Callaway Farm is my (Eddie’s) rural backyard in northern Illinois. In 2012, the 2.5 acres were a corn field and since 2013, I’ve been working on turning it into our backyard bird sanctuary. To get a baseline of what wildlife is using it in its current state, I decided to do a May bioblitz. I
Month: May 2016
The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman
The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman chronicles some of the best-known cases that showcase bird intelligence. But the book goes beyond the famous birds like the African Grey Parrot named Alex and delves deep into the scientific studies being conducted to understand how birds think. Inevitably, especially with a title having the word “genius”
Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife With Native Plants
Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants by Douglas W. Tallamy is the quintessential guide to how and why we all have the power to conserve habitat, right at home in our backyards. Tallamy begins with a call to action, that all gardeners need to direct their energy towards planting those
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The Biggest Week in American Birding – 2016
Northwest Ohio is “The Warbler Capital of the World“. People come from all over the world to see all the beautiful spring migrants that stopover on their way north . The Biggest Week in American Birding a week-long bird festival that started in 2010, is now in full swing and each year it just gets
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Birdscaping With Wild Columbine
If you live in the eastern half of the United States, native Wild Columbine might be a good choice for birdscaping. The Callaway Garden planted just a couple plants three years ago. We looked for a native plant nursery to find this variety and found Naturally Native Nursery in Bowling Green, Ohio. These plants spread
Nature Principle by Richard Louv
The Nature Principle is Richard Louv’s “companion” to Last Child in the Woods and covers some parallel topics as well as delves into more reasons to connect or reconnect with nature. The Nature Principle could be considered a book to promote ending nature-deficit-disorder in adults. Louv introduces and expands on many catch phrases or buzzwords
Why Use Native Plants for Birdscaping
While plotting and planning our backyard birdscaping project, a discussion arose on whether native plants are really that important, especially when a comparable “ornamental” can be used and still enjoyed by wildlife. I have been hearing the phrase “use native plants” for at least as long as I’ve been interested in birdscaping (before I was
17-year Cicadas are for the Birds!
In 2007, the Birdfreaks went Cuckoo for Cicadas. A 17-year periodical cicada called Brood XIII emerged to the delight of bird species in northern Illinois and a few nearby states (MAP). It was amazing to see so many cicadas at once, the noise was deafening and the birds went crazy for them! We even found
