Audubon Connecticut and Park Watershed presented a celebration of migratory birds at Elizabeth Park on Thursday, in part to mark 100 years of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Besides a guided bird walk and the chance to check out some birds of prey, the event featured chats from national and local experts.

Scott Johnston, Chief of Bird Population Program, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, explained what sparked the need for the treaty. Unregulated hunting of birds, primarily for use in hats, impacted the populations. These hats included all, pieces of, or just feathers from egrets, herons, terns, owls, and hummingbirds.

Today, Hartford and New Haven are recognized as two of the 26 places in the United States designated as Urban Bird Treaty Cities, meaning they have committed to education and action.

Park Watershed‘s Mary Pelletier spoke to how the Park River was considered a “sacrifice zone,” impairing the water conditions, which in turn affected other parts of the ecosystem, like birds. The City of Hartford Urban Bird Treaty helps to address this by enhancing native bird habitats, providing community education, and reducing hazards to birds in the parks.

The need to engage youth, to keep them connected to the environment, was a common theme. “If we give [young people] the right tools,” Friends of Keney Park‘s Henry Hester said, “they’ll become stewards.”

Hester explained that he looks to his grandkids for clues as to what those tools might be.

Nan Bartow of New Haven’s Friends of Beaver Ponds Park, attributed her involvement in the park to encountering an interaction between two youth and a rabbit decades ago. Seeing them chasing after the animal with sticks, she thought they were trying to hurt it. In conversation, she learned they only wanted to touch the rabbit living in what was described as being, at the time, a shabby park. This interaction launched her involvement in creating an “urban oasis” with the goal of connecting children back to nature. Invasives were removed and replanted with native species. Bee Balm, Black-eyed Susans, and other bird-friendly vegetation was installed. In the next year, Bartow expects eleven acres of park land to be regained by moving the firing range out.

Beyond taking personal responsibility — ditching pesticides and keeping cats indoors — Pelletier proposed people “encourage” their own Department of Public Works to prioritize bird-friendly practices.