In 2024 the Darien Foundation paid for a new home for two Eastern Screech Owls named Blinken and Luna. It was one enclosure in the Darien Nature Center's Animal Room, built with a hand-painted mural and a snag tree.
That enclosure worked well enough to change the plan for the whole room. The Nature Center's campaign brochure says that once the owls and turtles moved into naturalistic enclosures, staff saw better appetites, more innate behaviors, and calmer animals. Nature Center officials told Patch that the owl habitat "led to the broader plan to renovate the entire Animal Room."
The new room opens to the public on Saturday, October 17, 2026, from 10 a.m. to noon at 120 Brookside Road. Registration is not required. What visitors will see is that owl enclosure scaled up to the whole room.
The owl test, applied to the room
The brochure lays out the reasoning. The overhaul covers the center's 22 resident species, and it aims to improve animal welfare, nature education, and how immersed visitors feel. Those three goals all lead to the same design choice. If animals act more like themselves in a habitat that looks like where they come from, then visitors get to see that behavior.
Program Director Molly Robertson put the goal this way in a news release reported by Patch:
"This is about much more than creating beautiful animal habitats. It is about inspiring children and families to develop a deeper connection with the natural world. We hope every visitor who walks into this space leaves with a greater appreciation for wildlife, habitats, and their role as stewards of our environment."
The room's theme is local. Patch described the finished concept as a hardwood forest with murals of trees, a woodland stream, a vernal pool, and winter burrows, along with new enclosures meant to highlight Connecticut wildlife and ecosystems. The design brochure lists the trees as oak, hickory, and beech.
What the plan called for
The campaign brochure was written before construction, so it shows the intended design. The opening announcement confirms the result in general terms: "beautiful new habitats" and "stunning nature murals." The brochure's room-by-room plan included:
- A three-dimensional tree limb and a brook that flows into the turtle pond
- A songbird panel by wildlife artist Michael DiGiorgio and a mesh habitat for the doves
- A New England winterscape with fallen logs, tunnels, dens, and burrows for the chinchilla, rats, rabbit, and gerbils
- A hollow tree for the nocturnal animals, the hedgehog and the sugar gliders
The parts visitors won't notice may matter just as much to the people who run the building. The project also covered a new generator, kitchen upgrades, new flooring, and other infrastructure work. According to the Nature Center, it is the largest improvement to the facility since the building opened in 2002.
Who lives there now
The center's website lists more than 30 resident animals. That count is higher than the 22 species because some species have more than one animal. Families who visited before June will know many of these names:
| Habitat type | Residents named on the center's roster |
|---|---|
| Owls | Blinken and Luna, Eastern Screech Owls |
| Nocturnal | Pixie the hedgehog; Harry and Blossom, sugar gliders |
| Burrowers | Kuzco the chinchilla; Butter and Biscuit, rats; Midnight and Shadow, gerbils; Seymour and Phil, rabbits |
| Turtles | Rocky, Eastern Box Turtle; Bubbles, Spotted Turtle; Speedy, Eastern Painted Turtle |
| Doves | Paz and Pearl |
| Reptiles and others | Sunny the corn snake, Otto the ball python, Ziggy the leopard gecko, Sage the bearded dragon, Kermit the White's Tree Frog, Charlotte the Arizona blonde tarantula, Ollie and Miko the ferrets, Nugget the guinea pig |
The roster also includes Madagascar hissing cockroaches, which don't have individual names.
How a town-sized campaign closed
The Nature Center started a $250,000 capital campaign in April 2025, as Patch reported at the launch. It reached the goal by June 2026. That figure is the campaign total. The center hasn't published a separate final construction cost.
Three grants from two foundations added up to $120,000, close to half the goal. The Darien Foundation, which had paid for the owl habitat, gave a $50,000 lead grant and later added $20,000 to finish the campaign. Executive Director Angela Whitford told Patch that the second grant "helped us cross the finish line" and made sure construction could start on time. The Riley Family Foundation gave a $50,000 challenge grant. Whitford said the challenge "inspired many members of our community to contribute and created tremendous momentum during the final phase of the campaign."
The rest came from local giving. The opening announcement thanks the Borman Family Foundation, the Rogers Family Foundation, Jon and Colleen Thompson, the Blackman Family Foundation, and the Hausberg Family. The center's full donor list names dozens more families and individuals, plus anonymous donors. The campaign offered naming recognition at $25,000 and plaque recognition at $10,000. Officials told Patch the room will serve thousands of visitors a year, including preschoolers, school field trips, summer campers, and families. The brochure projected 18,000 visitors a year.
Four months closed, then free again
The building has been closed to the public since early June. The center's site gives June 5 as the closure date, and Patch reported that construction began June 8. Summer camp ran as usual during the closure.
After it reopens, the center says it is free and open to the public six days a week. Membership costs $85 a year. It includes reduced rates on certain programs and access to members-only events such as Storytime with the Animals, Breakfast with the Animals, and Night Hikes. The hours page still says visitors would return "later this summer," and the center hasn't posted day-by-day hours for after the opening. Calling 203-655-7459 before a weekday visit is the most reliable way to check.
The grounds never closed. Cherry Lawn Park, which surrounds the building, is open daily from dawn to dusk. The Town lists walking trails, a natural pond, community gardens, a playground, a gazebo, fields, courts, picnic areas, and public restrooms, and notes that the Nature Center maintains the trails. A small trail system starts behind the building, with a map at the kiosk.
The reopening lands at the start of Darien's busiest family weeks
Saturday's 10 a.m. opening includes Animal Room tours, animal encounters, and s'mores. It also starts a run of family events around town that lasts through Halloween week:
- October 17, 10 a.m. to noon. Animal Room grand opening, Darien Nature Center, 120 Brookside Road.
- October 25, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Darien EMS–Post 53 Haunted House & Fall Festival, 0 Ledge Road. Fairfield County Mom's listing includes pumpkin decorating, face painting, and ambulance tours.
- October 27 and 28, 3 to 4:30 p.m. Pumpkin Decorating back at the Nature Center, with natural materials, costumes, a scavenger hunt, animal photo opportunities, and s'mores. Registration costs $35 per family for members and $45 for nonmembers.
- October 30, 10 a.m. to noon. The Darien Community Association's free Not-So-Spooky Stroll at 274 Middlesex Road, a costume trail walk with children's storytimes from Darien Library.
The Nature Center's regular programs pick up again too. "Storytime with the Animals" meets October 23 in two sessions, 10 to 10:30 and 10:30 to 11. It is for members only and requires registration. The fall Animal Encounters Club and Animal Caretakers Club run through December 11, 2026, and both require membership. The center's current listings don't include a separate Halloween haunt this year. Pumpkin Decorating is its Halloween-week event.
For families who have only seen the new room in fundraising images, Saturday is the first public chance to see whether it works as the owl enclosure did. The 2024 owl habitat for Blinken and Luna was the first piece of the plan, and the oak, hickory, and beech forest design grew out of it.
The Nature Center is one of many small Darien institutions covered in our Darien neighborhood guide. If your home is near Cherry Lawn Park or Brookside Road and you'd like to know what it's worth in today's market, John Bainton can put together a clear, data-based estimate. Get Your Instant Home Valuation.
