YOU PROBABLY ENJOYED brief recent visits from unexpected or even unfamiliar migrant birds, stopping by on their way to somewhere a little cozier and where the wintertime pantry’s better stocked. You’ve likely also already noticed a different mix of birds settling into your landscape for the duration of the offseason, birds we sometimes refer to as “feeder birds,” ones inclined to frequent whatever goodies we gardeners offer.
Birds follow the food supply, either staying put, or moving in one of several different styles of migration, including the unexpected occasional one called irruption. (Above, an irruptive pine siskin.)
I asked Eric Lind, Director of Audubon New York’s Constitution Marsh Center and Sanctuary in Garrison, New York, about how birds follow the food. We also talked about best practices for supplemental feeding, if you choose to offer seed and suet and such as they do in winter at the Marsh, a 270-acre tidal wetland on the east shore of the Hudson River. The site provides foraging, nesting and resting habitat to more than 200 species of birds and 30 species of fish, plus many other animals.
Read along as you listen to the Nov. 16, 2015 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).
my q&a with eric lind on migration, and feeding birds
Q. Before we talk birds specifically, Eric, can you tell us a little bit about Constitution Marsh?
A. It’s a brackish-water tidal marsh, right on the shore of the Hudson River, right on the edge of Putnam County. The marsh itself is identified as animportant bird area, or IBA is the colloquial term that we use.
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Every year, Better Homes & Gardens celebrates the movers and shakers, authors and bakers, designers and makers who push the design envelope in ever-beautiful ways. They're called Stylemakers, and this year we're highlighting nearly 40 of our favorite creative thinkers, dreamers, and doers. Here, you'll find a bit about each 2023 Stylemaker, plus their current projects and passions.
Britain is known for introducing us the best of the best — think Princess Diana, Harry Potter and fish and chips. Now we can thank the UK for bringing us a fantastic sun safety idea: the 3-hour-gardening rule.
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IT’S PROBABLY NO SURPRISE to hear me say I love blogging, and I also love WordPress, the blogging platform this site is firmly rooted upon. I’m a believer.
You may recall my previous conversations with Thomas, the co-author with Claudia West of the provocative 2015 book “Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes.” Even though we both have worked around plants for many years, it’s as if Thomas sees them differently from the way I do, in a sort of super-savvy botanical 3-D. He doesn’t see them as mere decorative objects, but astutely reads their body language for clues to who they want to grow with (or not) and how to put them all together successfully.I love how he sees, and thinks, as you can glean from our lively Q&A, where he says things like this:And this:Though not intentionally so, the Times article turns out to be especially timely—and not just because it’s early spring, and we gardeners need to make smarter choices
ON THE EVE OF OPENING ARGUMENTS in Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association, et al. v. Monsanto, which will be heard tomorrow in Federal court in Manhattan and challenges the chemical giant’s patents on genetically modified seed, I asked C.R. Lawn, founder of Fedco Seeds (one of 83 co-plaintiffs in the case) and an organic farmer, market gardener and seedsman for more than 30 years, to help me grasp what’s at stake, and tell me what I—what we—can do as gardeners and consumers to help. This is not an easy subject to explain simply, so besides his answers, I’ve gathered some video clips and links that may help you get better informed. At the very least: Skip to the bulleted “to-do” list near the end and DO THEM!
I HAD A DAYLONG ADVENTURE back to New York City recently, when Debbie Millman, chair of the School of Visual Arts’ master’s program in Branding and creator of the podcast show “Design Matters,” invited me to her studio to record. Though Millman is still very much in the thick of it—not a dropout gardener by any means!—she’d read my recent book, and wanted to talk about a range of things from my history as a serial college dropout, to my love of gardening, my days at Martha Stewart, the importance of stillness—and what my Girl Scout sash still means to me.
You can order the plan, a pdf, from Wave Hill’s shop. My pairs were adapted from there–made in cedar, not pine; the arms slightly longer; the wood slightly thicker and so on–and a savvy carpenter can adjust the angle of the seat and back before screwing everything together, to be more upright or less so. Follow the plans to the letter…or have some fun with them. Order the Wave Hill chair plan by calling the Wave Hill Shop at 718.549.3200 x 249, or email jenahb at wavehill dot org.Want them painted? My expert woodworking neighbor recommends using Benjamin Moore Aura exterior on top of an oil-based primer to help stop any tannin bleed (assuming that the material is cedar, which is the best choice if you plant for long life of the chairs, or to leave them outdoors in winter). If there are knots, use oil-based Binz primer on the knots only.You may recall my recent interview