Interesting Nature
- The Beauty of Insect Eggs:: From the latest issue of National Geographic shows a fascinating side of insect eggs, through a microscope. The details of these structures are simply amazing.
- Ladybug:: Also from National Geographic, this profile of our aphid-fighting friend highlights some fascinating facts such as there are over 5,000 species worldwide.
News
- Kingfisher hatchlings prove success of Cambridgeshire’s ‘bird hotel’:: From the Guardian newspaper comes this article and fabulous photos of a brood of kingfishers being raised in an artificial structure designed partly for kingfishers but also for sand martins.
- Ducklings hatch in Hamilton High courtyard:: This is a great story about wildlife habitat at a high school and when the duck decided to lay eggs in a courtyard on the other side of the building, the students and faculty made a living fence through the building to the other courtyard with the pond.
- Some NYC buildings dim lights for migrating birds:: A brief article from the Boston Herald.
- Nighthawks are nesting atop Notre Dame power plant:: An article from the South Bend Tribune about nesting nighthawks and how the current roof construction was put on hold until the chicks fledged.
- Organic Golf Course Is Exclusive, but a Weed or Two Sneak In:: This interesting article from the NY Times highlights a golf course on Martha’s Vineyard that has decided to go organic and how their experiment is working.
- Urban bees fare better due to varied diet, research reveals:: This article from the Guardian.uk discusses how urban honeybees have a more diverse range of pollen than their rural counterparts due to the diversity of plants in the city and why that is important for the bees.
Designs
- Spontaneous City in the Tree of Heaven:: A recently installed art project as part of the Secret Garden Project which consists of a series of houses for birds. The houses are set on elastic bands that are designed to expand in girth as the tree grows.
- Bird-Friendly Glass Designed With Help From Spiders:: From TreeHugger comes this interesting article about a new type of glass that was designed to be seen by birds, but not by humans. It uses the same technique that spiders use to prevent birds flying into their webs.
- Encouraging Native Bees with Insect Walls:: This excellent article from Studio G compiles many examples of bee and insect nesting walls.
Resources
- Pollination Canada:: Do you live in Canada? Check out this resource full of great pollinator information including profiles of dozens of different types of pollinators.
- Bee Trees:: A great article from Local Ecologist which features many great trees for bees.
- Garden for a Living London:: Whether you live in London or not, this page has some great resources from planting a mixed hedgerow to tips to ‘wild up your deck’.
- Butterfly Gardening:: Just added this excellent resource from the Dallas County Lepidopterist’s Society website to the Regional Plant Lists at the top of this page under the ‘pages’ tab.
- Planting a Native Hedgerow:: Check out this great resource from Mast Tree Network with tips and links to resources for designing and maintaining a hedgerow.
Glad you saw the “Spontaneous City in the Tree of Heaven.” I bookmarked it for a future Bird Watch post or tweet. What do you think about the installation in terms of habitat potential?