Community Gardens are ideal places to Celebrate Urban Birds!

Create a Children's Garden for the Birds

Assign a portion of your community garden for kids and birds. Children can plant flowers that will feed birds (red tubular plants for hummingbirds, sunflowers, daisies, goldenrods, asters, cosmos, zinnias and bee balm are great choices). Obtain a used container that will hold water and encourage the kids to keep clean water for the birds in it. Place a small weatherproof box in the garden that holds a field guide, booklet for keeping a running list of birds seen and sketches, and writing utensils. A bench encourages quiet time in the garden. Other ideas for children's gardens include planting flowers in the shape of a bird or butterfly; planting a bean or morning glory teepee for hiding, and creating a "mud hole" for kids or dust bath (dig up soil and mix with sand or ash) for birds.

Collect data and send it to Celebrate Urban birds
It's easy! It's a great way to get started birding... and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is trying to find out how important green spaces like community

gardens are for birds! You'll be contributing to great science. Get started by registering and ordering however many Celebrate Urban Bird kits you'll need for your garden.

Place Nest Boxes or Nesting Structures in your Garden

Everyone enjoys nesting birds. Community gardens are ideal places for nest boxes. Use untreated wood. A few tips to consider: proper ventilation is important, sloped roofs, rough interior walls, and drainage holes. Learn more about nestboxes.

Distribute Celebrate Urban Birds kits

Involve your community in a great project that teaches people of all ages about

the birds in your garden, gets the families involved in the process of science, and encourages community action. Register for free and let us know how many kits you will distribute. We'll send them to you for free! Email us at urbanbirds@cornell.edu for more information or to obtain more kits.

Hold a Pot Luck Breakfast or Dinner Celebration of Birds!

Everyone gathers at the garden, eats dinner or breakfast, shares in community, family and friendship. Walk around the garden quietly looking for birds and collecting data. Hold a contest for the most bird friendly garden! Invite a birder to take the public on a bird walk in your garden! Teach people to recognize the 16 focal Celebrate Urban Birds species using the  power point presentation before going outside to collect data. Download Power Point Presentations from our Resources for Celebrating page or contact urbanbirds@cornell.edu for a ready-made power point presentation on cd to be sent to you by mail.

Keep a running list of birds

Encourage everyone to keep a running list of bird species seen at their garden. Compile a list for your community garden.

Put up feeders
An easy way to attract birds is to put up bird feeders. In cities it is best to use feeders with small perches suited for smaller birds that will not easily spill seed on the ground. Spilled food may attract rodents and larger flocks of unwanted birds. Nectar feeders or Nyger seed feeders are also ideal.  Learn more about feeding tips on the Project FeederWatch web site. 

Download  BirdNotes Winter Feeding

Offer water for the birds
Birds need fresh, clean water for drinking and bathing. Make your garden

by Claire Goldthwaite

more attractive to birds by providing water! —Few things are more attractive to them than a clean, well-maintained birdbath. A good drinking fountain for birds should be like a shallow puddle (nature's true birdbath). Choose a shallow container that is easy to clean. Although birds prefer water basins that are on the ground consider if cats are a danger. If you think that a birdbath on the ground might be too tempting to cats, put the birdbath three or four feet off the ground. Place some sand in the bottom of the bath and arrange a few branches or stones in the container, so birds can stand on them and drink without getting wet (this is especially important in the winter).

Celebrate the Arts

• Find art activities and lesson plans to help people connect with nature. Activities include fabric collages, tile painting, bird mobiles and much more.
  
• Hold an art/mixed media/or photography contest or a non-competitive art showing of art inspired by the natural world in cities.
  
• Could dance, theatre, or music be inspired by birds, urban nature, and conservation? Try it!
• Create a mural inspired by urban nature.
• Create urban terrariums with city landscapes and green spaces.
• Could you create art with plants? Create a vertical garden or container gardens for the birds.

