Bird Migration By Polly Brody

On Wednesday, September 10,former Newtown resident Polly Brody will be presenting a program on North American bird migration for The Town and Country Garden Club of Newtown. Her program will be offered at the senior center, on Riverside Road in Sandy Hook. It will begin at 7:30 pm and the public is invited to join garden club members, free of charge.

She will include a discussion of migratory behaviors with examples from familiar species, as well as mention local flyways especially the hawks that will be gathering over Newtown in September before they go on their way. She will conclude her presentation on Wednesday with the reading of a poem that will be expressed through two voices – her own as well as the bird known as the Golden Plover, a bird that travels enormous distances in its migration each year.

Mrs Brody was recently given a very special birthday present when DEP State Forester Donald Smith dedicated a road in the Paugussett Forest in her name. Mrs Brody has been an active conservationist all of her life and was primarily responsible for saving the Paugussett from development in the 1960s by coordinating the efforts of the Conservation Commission, The Nature Conservancy, The Sierra Club and The Open Space Action Institute. It will be a fitting living legacy that Newtowners will be fortunate to enjoy for years to come. She moved into neighboring Southbury a few years ago.

Mrs Brody lectures on a wide variety of topics including bird and animal behavior as well as giving presentations as a poet who writes about a variety of topics. She collects data on bird migrations, and is well qualified to be active in many aspects of nature not only because she holds a master’s degree in invertebrate zoology, but because she has supported so many conservation causes over the past decades.

Mrs Brody has been involved in watching hawks for over 23 years and has received a plaque from the Hawk Migration Association of North America for her dedicated service. She is an entertaining speaker, well informed and the garden club always looks forward to her presentations.

For additional information contact Liz Arneth at 426-5359.