The Art of Ecology
Building visual connections between people and nature.
Tag: bird habitat
Attract Fruit-eating Birds to Your Backyard
They may seem ultra-exotic and tropical, however fruit-eating birds do live in North America along the East Coast. In fact, while kayaking along the Delaware River in Philadelphia the other week, I had the incredible opportunity to watch a Baltimore Oriole creating a nest! Not all fruit-eaters are mango or papaya-loving tropical birds. Some are …
Art Challenge: Feathered Friends for “Feathruary”!
This past month I’ve been creating art as part of the #Feathruary2022 by @MischievousRedFox on Instagram. Illustrating birds is not only fun, and a great way for me to study local birds & learn more about their identifying characteristics, but it is also a good way to educate about the importance of birds in our …
Why Care About Counting Birds?
Birds and their population numbers are important for indicating overall health of ecosystems, making them bioindicator species. Have you participated in a bird count in your backyard, as part of a community science project, or as part of an event at an educational center? The Great Backyard Bird Count is an important way for scientists …
Get Excited about the Great Backyard Bird Count!
Do you love all things birds, nature, and want to contribute to scientific studies easily? Join in on the 25th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, hosted by Cornell Ornithology. This global event includes roughly 100 million bird sightings each year and wildlife biologists, climate change scientists, and others use that data to create scientific models, …
Home: WILD ART 2021
As part of the Wild Art 2021 August Challenge, put on by Zoe Keller, I illustrated two pieces focusing on the theme, “HOME”. Each month, I am going to focus on two pieces – one highlighting flora, the other highlighting fauna. This month, I focused on how different species create their homes and shelters. One …
Spring Cleaning is for the birds
Every winter, I sit inside with my hot cocoa, watching Netflix, working on my art, or playing games. Each winter, I sit inside SURROUNDED by all of the clutter and dust. Each spring, I get so tired of it that I HAVE to do something about it! I create bags and boxes to take to …
Look Up In the Sky! It’s a Plane, It’s Superman! No – It’s a BIRD!
Fall is fully upon us and so is the great migration! I had the opportunity to write an article about the Raptor Migration along the Delaware River/Atlantic Flyway and ways to identify raptors as they’re flying. Click here to view the published article (pg 87). Below is my blog-post style of the article: “Keep an …
Creating a Safe Haven for Feathered Friends
So far, we’ve discussed creating a backyard habitat, attracting butterflies and other pollinators, and creating a haven for snakes and beneficial predators, but we haven’t talked about how to get birds to your garden! Aside from the obvious of sticking up a feeder, there are some other great ways to attract your feathered friends! By …
National Geographic Educator Certification
For a while now, it has been my super unrealistic goal of becoming a National Geographic Photographer. While I am competing with so many extremely talented photographers all over the world who have access to more “interesting” subjects, better equipment, and have more experience, you gotta have goals, right? Much to my surprise and delight, …
Beautifully Built Bird Beaks & Bills
You have a bird feeder out in your back yard, but you notice that not all of the birds you have seen are visiting it – Why might that be? Well, one answer might be that not all birds are designed to eat the same foods. By looking at the bird’s beak or bill, you …
