Award-Winning Audobon Photography Exhibit at Southbury Libray Feb. 2-27 With Special "Songbirds" Event Feb. 2

Between February 2 and 27, 2016, the Audubon Center at Bent of the River in Southbury, in cooperation with the Southbury Library, will host an exhibit of eight of the internationally-acclaimed 2015 Audubon Photography Award winners in the library’s Gloria Cachion Art Gallery. Included in the exhibit will also be notable bird photographs of birds in Connecticut taken by Al Erickson of Bethlehem, Connecticut.

To coincide with this exceptional exhibit, on February 2nd the Southbury Public Library and Audubon Center will host a power-point presentation by naturalist John Root on “Songbirds of the Northeast” at 6:30 p.m. Leslie Kane, Audubon Center at Bent of the River Executive Director, commented, “We’re very delighted to host John Root and his presentation of bird photographs and audio recordings of songbirds in our region. The role of these birds’ lives, plus their diet, social behavior, and other survival adaptations will be discussed. Attendees will also learn how to provide attractive habitats for songbirds around their homes or commercial complexes.”

Winners of the 2015 Audubon Photography Awards were selected from more than 9,000 entries from 2,300 individuals from across the 50 United States, Washington, D.C., and Canada. The winning photographs were selected by a panel of five judges who graded the images based on technical quality, originality, and artistic merit, and published in the May-June 2015 issue of “Audubon” magazine published by the National Audubon Society.

Beginning in October of 2016, all of the award-winning Audubon photographs will also be displayed within an exhibit to be presented by the competition’s partner, Nature’s Best Photography, at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

The eight 2015 Audubon Photography winning photographs that will be exhibited at the Audubon Center’s exhibition at the Southbury Library will include the competition’s breath-taking Grand Prize, a Great Egret by Melissa Groo; a double-crested Cormorant photo which earned Chris Grug the designation as Professional Winner; and Sandhill Cranes photographed by Jason Savage named him Professional Honorable Mention winner.

The Fine Art Award-winning photograph was by Constance Mier for her laughing Gull, double-crested Cormorant, and Royal Tern. A Prothonotary Warbler feeding its’ chick was the Amateur Award-winning by Donald Wuori. Steven Russell’s American Flamingo received the Amateur Honorable Mention Award as did Tim Timmis’ Black Skimmers. The photo of the Painted Bunting was taken by Zachary Webster, earning him the Audubon Photography’s Youth Award.

The mission of the Audubon Center at Bent of the River in Southbury is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife and their habitats. Located along the Pomperaug River and bordering Little Pootatuck Brook, the Bent of the River nature center and sanctuary is a private, not-for-profit organization that protects over 700 acres of numerous natural ecosystems, habitats, un-fragmented forest, grasslands, meadows, swamps and a portion of the Pomperaug River.

There are more than 15 miles of hiking trails throughout The Bent on varied and beautiful terrains. The Bent features many ecosystems including deciduous and coniferous forest, rocky ledges, grasslands, old meadows, vernal pools, red maple swamps, and river habitats. The Audubon Center owns both sides of the Pomperaug River for almost one mile which is an undisturbed and wild environment where beaver, muskrat, river otter, and mink can be found, and where Bald eagles regularly fish.

More than 170 species of birds have been recorded among the Bent’s 700+ acres, and The Bent’s highly diverse eco-systems have been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) in Connecticut, protecting open land and wildlife over one square mile.

February 2nd through the 27th, 2016 Audubon Center at Bent of the River’s exhibit of eight of the 2015 Audubon Photography Award winners can be viewed at the Southbury Library, located at 100 Poverty Road, during regular library hours of Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 9:30 to 5:30 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.; Saturdays 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; and Sundays 12:00 to 5:00 p.m.

For more information on the Audubon Center at Bent of the River, please visit http://bentoftheriver.audubon.org, or call 203-264-5098.