CVAS Merchandise Now Available!

Chemung Valley Audubon Society has teamed up with local Corning retailer Kabrics to create an online 'Merch Store' featuring a wide range of silk-screened and embroidered CVAS apparel!

To view and order your apparel, go to the CVAS Merch Store. You have a choice of three logo emblem designs and a wide variety of apparel types, colors, and sizes. Embroidered designs for hats, vests, and polo shirts will be available soon.

Payment is made online and your purchased items will be shipped directly to you. To save on the shipping cost, you can pick your 'merch' up at their facility located at 2707 Forest Hill Drive, East Corning, three minutes off Route 17/86 exit 48 (i.e., the Corning Hospital exit).

We welcome feedback on the apparel selections. We’re also interested in knowing if there are other types of apparel people would like. Please contact Martin, Don, or Rich to provide your feedback. Thanks. Happy shopping!

A Letter from Dave Russell

Dave sent us a letter, which we share with you. It is a celebration of the impact that an organization like CVAS can have on one's life, and the impact that one person can have on an organization.

How do you describe this group of people? Let’s just say, being a part of CVAS, was likely the most wonderful days of my life. The togetherness, the fun, the learning and growth was something words can’t explain. There was a camaraderie that I hadn’t experienced before. There was friendly competition, friendly banter, friendly conversations. It was a new experience learning with others about a common subject. Nature. Particularly birds...Read More.

Enjoy a Bird Walk at Your Place

Have you ever been taking a walk and wished you had someone to help you identify the birds that you were seeing? Did you ever wonder what kinds of birds were living around your yard or property? Now, the Chemung Valley Audubon Society will help you make your wish come true through the Bird Walk at Your Place program. A CVAS member will meet you at the place of your choosing and accompany you to look and listen for birds for up to an hour and a half. The cost is $35 per walk. Make checks payable to: Chemung Valley Audubon Society.

To schedule a walk, text Bill Ostrander at 607-207-0000 and he will get in touch with you to schedule a date and time on weekdays from April thru September, during daylight hours. You choose the location—your own property or any public location or trail in the CVAS membership area (148XX and 149XX zip codes).

Motus Station

WENY meteorologist Connor Friedhoff accepted an invitation from CVAS to visit and learn about our Motus Wildlife Tracking System station and the migration of birds on November 12, 2024. Connor interviewed Chapter members Martin van der Grinten and Bill Ostrander and took camera footage of the site. Connor then produced a news feature for the 6:00 PM news broadcast for that evening. The interview provided here is available for viewing on the WENY website. We've created a special page for you to learn about the new station right here on our website.

Chemung Valley Audubon Society invites you outdoors! Over the past several years the local Audubon chapter has developed two properties in Steuben County (Northrup Hill & Gleason), as well as a trail at Mark Twain State Park in Chemung County, where you and your family can enjoy outdoor experiences.

Hiking and wildlife watching are good for our bodies and our sense of well-being. CVAS invites people to use the trails and to enjoy the beauty and spectacle of wild nature in the Southern Tier. “Birding is an inexpensive, healthful, always entertaining outdoor activity that heightens one’s awareness and understanding of the environment and can be done anytime, anywhere,” noted Bill Ostrander. A lifelong birder and Chemung County resident, Ostrander leads Audubon walks that help people learn about and enjoy our area’s birds.

Northrup Hill Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary is a 24-acre preserve on Learn Road in the Town of Rathbone, Steuben County. The sanctuary’s wildlife habitats including grasslands, early-successional hardwoods, and a white pine–hemlock–hardwood forest that slopes downhill to a wetland. At an elevation of 1,700 feet, the property commands stunning views of the surrounding countryside. The land was given to CVAS as a gift from the Northrup family to be used as a nature preserve. The Northrup Hill Schoolhouse, a structure on the National Register of Historic Places, sits adjacent to the preserve.

Beginning in 2022, in a prepared 20-square-foot space, Chemung Valley Audubon members Brian and Mary Jane Dugan began planting Andropogon gerardi (big bluestem) and Sporobolus heterolepis (prairie dropseed), both native grasses; and Coreopsis lanceolata (lanceleaf coreopsis), a native plant that attracts butterflies and bees with its beautiful yellow flowers when it blooms in June and July and provides nesting materials for bees all season long. According to the Lady Bird Johnson Center, big bluestem provides cover for at least 24 species of songbirds and nesting sites or seeds for sparrows. It attracts birds and butterflies and is a larval host to butterflies Anatrytone logan (the Delaware Skipper) and Atrytonopsis hianna (the Dusted Skipper).

The Gleason Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary covers 35-acres on Kelly Hill Road in the Steuben County Town of Caton. It is predominately forested, with a system of trails that passes through groves of hemlocks, pines, and northern hardwoods. A pond and small intermittent streams enhance the sanctuary’s value to plants and animals. The property was acquired with a bequest from the estate of long-time CVAS members Herbert and Virginia Gleason.

Driving directions and information about the trails are on our Northrup, Gleason, and Mark Twain State Park pages. Our trails and activities are open to all regardless of their age, race, religion, ability or gender identity.