Jill Niland, Annette Prince and Sig Schmidt

Our speaker was Annette Prince, Director of the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors.

They advocate for bird safe lighting and building design to reduce bird collision hazards. Ms. Prince is also the secretary of the Chicago Bird Alliance. She has worked on local and national projects as well as wildlife education and rehabilitation for over 35 years.

What we learned:

Bird Collision Monitors started 20 years ago. They have 200 volunteers who retrieve up to 300-400 dead or injured birds per day that have collided with the lighted windows of buildings in the Chicago downtown areas, especially during spring and fall migration. The birds are found on the sidewalks in the early morning and are  taken to the Field Museum if dead and to the DuPage Wildlife Conservation Center if injured.

They have successfully worked with building owners in the Chicago loop to reduce the nighttime lighting from 11:00  PM to dawn and have 90% cooperation in that effort. Still, Chicago is #1 in the amount of artificial light and glass so has work to do.

Because of its location on the lakefront, McCormick Place is a major bird attractor when the lights are left on all night. There was an 83% reduction in bird collision deaths when the lights were turned off or windows were covered at night. McCormick Place has recently covered the windows with a dotted barrier film which fools the birds even though the lights are left on.

At our homes, closing shades and drapes at night helps. There are also a variey of window screening materials that don't obstruct vision or light yet are designed to keep birds from colliding. 

All bird collision screening materials have to be applied to the outside of the window since the reflection of glass still can attract birds.

If you find an injured bird, you can call Bird Monitors at (773) 988-1867.

Visit their website at  www.birdmonitors.net

Lucy, Ellen, Sara, Sig and Jill

Eva Mannaberg and Patricia Wiener

Adrian Fisher and Sig Schmidt

Our speaker, Adrian Ayres Fisher, serves as a volunteer steward of a small forest preserve on the banks of the Des Plaines River in Illinois. As Programs co-chair of West Cook Wild Ones, she educates about and promotes native-plant gardening and biodiversity. She writes and speaks on a range of nature-related topics from a Midwestern point of view. 

She spoke at this meeting about the components of healthy soil and what we gardeners can do in our gardens to keep our soils healthy and aid in carbon sequestration .

Some things we learned:

• Good soil is dark, crumbly and loose with good moisture retention and drainage.
• Factors that deplete soil health and carbon sequestration are plowing and tilling, bare soil, planting annuals, limited biodiversity, reduced organic material, using synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
• What we home gardeners can do is plant natives (the occasional annual is OK), keep the soil covered and disturb the soil minimally.
• Organic inputs can be "living mulch" under trees, a compost top dressing,  wood chips and leave the leaves.

For more information, email Adrian at aaf@ecologicalgardening.net or visit the West Cook Wild Ones website.

We gathered at Shelly Greenberg's garden to celebrtate fall, catch up wih each other and have a white elephant exchange.

Eva's Garden

Eva's Garden

Eva's Garden

Eva's Garden

Sig's Garden

Block Garden

Block Garden

Block Garden

Susan's Garden

Susan's Garden

Susan's Garden

Susan's Garden

Susan's Garden

Global Gardens, 4815 N. Sacramento, is  a community farm in Albany Park. They provide land, tools, seeds and training for refugees from rural backgrounds to create food security and economic opportunities in their new homeland.
We had a private tour guide, Haley LeRand, who is the executive director. You can visit globalgardenfarm.org to learn more. 

Our guest speaker, Patricia Weiner, nature photographer, presented images of Florida birds, butterflies and other creepy-crawlies  from a recent trip  to  Green Cay, Wakodahatchee, Loxahatchee, Pondhawk, Gumbo Limbo, Peaceful Waters, Marjory Douglas Stoneman Everglades Habitat, and Daggerwing.

Pat's passion is to promote environmental activism through art.

Steps to Re-wilding a Front Yard Lawn

1. Remove the grass
2. Spread soil and compost
3. Broadcast prairie seeds
4. Plant some established prairie grasses and forbs

Nancy Weiting and Christine Dannhausen-Brun

During the months of June, July and August, several members and friends opened their gardens for viewing and refreshments. We visited the gardens of NGS members, Marilyn Shipley, Jan Spitzer, Ellen Barron, Eva Mannaberg, Sig Schmidt and Susan Darnell and NGS friends, Dick and Becky Block. Not all gardens were photographed.

Ash Luciani and Keith Couture

On Saturday, May 18th, we held our annual plant sale at .Warren Park. The weather was perfect although a little hot in the sun. NGS members donated plants from their gardens along with houseplants and used garden decor. The sale was quie a success raising  funds to support our programs and community service activities.

