Cottage Gardening with Native Plants

I was asked to write a guest post on BeautifulWildlifeGardening.com.

Check out my guest post on how this popular gardening style can be used to support our local ecosystems.

Great backyard Bird Count - Starts this Friday

This Friday, I will be participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count. It runs from Friday, February 18 through Monday, February 21, 2011.  It is the first time I have submitted data for this citizen science project. I don't think it will be much different from Project Feederwatch, that I participate in.

The Great Backyard Bird Count, like Project Feederwatch, monitors the abundance, distribution and winter bird movement of birds in North America.

I think it is important to count and submit data on urban birds. An article, last year, in the scientific journal Nature, revealed that ecologists have neglected the study of urban ecosystems.  There is a notion afoot, that animals and plants must disappear (die off) in the presence of humans. The numbers are often reduced, but many animals live in cities. What I often write about is how we can provide good lives for all the inhabitants of the city, human and non-human.

Book review: Naturalist Notebook

About a year ago, I reviewed this book on keeping a naturalist's notebook. I received such nice comments about the Grinnell series the other week, that I decided to re-mention this one.

Review of How to Keep a Naturalist's Notebook