Congratulations to all the participants in our Little Green Places for Birds photo/art/video contest.  We have had such a good time reviewing selections; good ideas and examples abound.  We hope you'll look through the entries to admire the birds, flowers, trees, butterflies, and beautiful feelings inspired by observing or inviting birds into your neighborhood.

Be sure to look for the wonderful sunflower pictures of Brigitte Peck Ki Laou, C & Z Witten, Patricia Todovich, Nicole Ramirez (can you see the parakeet?),  Shawn Marie Mann,  and Bonnie Sue Bastin.  

You'll see a variety of landscaping approaches, from flowers that spring up from between flagstones to gardens that clearly have been given careful landscaping attention...and so for more great landscaping don't miss the incredible yards of Kathleen Whelen, who has plants native to her Texas environment, Terry Sabados, Susan Fleming, and John and Phoebe Scholl, in Ohio, who created, pond, plantings, gazebo, and a lovely place to gaze upon  birds who come and go.

We like the minimalist approach to creating Little Green Places just as much...look at the wonderful entries from Jan Gantz, Howard Clark, and Theresa Beck, birds just need simple things, food, water, and shelter, so it's not hard to observe or create a Little Green Space that's good for birds because it provides at least one of the above...a ladder with pots on it, a brush pile from trimmed branches...great, easy, affordable little habitats!

Now some entries don't demonstrate human intervention at all, except that the human was there to notice that it was a good place for birds...Matt Milless, Liz Malyszek, and Katie Naininger all spotted Green Herons, Tina Tate has a beautiful stream as a back yard, Brian Hicks found Wood Duck and Ovenbirds in a suburban Detroit park, and for a real treat, take a look at the birds. Lori Stoneman sees in in the Hamakua Marsh in Hawaii! 

A park doesn't have to be in wilderness to be beautiful to birds, as Sean-Michael Fleming shows us in the Woodbine Street Block Association park in Brooklyn, NY.  And you will be amazed at the raptor shots Matthew Malina and Treina Tai McAlister took from their urban office windows...yes, that's the Empire State Building in the background of Matthew's! 

Audrey Malloy has gone several steps further in her urban encounters with birds, for she notices when birds hit skyscraper glass and fall to the pavement, and her Little Green Place is the small space with hedges that serves as her E.R...she takes the birds there and many recover from their stun and are able to continue their migration...Heidi Perryman showed us a great shot of owls in a downtown palm tree, and Marc Davis attracts a flock of feral parrots to his balcony in Brooklyn, NY. 

K.  Farrar and Silke Skinner also spoke of rescuing birds, and Margaret Rosenthal started feeding birds to ward off her own seasonal depression, and has created a wondrous and complex habitat in her Boston yard, which helps birds year-round and can be enjoyed by the whole neighborhood. 

Cheryl Reynolds shows us how beavers create bird habitat , Patricia Smallwood entered one of the most glorious rainbow pictures we've ever seen (taken with her Blackberry!) and you MUST see the wood duck video submitted by Kay and John Hatlestad...with video taken from various viewpoints; of someone watching the nest box, from the nest box itself as the babies launch themselves out and fall to the ground, and from ground level as the babies land and re-group around Mom. There's even a rescue at the end...no cliff-hanger here! 

But speaking of bird-houses, Roberta Powers photographed the most varied collection we've ever seen, and Doris Frechette has some pretty cute ones in her yard, too, which is great for the kids she takes care of. 

We were so pleased to receive entries from young people and schools, Sarah MacLean photographs more finches in one shot than one would think possible, Brandon Latino got a picture of an interaction between a Great Egret and a house cat that would never have happened if he and his mom had not provided water habitat in their backyard in Louisiana, Dennis Township Peer Leaders in Cape May, NJ, are in a birding hot spot, but the school had done nothing to create bird habitat, so they've been building a garden and seeing great results in both flowers and birds! 

Butterflies often like the same things birds like, as Shirin Hola and Terrry Sabados show us so beautifully.  Thank you!

 And some people sent us art! Take a look at Paerki's photo collage creation, drawings by many school children, read the story of the Scarlet Tanager that accompanies Barbara Gilhoolies lovely painting, Marian Mendez created a wonderful bear sculpture/bird bath/feeder out of leftover demolition materials ....well, we could go on and on, but you get the point.  There's a lot to see and we're so happy to have received these entries, thanks to all the Little Green Places for Birds participants. 

Keep up the good work.  You can keep the contest going at your library, school, club or other organization...Celebrate what your neighbors have been doing to help birds where you live!