Ash Luciani and Keith Couture from Prairies over Lawns gave a presentation about their concept and business. They will convert your lawn or advise and direct you to resources for DIY projects. 

For more information about this business, click here.

Abe Herrra showed  his plant box inspired by the neighborhood little library  concept. Take One Leave One is a generous and welcome idea. He would like to give community workshops so that people can make their own boxes. 

An emerging cicada

Jill Niland holding a model of an emerging cicada

Cherry blossoms

The Pond at Emiy Oaks

Shelly Greenberg, Mr. Renslow, Sig Schmidt

A number of NGS members attended  a Cicada exhbit at the Emily Oaks Nature Park in Skokie. Various exhibits were set up along a woodland walk to learn about the coming cicada "invasion" in the Chicago area. Emily Oaks volunteers and area high school students manned the various exhibits which demonstrated the emergence of the cicadas from the soil, their life-cycle and the types of sounds they make.

Cicadas are NOT harmful to humans, animals or plants in general. However, it is recommended that young trees (3 yrs or less) be covered with netting  to keep cicadas away since the female cicada makes a slit in tree branches to deposit their eggs which can harm young trees. After the eggs develop into larvae, they fall from the tree and burrow into the ground to start the next 17 year cycle.

Our presenter, Christine Dannhausen- Brun from the Nordson Green Earth Foundation, visited us in-person to talk about the Tiny Forest project in the Chicago area.

Nordson Green Earth Foundation is a non-profit focused on improving tree equity in under-resourced neighborhoods in the Chicagoland area.  They work to bring tiny forests to urban communities that lack tree and green space due the systemic and structural racism that shaped these neighborhoods in the last century. The aim is to bring more nature into these neighborhoods in the hopes of achieving greater healthequity through the benefits of nature while also mitigating the effects of climate change. Nordson Green Earth Foundation is working to build collaborations with organizations aligned with the mission of using nature-based solutions to achieve health equity. Nordson Green Earth Foundation is a women-led 501(c)(3) organization.

Using the Migakawa Method, they are able to develop a Tiny Forest in an area as small as a parking space. A  Tiny Forest is not just planting a few trees. It is a replication of an actual forest using extensive soil preparation and planting intermixed layers of plants using vines, perennials, shrubs,  shorter trees and taller trees - all native. The area is watered and weeded the first 3 years but the forest is self-sustaining after that. It will mature in 20 years.

The first forest is at the Markham, IL Courthouse.

Pam Karlson, Paula Kosin and Eva Mannaberg

Our monthly programs are usually held on the 1st Thursday of the month at 7:00 PM in the Warren Park Field House, 6601 N. Western Ave. Chicago.

We usually feature a social get-together with refreshments followed by a guest speaker.

To view program and activity offerings from previous years, click here.

Our presenter was Al Renslow,  a resident and beekeeper of the rooftop hives at The Admiral  at the Lake in Chicago. Mr. Renslow started with one hive and has increased the number over the past 3 years to 4 hives,  He has recruited help from other residents. They harvest and process the honey and sell it to residents of the facility.

Mr Renslow is fascinated by bees and the important role they play in our urban ecosystem as pollinators. Urban bees actually find more diversity of pollen sources in a city than they do in rural areas where farming is more and more a single crop business.

Bee colonies are highly organized with the females doing the brunt of the work - pollenating the various plants within the hive area, collecting pollen, making honey, caring for baby bees and cleaning the hive. The males (drones) only have one job - fertilizing the eggs of the Queen bee and the Queen bee just provides for the continuation of the bee population thru laying eggs.

Dona Vitale

Our presenter was Pam Karlson, a career artist and certified professional gardener/garden designer from the School of the Chicago Botanic Garden. As a public speaker and educator, she advocates for creating, restoring, and preserving wildlife habitats. 

Native nursery plants

Root growth on a native plant

Natives in the wild

Our presenter was Christine Dannhausen- Brun who represented Nordson Green Earth Foundation.
 

Nordson Green Earth Foundation is a non-profit focused on improving tree equity in under-resourced neighborhoods in the Chicagoland area.  They work to bring tiny forests to urban communities that lack tree and green space due the systemic and structural racism that shaped these neighborhoods in the last century. The aim is to bring more nature into these neighborhoods in the hopes of achieving greater healthequity through the benefits of nature while also mitigating the effects of climate change. Nordson Green Earth Foundation is working to build collaborations with organizations aligned with the mission of using nature-based solutions to achieve health equity. Nordson Green Earth Foundation is a women-led 501(c)(3) organization.

Ms. Karlson has an impressive natural garden. Her focus is attracting and creating a habitat for birds and animals with native plants, trees and water features.  

To download a copy of Ms. Karlson's   "Bird Garden Handout" , click here.