Words of Wisdom
Albert Schweitzer
|
 | | Towhee |
|
A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as that of his fellow men, and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help.
~ Albert Schweitzer,
Out of My Life and Thought, An Autobiography (1933)
Schweitzer was a theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary in Africa.
|
HGCNY Officers
| |
| President:
Janet Allen
Vice-President:
Carol Biesemeyer
Treasurer:
Randi Starmer
Secretary:
Soule Leiter
Membership:
Linda Rossiter
Program Chair:
Carol Biesemeyer
Newsletter Editor:
Janet Allen
Additional Planning Committee Members:
Beth Mitchell
Dave Mitchell
John Allen
|
| Our Habitat Garden |  |
Visit Our Habitat Garden website for information on providing habitat, earth-friendly gardening practices, plants, and various creatures here in Central New York. TIP: Click on each sliding menu item as you navigate through the menus to pin them down instead of sliding away.
|
| HGCNY on Facebook |
As as more of us participate on our Facebook page, this will become a useful resource for asking (and answering!) local HGCNYers' questions about habitat gardening. |
|
Join HGCNY!
|  |
Becoming an official member of HGCNY is easy: just join Wild Ones! Basic household membership is $37/year, but there are other options, too. (See membership application or website.)
Wild Ones
P.O. Box 1274
Appleton, Wisconsin 54912-1274
Make checks payable to Wild Ones.
Or telephone toll-free 877-394-9453.
|
|
Our Edible Garden
|  | Visit OurEdibleGarden.org to see an example of a Central New York edible garden, the perfect companion to your habitat garden.
|
|
 Not to be missed!
We're pleased to have Professor Robin Kimmerer as our speaker for our January meeting.
Dr. Kimmerer spoke to our group about mosses a few years ago, and her presentation is one of our most memorable ones.
This time she will discuss
"A Wealth of Plants: Edible and Medicinal Plants of Central New York."
The presentation will highlight the cultural uses and values of common wild plants of fields, forest and wetlands as sources of foods, medicines and fibers.
Her new book is Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants.
From the book description on Amazon.com:
"An inspired weaving of indigenous knowledge, plant science, and personal narrative from a distinguished professor of science and a Native American whose previous book, Gathering Moss, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing."
WHEN: Sunday January 26 at 2:00 pm
WHERE: Liverpool Library (Directions)
We meet the last Sunday of the month, and our meetings are free and open to the public. Come and bring a friend!
Janet Allen
President, HGCNY
|
|
|
Sumacs - just a weed?
 | Staghorn sumac
(Rhus typhina) |
It's a puzzle as to why a spectacular plant with three season interest should have a poor reputation.
In the case of staghorn sumac, it may be the perception that anything so common can't be desirable.
It may also be that in the typical home landscape, it's difficult to find space for a plant that wants to become a colony, not remain an isolated specimen.
In the right setting, though, and with the right management, this beautiful plant can be a boon to wildlife. As the Gardening in Tune with Nature blog says, It comes down to a matter of placement. The suckering habit of staghorn sumac can be controlled by mowing, paving, and water. For example, I recall a colony of fruiting plants in Orono, Maine, growing between the banks of the Penobscot River and a paved road, their spread controlled by water on one side, asphalt on the other. In Orono, I lived next door to a colony of sumac in a neighbor's back yard, its spread limited by the lawn mower.Many birds such as cedar waxwings, flickers, robins, mockingbird, hermit thrush, bluebirds -- many of whom shun birdfeeders -- eat the berries. It's especially important as an emergency food in winter. It helps pollinators, too. Its spring flowers provide nectar for bees and butterflies, and it's a host plant for a variety of butterflies. It wants a sunny location and will grow in poor soil if it's well-drained. Whether or not we have a place in our own landscapes for this plant, we can view it with new eyes when we see it growing here and there. Far from being a "weed," we can appreciate its beauty and its importance to wildlife. Read more from the Univ. of Maine Cooperative Extension |
|
Great Backyard Bird Count
Friday Feb. 14 - Monday Feb. 17
This annual four-day event engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are.
Everyone is welcome from beginning bird watchers to experts.
It takes as little as 15 minutes on one day, or you can count for as long as you like each day of the event. It's free, fun, and easy--and it helps the birds.
Participants tally the number of individual birds of each species they see during their count period and enter these numbers on the GBBC website.
To make it even easier, the GBBC provides a list of all the birds you're likely to see in the Central New York region during the month of February. Just plug in your zipcode on this webpage.
New participants must set up a free GBBC account to submit their checklists or use login information from an existing account for any other Cornell Lab citizen-science project. You'll only need to do this once to participate in all future GBBC events.
A free BirdLog GBBC app!
Thanks to support from Pennington, the BirdLog eBird app is now being offered for free right now for both iPhone and Android smartphone operating systems. You can use the app any time between now and February 28 to submit your checklists to eBird. Your sightings will be included in the Great Backyard Bird Count if you use the app during February 14-17. You can log in with your existing GBBC/eBird account or create an account if you don't already have one.
[Editor's Note: After attending the presentation by the BirdLog's creator at the Fayetteville Library last November, I purchased the app and have found it to be very enjoyable and useful.]
|
|
You (and your computer) can make an important contribution
 | |
A sample card from 1885 (recorded in Auburn, NY!) to be transcribed into a standard digital format by volunteers
|
In the past, we've mentioned the North American Bird Phenology Program which involves citizen volunteers in transcribing the 6,000,000 data cards dedicated observers had recorded from the late-1800s to the mid-1900s. Obviously, these were all recorded on paper!
This treasure trove of information is lost unless it's digitized. That's where we citizens come in. The U.S. Geological Survey has created a standard digital form for entering this data, and a milestone is soon being reached: the 1,000,000th card will have been transcribed!
This project not only honors the dedication of our ancestors, but will help scientists learn more about changes in bird populations. A tutorial will get you started, and after a while transcribing these cards becomes second nature.
Learn more about the Bird Phenology Project....
Another transcription project:
Notes from Nature
Notes from Nature involves thousands of specimen images, labels and ledgers from museum collections and the biologists who maintain those collections.
These contain information about where and when a species was found in the past. They need volunteers to help transcribe that data and make it available for further use in biodiversity and conservation research. Along the way, you will be possibly be finding species that have never been observed anywhere else!
Read more about Notes from Nature ...
|
|
|
|
|
