northern Cardinal by Coleen Lawlor