Birdsong Pleasure Garden

09/04/2026

Christine, Matt, Mary, and Danielle visiting from New Jersey and staying in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley for several days.

Christine is all about Native Plants and Pollinators at her quarter acre home. She and Matt are doing their best learning about all the Natives in their area. So, Christine was quite excited to peruse what our Garden is all about... including lots of native plants.

From Homegrown National Park -
The more native plants you include, especially keystone species, and the more variety you plant, the more biodiversity your space can support.

Higher biodiversity is associated with healthier ecosystems that are better able to withstand environmental stress, resist disease, and continue providing essential functions over time.

Plants and animals have evolved together over millions of years. These relationships determine what can survive in a given place.

Some are highly specialized. For example, hummingbirds and certain flowers coevolved, with longs beaks and tubular flowers matching each other over time. Others are more general, like animals eating fruit and spreading seeds.

But many of the most important relationships are between plants and insects.

You don’t need a large space or special expertise to make a difference. A yard, a garden bed, or even a small planting area can support meaningful life.

When many people take action, these spaces begin to connect, creating networks of habitat across neighborhoods and communities.

https://homegrownnationalpark.org/

08/31/2026

08/31/2026

08/31/2026

Hummingbirds are making their way south!
⬇️
Each fall, these tiny dynamos travel thousands of miles from breeding habitats across Canada and the United States to nonbreeding grounds in Central America. Along the way, they rely on networks of flowering native plants and healthy habitat to fuel their journey.

If you want to help these little jewels on their journeys south, remember to keep your feeders clean! Use a 1:4 white sugar-to-water ratio and change the mixture every few days, especially in warmer weather. No one likes mold or ants ruining their food — hummingbirds included!

Learn more about these tiny travelers on our website:
https://abcbirds.info/4qD0nld

08/31/2026

Piedmont grasslands are the most diverse plant communities in the state of Virginia. They are also home to declining birds and insects and a number of rare plants. Join us to learn all about these special habitats, their history, and what we’re doing to protect them.

Grasslands in our region require frequent fires, mowing, or grazing to prevent them from turning into forests. Therefore there is an active debate about how grasslands were maintained historically, how extensive they were, and how long they have been present in northern Virginia. This will be an outdoor event that will take place at one of Virginia’s most diverse grasslands!

We will meet at Clifton and carpool to two nearby sites. More detailed instructions will be emailed to participants prior to the event!

Register: https://cliftoninstitute.org/event/remnant-prairie-tour/

08/25/2026

Young and older couples taking some time off to travel, enjoy each other's company, and see something new. We are very happy to be on their list of "gotta go see".

What about birds as couples?

We’ve all heard it countless times: Certain species of birds mate for life, including geese, swans, cranes, and eagles. It’s a true statement, for the most part, but it’s only part of the story. Lots of monogamous bird species cheat, and some “divorce”—but at rates much lower than humans.

About 90 percent of bird species are monogamous, which means a male and a female form a pair bond. But monogamy isn’t the same as mating for life. A pair bond may last for just one nesting, such as with house wrens; one breeding season, common with most songbird species; several seasons, or life.

Social monogamy seems to be more common than sexual monogamy. Social monogamy refers to the male bird’s role in parenting. In most songbird species, the male defends a nest and territory, feeds his incubating mate, brings food to nestlings and feeds young fledglings.

In some species, especially when the male and female look alike, the male will even incubate eggs. Social monogamy is when a male bird is actively involved in nesting and rearing the young.

More on birds that mate for life:
https://www.audubon.org/magazine/till-death-do-them-part-8-birds-mate-life

08/25/2026

Birds, like our Garden Visitors, travel in groups, sometimes alone.

Did you know?
In North America, most nocturnal bird migration in autumn occurs from mid-August to mid-November?

In the contiguous U.S., peak migration periods are typically from mid-April to mid-May in spring, and from mid-September through mid-October in fall.

The highest numbers of birds in flight generally occur in the first half of the night (usually 2–4 hours after local sunset). Wow!

Peak migration traffic timing within a night can vary seasonally and geographically. Potentially, their departures from this typical pattern, are a result of local and regional weather conditions, migrants’ origins, and destinations relative to areas where they cannot land, among other factors.

YOU can help their safe migration if you would turn off unnecessary outdoor or decorative lights.

Turn off non-essential lights from dusk to dawn during critical migration periods.

Full Spring Migration Period: March 1–June 15

Full Fall Migration Period: August 15–November 30

More information at:
https://birdcast.org/lights-out/

08/20/2026

Wow, coooool.