-- featuring the best garden for birds. Community gardeners can take photos of birds visiting their gardens and submit them to Celebrate Urban Birds to be featured on our website. You can host an evening gathering to display the photos and give prizes for the best (need ideas for prizes? Email urbanbirds@cornell.edu and we'll help you).

Explore Sound

• Learn about the Urban Bird Sounds Project. This project led by students from Codman Academy Charter Public School (Boston, MA) is a model example of how to integrate technology with nature. It inspires youth and adults alike. Youth researched urban birds and created podcasts focused on the songs and calls of city birds. Podcasts and CDs  by youth are available for free.
• Learn sounds of birds by visiting the Bird Guide and listening to the sound of each of the birds. Have kids go outside, sit or stand, and listen to the sounds of the outdoors. Do you hear birds? Can you draw the sounds? Can you make mnemonics for the sounds you hear?
• Explore bird sound with Colleen McLinn from Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds. Play games and learn activities that support a better understanding of sound.
• Check out mnemonics for bird sounds: http://www.stanford.edu/~kendric/birds/birdsong.html
• Check out the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Bird Quiz to learn more about bird sounds and how to identfiy birds.
  

Create a living sculpture for the birds or a vertical garden!

• Create dyes from the plants such as asters, marigolds, and sunflowers
  Learn more about dyeing and working with fibers Cornell Garden-Based Learning Program:  http://www.hort.cornell.edu/plantsandtextiles/
  
• Create leaf prints. It's easy! Just pick the nicest looking leaves you can find in your garden (choose lots of different shapes) paint the leaves with a brush or dip them in paints on flat surface (cookie sheet or plastic). Then press the leaves with the wet paint face down onto paper or cloth. Carefully remove the leaves so the print remains. Choose fabric paints to design shirts and create great designs with leaves, flowers, and other natural material.
  
• Vines such as Trumpet Vine, Morning Glory, and grapevines provide great habitat for birds (nectar, fruit, and nesting habitat) and can also be arranged to grow in ways to create fun "houses" or quiet spots for kids or grownups to sit and watch nature. Use Sunflowers too.
  
• Dry flowers and make cards (Nasturtiums hold their color well, can be eaten by people, and are great for the birds). Learn more about drying flowers: http://www.hort.cornell.edu/gbl/planting/activities/pdfs/dryflowers.pdf
  
• Coneflowers attract many species of birds for their seeds and make delicious Echinacea tea. Simply place 1 tsp. of dried or 2 tsp. fresh coneflower leaves/flowers in a teapot add boiling water. Steep for 15 minutes.
• Grapevines provide great fruit for birds and can be woven into baskets

Visit Cornell's wonderful Cornell Garden-Based Learning Program website to learn more about integrating the arts and gardening.

What plants are good for birds?

The following plants are native, grow well in containers for those with small spaces, and are great for birds:

Annuals:
Prairie Aster, Aster/Manchaeranthera tanacetifolia
Plains Coreopsis, Coreopsis tinctoria dwarf
Indian Blanket, Gaillardia pulchella 
Five-Spot, Nemophila maculata
Baby-Blue Eyes, Nemophila menziesii
Tidy Tips, Layia platyglossa

Perennials:  Not often grown in containers long-term but can be done.
Lance-leaf Coreopsis, Coreopsis lanceolata
Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea
Black-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia hirta
Crimson Clover, Petalostemum purpureum
Scarlet Sage, Salvia coccinea
Beard Tongue White, Penstemon digitalis

Thanks to: Earthly Goods
www.earthlygoods.com

Wondering what to do with the Sunflower seeds in your Celebrate urban Birds kit? 

Plant them!  If you plant them you can grow lots more food for birds.  The sunflowers pictured below grew underneath a bird feeder without any encouragement.  After the sunflower has bloomed, leave it alone!  The petals will drop off, and the birds may find the seeds before you do!  See these mature black seeds, nestled in the old head of the  sunflower?  The birds love sunflower seeds, and will eat them up.