Friday, June 25, 2010

Who We Are and What We do

There are three of us who are devoted to riding the bluebird trail every week from March through August, or whenever the last nestlings have fledged. We keep detailed records of each of the thirty-three nestboxes. We also are avid birders and spend time looking for and at birds as well as listening and identifying them by song, call, and chips. Every time we go out, there is something exciting for us to talk about with each other. It's pooled knowledge and our friendship has become solid because of it.

Although it is not necessary to have three persons to do our assignment, we like it this way because we have backup if one of us is not available on a particular day. One of us is a retired school teacher, another a retired power plant supervisor, and one is a retired manufacturing factory owner. Together it's an excellent team because of our broad background experiences.

The records that we keep on each box are kept in a large notebook. There is one sheet per box with information to be checked off or written in. The categories include: date, monitors' initials, partial or complete nest, number of eggs, number of chicks, and probable number fledged. The last category is always a guess as we usually don't know for sure that the chicks actually flew. They could have been attacked by predators, but we keep a positive view and count them as having fledged safely.

There are other records kept also such as location of the boxes and how the location affects the probability of box use. As a result of these records, we have moved unused boxes to locations that have resulted in nests in those boxes. We don't have it right yet and we expect to move a few more by the next bluebird season. Our project may not be of great interest to many folks but, to us, it's a fascinating study of the Eastern Bluebirds.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Garden Nights Returns

After a long day at work or a stressful day in life there is something to be said about a garden on a southern, summer night. With much anticipation, Garden Nights returned on June 3...the weather had called for rain all day but it turned out to be one gorgeous opening night! Garden Nights will take place every Thursday in June, July and August from 5 - 9 p.m. With our new exhibit, Come Sit A Spell, Garden Nights has tied in special southern themed festivities to be planned to coincide with the exhibit. Last night we kicked off with music from Carmen Giardino Sax and a K.Leigh Cuisine tasting and demonstration about summer vegetable risotto and a discussion on local dairy. Below is a peek into what all we have in store:
  • Come Sit A Spell Awards Ceremony
  • K.Leigh Cuisine tasting and demonstrations
  • Appearances from the Gaston School of the Arts
  • Botanical Illustration and Floral Painting Continuing Education Class
  • Photography for Advanced and Beginning Photographers Continuing Education Classes
  • Re-Purposed Planter Workshop
  • Book Discussion
Visit our DSBG event calendar to see what special southern fun we'll have planned each Garden Nights. Also new this year carriage rides will be available, for an additional fee and weather permitting, from Southern Breezes Carriages. Food and drinks will available for purchase from Something Classic Catering and live music will be provided every Thursday.

Stop by Thursday afternoon and "sit a spell"...unwind while strolling through the gardens & fountains, take a break and sit and relax on our exhibit pieces, enjoy great eats and music! We'll try to make time slow down for you just a bit!

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