Folks, Please note the January schedule of activities of the New Haven Bird Club. Indoor Meeting: January 10, 7:00 pm. Min Huang, CT DEEP. Declining Birds, Declining Dollars: Cause and Effect. Whitney Center Cultural Arts Center, 200 Leeder Hill Drive, Hamden. Free and open to the public. In tight financial times, many things are impacted in a variety of ways. The environment is no exception. Our speaker tonight will focus on the decline of many of our state’s non-harvested birds and the possible causes for those declines. The underlying discussion of the presentation will be Connecticut’s current lack of dedicated funding for non-harvested wildlife and how such a stream of revenue could benefit them. Using 10 other states as conservation models, Min will discuss some of those states’ varying degrees of such revenue streams. Dr. Huang is Migratory Game Bird Program Leader for the CT Dept. of Energy and Environmental Protection and he heads up the non-game bird program for the state. He is an adjunct Research Scientist with UConn’s Dept. of Natural Resources and the Environment. His projects include chimney swift survival rate estimates, and shrubland and forest interior bird productivity and distribution. Social half-hour at 7:00, program begins at 7:30. For more information: www.newhavenbirdclub.org or 203-230-1697. Field Trips: First Wednesday Walk : Sherwood Island St. Park, Westport. Wednesday, January 2, 7:30 am. Free and open to the public. Enjoy a mid-week trip to this fine birding spot on Long Island Sound at Exit 18 of I-95. We will check the Sound for loons, goldeneye, grebes, and other sea ducks. The park’s fields are a good place to look for Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, and sparrows. Meet at the main parking lot in the park. Leader—Tina Green: 203.247.2660, tina@renaissancestudios.com Lake Gaillard, North Branford. Saturday, January 5, 8:00 am. Free and open to the public. Come celebrate the new year looking for birds at Lake Gaillard. We will take a leisurely walk by the dam and Christmas tree plantation to view winter residents. We should be able to find bald eagles as long as there is some open water. Meet at the gate at the top of North Street in North Branford. Leader—John Triana: jtriana1@rwater.com Stratford/Milford Birding Tour. Sunday, January 13, 7:30 am. Free and open to the public. Today we visit the marshes and beaches in Stratford and Milford. We’ll be looking for sea ducks including scoters, scaup, loons and grebes, gulls, raptors, and shorebirds. Meet at the commuter lot on Schoolhouse Road in Milford just south of Exit 35 on I-95. Leader—Chris Loscalzo: 203.389.6508, closcalz@optonline.net Thanks, Larry Bausher, West Haven NHBC Publicity Director