You will find a diverse farming community within our 49-square mile municipality. Our farming community provides access to many products, including fresh eggs, award-winning artisanal cheeses and wine, vegetables and fruits, honey, hops, locally brewed beer, plants of all kinds including Christmas trees, and farm-raised meat and poultry. Local equestrian farms offer riding lessons, boarding, and horse breeding.
You will find a diverse farming community within our 49-square mile municipality. Our farming community provides access to many products, including fresh eggs, award-winning artisanal cheeses and wine, vegetables and fruits, honey, hops, locally brewed beer, plants of all kinds including Christmas trees, and farm-raised meat and poultry. Local equestrian farms offer riding lessons, boarding, and horse breeding.
Planting for Birds and Pollinators - Gardening for Wildlife - Website Links
Cornell All About Birds: identification, habitat, food, behavior - Ruby-throated Hummingbird: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ruby-throated_Hummingbird/id#
Connecticut Botanical Society: search by flower color - includes native and some commonly found non-native wildflowers - Cardinal Flower: http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/Plants/gallery/3
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - commercially available native plant species suitable for planned landscapes in Connecticut: https://www.wildflower.org/collections/collection.php?collection=CT
Cool Facts About Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-bellied_Sapsucker/lifehistory
I Wish You Bluebirds: http://www.sialis.org/
Snakes in CT: http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?a=2723&q=498864&deepNav_GID=1655
Cornell All About Birds - best plants and trees to plant for birds: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/the-best-plants-and-trees-to-plant-for-birds-a-starter-list/
"If you cut down the goldenrod, the wild black cherry, the milkweed and other natives, you eliminate the larvae, and starve the birds. This simple revelation about the food web--and it is an intricate web, not a chain--is the driving force in Bringing Nature Home." - New York Times Dr Douglas Tallamy's book, "Bringing Nature Home," discusses the importance of native gardening and biodiversity: http://www.bringingnaturehome.net/
National Wildlife Federation (NWF) - Garden for WIldlife: https://nwf.org/Garden-For-Wildlife.aspx
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About native plants and best plants for butterflies: https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder/About
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About Milkweed (host to Monarch butterflies): https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder/Plants/296
Why Are Native Plants So Important? http://blog.nwf.org/2012/05/why-are-native-plants-so-important/
USDA Plants Profile: native status, wetland status: https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=SYAL
Worrying flying insect decline, even in pesticide-free nature preserves: http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/19/europe/insect-decline-germany/index.html
Friends of the Earth on neonicotinoids: https://friendsoftheearth.uk/bees/are-beefriendly-plants-poisoning-our-beesButterflies and Moths of North America: identification, caterpillar hosts, adult food, habitat: https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Hemaris-diffinis
Bird ecology: http://www.paulnoll.com/Oregon/Birds/Avian-ecology.html
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Bird identification using your cell phone: http://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/
eBird Citizen Science: https://ebird.org/home
How to transport an injured / rescued bird: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=605885556278046&set=a.111666195699987&type=3&theater
Project FeederWatch: https://feederwatch.org/
Outdoor Cats and Their Effects on Birds: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/faq-outdoor-cats-and-their-effects-on-birds/
Colchester CT is a nationally recognized Community Wildlife Habitat! https://www.nwf.org/CommunityWildlifeHabitat/
Certify your own backyard as a Certified Wildlife Habitat: https://www.nwf.org/CertifiedWildlifeHabitat
Butterflies and Moths of North America - Monarch: https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Danaus-plexippus
Monarch butterfly diseases and how to prevent them: https://monarchbutterflygarden.net/common-monarch-diseases-prevention/
EMF Flickr site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/hickamorehackamore/albums