The Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle is a beautiful place. The 8.5 acre park sits alongside Elliott Bay, overlooking the Puget Sound, islands and the Olympic Mountains to the west, downtown Seattle to the south and the Space Needle to the east. The site is divided by a major street, railroad tracks and a bike [...]
I am happy to announce that I will be contributing a post every month to Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens, a blog for “advocating the use of more native plants in our landscapes and the creation of welcoming habitats for wildlife in our gardens and open spaces.” So far there is a great team, with more [...]
As the 2011 Integrated Habitats Design Competition is getting launched, I’m looking at the winning entries from the 2010 competition in a series of posts. Satoyama was another shortlisted entry, by the team of Hiroyuki Ichihara and Atsumi Sako. Their project proposal stated: “Around 36% of bee colony over the Europe had been lost due to Colony Collapse [...]
Here is a wonderful short film featuring urban wildlife in Jersey City. The footage features osprey, kingfishers, egrets and more. It’s always great to see people feature urban nature because there’s not nearly enough focus and exploration of the urban environment. Thanks to John Dunstan for sending me a link to his wonderful film to [...]
This post is a contribution to the Earth Day Reading Project – Blog Meme, from The Sage Butterfly. Adrian, from the Ecological Gardening blog invited me to participate in this project. The idea is to “list at least three books that inspired you to perform any sustainable living act or inspired you to live green, and then [...]
News ‘Bee road’ plans to save key pollinators:: This fascinating article from The Guardian looks at a new project to plant bee roads, corridors of planted wildflowers for pollinators. In birds vs. buildings, feathered friends gain ground:: An article from The Globe and Mail in Canada features FLAP, Fatal Light Awareness Program and how new [...]
Once in awhile there are certain books that come along that every home library must have. Attracting Native Pollinators: The Xerces Society Guide to Conserving North American Bees and Butterflies and Their Habitat is one of those books that should sit on every shelf. It has solidly placed itself as the reference book for designing [...]
Seattle is having one of the worst early springs on record. Thanks to La Nina, we have had a very wet and very cool spring with nearly every day below average temperatures. To be fair, the cold, wet weather is slightly better than the dry, hot weather which is resulting in wildfires in the south, [...]
The Bat Conservation Trust in the U.K. has a fantastic resource about urban bat habitat on their website. It’s called the Bat Trail and it’s an interactive website that features the many urban habitats and elements that can be beneficial to bats. It’s aimed at bats of the U.K., but the information is still relevant [...]
Common Name: Painted Lady Scientific Name: Vanessa cardui Family: Nymphalidae The Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) butterfly is a very interesting species. While it can be very common in some years, in others it may not be seen at all or only on rare occasions. This is because they occasionally have populations irruptions, spreading outwards over [...]
There are a couple of varieties of Oregon-grape, a common evergreen shrub growing in the Pacific Northwest, Dull Oregon-grape and Tall Oregon-grape, which is the state flower of Oregon. From the Barberry family (Berberidaceae) is Dull Oregon-grape, or also simply called Oregon-grape (Mahonia nervosa) and Tall Oregon-grape (Mahonia aquifolium). Both have pinnate, glossy green leaves [...]
News Injured baby hawk saved by FDNY in Queens:: From New York City comes a story about an immature Coopers Hawk injured and rescued by a Fireman who also happens to be a wildlife rehabilitator. South Waterfront & OHSU Ecoroof Tour:: From the TERRA.fluxus blog is a recap of one of the tours as part of [...]