Little Green Places for Birds entries, page 4

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31. Shirin Hola, Casper, WY

This is my backyard in Casper, Wyoming. Our town is 'mile' high, prairie country and the soil is hard clay. The altitude, lack of rain and the soil make it difficult to grow stuff. Yet my backyard is green. It is a peaceful haven for the birds and humans.

The hummingbirds enjoy the trumpet vine and scarletgillia, the baby doves enjoy taking a dip early morning in the birdbath; the finches, chickadees and warblers love to pick seeds right off my sunflowers.

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32. Jan Wiley, Woolwine, Virginia

33. Jan E. Gantz, Monticello, Illinois

My little Green Place is located at the back of my yard. It has two water sources in simple flower pot dishes placed on the ground, a finch feeder, a ladder for perching at various heights, pots of oregano, and grasses that provide seed and protection.

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34. Barbara Gilhooly, St. Paul, Minnesota

I painted this Scarlet Tanager after visiting New York city and taking my first bird walk in Central Park. I had never been birding and really did not have very good optics.  In fact I spotted this amazing red bird without any optics and could not believe how bright red he was.  One of the other birders was delighted, because she needed the Scarlet Tanager for her life list and continued to thank me during the group walk.  Our leader, Star Saphire was incredible. We saw over 45 bird species. A wonderful 'not so little' green place, Central Park, NYC.

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35. Beth Westphal, Scandia, Minnesota

This Little Green Place for Birds is in my yard. It is a good place for birds because the bird feeder provides food, the chair provides water, and the tree provides shelter. The birds here are much more trusting and friendly than other birds.

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36. Kaylee Matuszak, (youth entry), Duluth, MN

My Little Green Place is in the corner of my backyard.  The grape vine provides a great place for birds to rest while protected from predators and the hot summer sun.  We added a bird bath so that they can wash themselves and get a drink. The grape vine also provides a yummy snack.

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37. Audrey Malloy, Cleveland, Ohio

 Audrey Malloy wrote to tell us how she notices, documents, and sometimes is able to save birds that collide with office buildings in downtown Cleveland:

I can take a camera phone photo of one of the danger areas and the ER (the little green space I use for recovery purposes).  I walk 1.5 miles every morning down here and there are several danger areas and ERs.  Like an EMT, I get them to the closest and safest place--although I have been known to hold them and keep them warm traveling to the most suitable place if I find it most advisable. I figure it might be like people--keep the victim warm to avoid the hazard of shock.  It's kind of a judgment call each time--depends on my guess on how recently they hit.  I am getting pretty good at guessing recovery time.

I have a bit of an advantage because very often I study the birds very close up after they hit the buildings.  When they are still alive, I move them as they seem to strike certain buildings more often, at a certain hour of the day and tend to land and try to recover in heavy traffic areas.  (I don't even want to tell you how many times I have seen people step on them--accidentally and, shamefully, on purpose.)  I move them to more secluded spots where I have observed that they recover after about an hour of quiet time and move on.  I recently identified several ovenbirds.   I have finally stooped to photographing a deceased one (with a camera phone unfortunately)

The office building I work in is over 20 years old and back then, architects and building owners just did not think of this stuff.  And, in its defense (the building), we have way fewer incidents of head-ons than other buildings (the Key Tower--on any given morning during both spring and fall migration, you can pick up 50 or more bodies each and every day--I know because one day I did just that.  Out of 50 some birds--only 2 made it.  Our building's design I think actually helps.  The large "silver" construction material between the rows of windows helps to break it up some while other buildings seem almost floor to ceiling glass.  Anyway, that's what I think.

I love the migration because you have a chance to see some real beauties.  So far, since I began to document them, I have seen common yellowthroats (common!?), a black crowned heron (probably up from Whiskey Island), orange crowned warblers, black throated warblers, one vesper sparrow, ovenbirds and yesterday a brown thrasher.  I was worried about that one, but it made it.  What seems odd is that they come in waves.  For example, on let's say a Tuesday through Friday, you see literally hundreds of orange crowned warblers.  Then they are gone.  A few days later, the common yellowthroats pass through.  Almost like a wave of immigrants or, as I like to think of them, musical acts moving through the city, stopping to give their concert, and on their way again.

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38. Katie Brasted, Belle Chasse, Louisiana

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 39. Mary Way, Gorham, New York

These little birds built a nest and hatched eggs this summer in this house built by my father-in-law.

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40. Laura Ouimette, Canandaigua, New York

Our neighbors were surprised to find this nest under their patio chair – complete with eggs.

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