Located in Cass Park at the base of Cayuga Lake in Ithaca, New York, the Ithaca Children’s Garden (ICG) is both a place and programs.  The mission of the ICG is to create a unique and joyful garden environment designed to inspire, empower, and connect children and youth with the importance of plants and the natural world in their lives.  

The ICG’s longest running program, the Youth Horticulture Apprentice Program (YHAP), employs teenagers over a six week period every summer while teaching work skills and gardening basics. 

They are supervised by Meghan Cerveny, who is the Garden Manager and YHAP Coordinator.  Meghan has been the program coordinator since 2007. 

During the 2009 season, the Horticulture Apprentices designed and installed a Bird Habitat Garden nestled between an existing Wetland Swale and upland Meadow.

The Bird Habitat Garden was a 3-day process.  On day one, Christianne White from the Lab of Ornithology Celebrate Urban Birds Program visited and introduced bird identification and the citizen science bird watching activity. 

Planting a Bird-Friendly Garden

The ICG has a large deer herd who consumes the plants regularly, so the teens fenced 3 separate garden beds to help protect the new plants.  Day Two consisted of landscape design concepts and installation of 110 plants with a local nurseryman, Dan Segal from the Plantsmen Nursery and an ICG Board member Louise Raimondo.  The teens installed all of the plants over a three hour period!  The teens then used a sheet composting technique where they laid wet newspaper or cardboard on top of sod and covered it with 4 inches of mulch.

Participating in citizen science

The activity for the third day was to create a kid-sized bird’s nest, a whimsical garden feature that provides a fun and educational perch for passers-by.  This nest was made from a salvaged papasan chair and hundreds of feet of grape vine.  On this day, the teens met with another Lab of Ornithology professional, Kenyon Stratton from Project NestWatch, and learned about different nests and their construction materials and used this new knowledge to build the kid-sized bird’s nest.

Building a kid-sized bird nest

What did the apprentices think?

Uriel Walker, 16
"Everybody was involved in installing the bird garden. We planted the
plants, laid out newspaper, and mulched over the newspaper. I liked that
almost everyone had a different role including people from outside."

Amelia Kaufman, 15
"An example of teamwork was building the kid-sized bird nest. We all
contributed and helped construct it."

Spenser Blinn, 16
"The bird nest was very successful as was the bird garden. It was great
fun and hard work. It was a great first and second day."


Kengo Onishi, 14
"To summarize our experiences with the citizen science activity, the
building of the bird garden, and the bird's nest; they were all enjoyable
work experiences that required our creative and skillful abilities. The
citizen science activity taught us about where different birds live, their
habitat, and their niche. The bird garden tested our craftsmanship skills
to a higher extent and despite being a lot of work, it was satisfying when
we finished. The birds nest was just plain fun and we did well."

Jared Dugan, 16
"I actually thought the bird garden went up quickly; from what I saw (as I
was not here on Monday). Everyone pitched in to get everything planted,
and I found the experience (compared to weeding, etc.) very pleasing,
even though it was very hot. At first, the nest seemed a little, um-nest
like, but the finished nest was quite nice I think."

Aseem Nerlekar, 14
"My thoughts about the citizen science, bird garden and bird nest are all
good ones. Planting the plants was fun and will be even cooler when the birds come. The citizen science was also cool because we got to learn about different birds and observe some. The bird's nest was some hard work but in the end very comfortable to sit in and will attract a lot of kids."

Devyn King, 14
"When we observed our area for the bird search it was easy and fun. Even
though we didn't see anything and build[ing] the nest was very easy so now
birds can have a nest. The bird garden was the toughest planting but it
was fun and educating."

EhThaDa, 15
"I thought watch the birds nest and know about what kind of thing they use
to build the nest and knowing where a good place for them it was good.
When we watch the ten minutes was good. I didn't know zen was good when
you watch the bird."

Owen Kay, 15
"The citizen science activity was pretty cool because we saw how even in
the same garden some plants attract a lot of birds and some didn't. The
installation of the bird garden was a lot of hard work but it was cool how
we were planting stuff that would attract birds. The bird's nest was
interesting because I was skeptical at first but it turned out looking
really good."

Uriel Walker, 16
"The citizen science went well but we did not see very many birds because
of the time of day - we did not get very much info about what birds are in
the garden when they are busier. But it was useful to learn about the
focus species and try the 10 minute bird watching. The bird garden
installation was a good example of team work. The nest building was also
a good example of team work and I think kids will like it a lot. It was
also a good example of reuse. It came together better than I thought and
looks just like a nest."

Amelia Kaufman, 15
"I think the bird garden is a great addition to the Ithaca Children's
Garden. People will learn more about local birds and different plants
that they like. Observing the birds for 10 minutes was relaxing and
interesting, and I spotted several. Installing the bird garden was hard
work, as we had to dig many holes but it was satisfying. Building the
bird nest was fun and a great team activity."