Though people often think of cities as "concrete jungles" devoid of nature, many metropolitan areas are teeming with wildlife. New York's Central Park is one of the country's best birding sites, with 285 species spotted there to date. Although urban development destroys the natural habitats that many native birds need to survive, public green areas such as Central Park, as well as greened spaces such as community gardens, can improve habitat for wildlife and stopover areas for birds that might otherwise have nowhere to go.

In an informal survey I conducted in March 2005, a majority of community gardens surveyed in New York City had bird feeders, birdhouses, or birdbaths. I was struck by the potential not only for monitoring the variety of bird species that use these areas, but also for creating and linking habitats to enhance conservation in urban areas.

Even more exciting were the possibilities for place-based environmental education for urban youth and adults. During "Celebrate Urban Birds!" (May 10–13, 2007), people can send information about their community gardens and green spaces to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This will help researchers from the Lab and Cornell's Civic Ecology Initiative learn more about the bird diversity these areas attract.

In densely populated cities, community greening creates multiple, small-scale patches in addition to the green spaces of formal parks. Led by city residents, community greening encompasses community gardens, memorial gardens, trough gardens planted throughout a city; plantings along railroads and highways, and community forestry.

Through partnerships with organizations in New York City, such as Green Thumb and Green Guerillas, and national organizations, such as the American Community Gardening Association, we hope to better understand the ways that birds use urban community greened spaces, the ways in which community greeners can create urban bird habitats and contribute to citizen-science efforts, and ways to further utilize community greened spaces in environmental education.

Through efforts such as these, we would like to raise hope that humans and other creatures will increasingly find ways to get along in their shared urban environments. According to a recent article in National Wildlife, "The right kind of city planning may not only boost wildlife numbers, it can also make our urban world more livable—and offer city dwellers a vital connection with nature." Whether it is a Red-bellied Woodpecker outside our window, a pair of Red-tailed Hawks nesting on Park Avenue, or simply pigeons and sparrows gleaning from community gardens, the wild creatures in our midst make both the "natural" and urban worlds immeasurably richer.

—Keith G. Tidball, associate director of the Civic Ecology Initiative, Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University