I finished reading How Birds Migrate by Paul Kerlinger just ahead of International Migratory Bird Day which is coming up on May 8th. Migration is an important topic for the urban environment as many cities have an enormous impact on bird migration and many cities, including Portland and Seattle, lay in a major flyway, which [...]
If you happen to be in New York or visiting soon, be sure to check out Safari 7 which will be running from April 19-24. This is an amazing project that is centered on the number 7 line and has a self-guided wildlife tour through New York City. From their website: Safari 7 is a [...]
There are some new items to add to a previous post about bird safe building guidelines. First, from the American Bird Conservancy comes news about proposed legislation that would put regulations on federal building construction. The bill, HR 4797 calls for each public building constructed, acquired, or altered by the General Services Administration (GSA) to [...]
This week was a very exciting week in Portland, Oregon because the city brought in ecoroof expert, Dusty Gedge. Along with Stephan Brenneisen they are two of the leading experts in creating ecoroofs that are aimed at biodiversity instead of only stormwater management. Both have written many good articles and designed many roofs in the [...]
The Metropolitan Field Guide has moved to a new website and undergone an update! Here you find the new, permanent home for the Metropolitan Field Guide, update your links, bookmarks and feeds and visit often!
There’s a fascinating project in Zurich that is integrated with a major railway. While planning an expansion to the railway, it was discovered that the area was a sensitive habitat area and they had to come up with a creative way to avoid disturbance. The area alongside the tracks had developed it’s own unique, desert-like [...]
Over on the BBC news website is a good video about a school in Oldham that was lucky enough to have a company offer to install a green roof on their building. Now the roof is used for lessons about plants and wildlife and has become a magnet for birds. Many of the kids don’t [...]
For the last few years a Red-tailed Hawk has nested on the fire escape of an office building downtown Portland. The nesting, egg laying, hatching and fledging of the hawks has all been watching by many people through a partnership with the Audubon Society of Portland and local news station KGW. The hawk is again [...]
Instead of listing all the excellent books on the right hand side of the blog I created a book list on Amazon which I’ll be continually updating and adding new resources as I learn about them or read them. Urban Wildlife Habitat Resources by The Metropolitan Field Guide Blog You’ll also find the link to [...]
If you’re in the Portland area, consider checking out their upcoming event: Ecoroof Portland which will be March 12-13. There will be a vendor fair and many talks including some keynote speakers of great interest. Among the topics of discussion include: Introduction to Ecoroofs in Portland, Ecoroof Research and Monitoring, Portland’s Shift to a Sustainable [...]
Dragonflies are a little more difficult to design for than butterflies or even birds because they require a permanent water source because nearly every period in their different life cycle is spend in or around water. This makes it more difficult to plan for dragonfly habitat in an urban setting, but not impossible. Dragonflies get [...]
A new roof garden was recently officially launched at Liverpool University in England. The roof was developed by the Liverpool Guild of Students “with the intent to provide students, staff and the community with the opportunity to participate in a sustainability initiative.” Components on the roof include garden planters, a bird box, wildflowers for wildlife [...]