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Local gardeners do their part to record possible 'global weirding'
Chicago Tribune ^ | August 5, 2008 | Tim De Chant

Posted on 08/05/2008 9:05:55 AM PDT by SJackson

An army of local gardeners is tracking the impact of climate change on backyard flora

When Tom Koulentes is not advising students at Highland Park High School or chasing after his own kids, he spends time behind his small Des Plaines home researching climate change.

Koulentes is recording his garden's natural history, from the weigela's first leaf to the butterfly bush's last bloom, for Project BudBurst, a new nationwide research program based on the observations of ordinary people. He is looking for local signs like an early bloom or a late-falling leaf that stem from planetwide changes.

Only a handful of researchers study plants to chronicle global warming, but millions of gardeners quietly keep watch on their plants. BudBurst seeks to tap that potential, asking "citizen scientists" to monitor plants alongside trained scholars.

"If just scientists were working on this, there's no way we could obtain a data set of this size," said Kay Havens, director of plant science and conservation at the Chicago Botanic Garden, and one of the project's organizers.

Participants in BudBurst monitor one or more plants, native or non-native, throughout the growing season. Along the way, they record and report the dates of events such as the first flower or first seed. Like many citizen science programs, BudBurst is modeled after the Audubon Christmas bird count, an annual volunteer effort that has provided ornithologists with a century's worth of data.

(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: climatechange; environment; gardening
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To: Flycatcher

Heh. We have hummingbirds, goldfinches, rose-breasted grosbeaks, cardinals, hawks and various types of woodpeckers, to name a few. We spend a small fortune feeding them all year. At one time we had a flock or flocks totalling about twenty wild turkeys.


21 posted on 08/05/2008 10:49:08 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: trisham
Birding can almost be as bad as golf in the expense department, what with feed, driving around, and especially the new optical equipment. But that's the cheapest way to watch them — from the backyard!

Sounds like you've got some good birds where you live too. Rose-breasted grosbeaks? Excellent!

22 posted on 08/05/2008 11:03:15 AM PDT by Flycatcher (Strong copy for a strong America)
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To: sbMKE
Not nearly as many raspberries on my backyard bushes this year. I suspect (through direct observation) that my kids are eating them.

That's funny, it's the first year in 3 or 4 my raspberries have done well. The birds are pleased. The rain I assume. Found some blueberries I never knew I had too.

23 posted on 08/05/2008 11:08:15 AM PDT by SJackson (Barack Obama will not be coming to us, I don't know why, Spokesperson US military hospital Landstuhl)
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To: Flycatcher

We had pileated woodpeckers when we first moved here, but I haven’t seen them recently. Maybe this winter, I hope. They’re amazing.


24 posted on 08/05/2008 11:12:25 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: girlangler
My garden shows no sign of global warming. It’s the same every year, I plant too early, then a cold snap comes and I cover everything up....Then it gets really hot and I water everything.

You see, it's all about human activity!

25 posted on 08/05/2008 11:30:20 AM PDT by SJackson (Barack Obama will not be coming to us, I don't know why, Spokesperson US military hospital Landstuhl)
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To: trisham
I'd call pileated woodpeckers not just amazing, but spectacular. You're lucky to have them in your region. All we have are ladderbacks among all the Joshua trees. They're good, I suppose, but they just can't compare with pileateds.
26 posted on 08/05/2008 11:37:02 AM PDT by Flycatcher (Strong copy for a strong America)
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To: Flycatcher; trisham
Sounds like you've got some good birds where you live too. Rose-breasted grosbeaks? Excellent!

Several several years ago (BC) I actually had a bird on the Rare Bird Phone Line here on Humboldt Bay! It was only the 5th time a male Rose Breasted Grossbeak had been sighted in Humboldt County at that time. Several people came over to put it on their local list plus a Friend from the Local Bird Club verified (?) it...

27 posted on 08/05/2008 1:43:48 PM PDT by tubebender (Why does a round pizza come in a square box?)
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To: tubebender

What a great bird for Humboldt County. I’ve only had one sighting of a rose-breasted grosbeak. It was at a desert oasis called Corn Creek near Vegas. Caused quite a sensation in Sin City. Unfortunately, they were immature males, and didn’t have the shocking red breast of a mature male. But beggars can’t be choosers. At least they were rose-breasted grosbeaks!


28 posted on 08/05/2008 2:31:34 PM PDT by Flycatcher (Strong copy for a strong America)
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To: Flycatcher
I just spent a few minutes in my garden watching several Black Headed Grossbeaks, American Gold Finches, a few Lesser Gold Finches, too many Pine Siskins and 3 or 4 Allan's Humming Birds feeding and bathing. Also White Crowned, Song and Fox sparrows plus Doves feeding on the ground.

One afternoon I was reading with my back to the feeders by the house and my wife walks by and exclaims “What is this big bird with a flaming pink breast” and without looking I said ...it's a Rose breasted Grosbeak. I had never seen one except in a Peterson field guide but I had been to that page often because we had some Evening Grosbeak stop by and I marveled at them...

29 posted on 08/05/2008 3:42:42 PM PDT by tubebender (Why does a round pizza come in a square box?)
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To: tubebender
Just be patient. Maybe you can turn your wife into a birder too. It worked for me. My wife now loves to go birding with me. She's still pretty lousy on her ID skills, but I try to encourage her. I never tell her what bird it is we're watching until she makes a few guesses first. Her life list now is over 200, so she's plugging along. She even has a favorite bird: the verdin.

Life is good when you're a birder.

30 posted on 08/05/2008 4:04:53 PM PDT by Flycatcher (Strong copy for a strong America)
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To: Flycatcher

They sound just like Woody the woodpecker. :)


31 posted on 08/06/2008 5:34:28 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: tubebender

They’re beautiful birds.


32 posted on 08/06/2008 5:35:34 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: Flycatcher; Gabz

“My advice? If you like to garden and keep records, do it because you like to garden and keep records. But, jeez, don’t pretend you’re doing something to save the planet.”

Exactly!


33 posted on 08/06/2008 7:05:03 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: Flycatcher

I am glad to see there are other birders here too. I am going to do the bird count this year and can’t wait.

I have a lot of the birds mentioned here and I just started feeding them this year. I am bracing myself for winter and the cost associated with it, but will do so because I love to watch them!

I planted my first garden this year and the weather has been weird. One week it’s sunny, hot, humid and the next week it’s cool and rainy. But it has ALWAYS been like this because I live in New England.


34 posted on 08/06/2008 7:12:26 AM PDT by MissyMa
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To: girlangler; billhilly; Flycatcher
Here are a few recent shots you might enjoyPhotobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

35 posted on 08/06/2008 7:28:34 AM PDT by gorush (History repeats itself because human nature is static)
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To: trisham
They sound just like Woody the woodpecker. :)

Funny you should say that. There's no doubt the animators of Woody Woodpecker based it on the pileated woodpecker. But I think I figured out Woody's trademark laugh. It's actually the sound of the acorn woodpecker, which is very common in the foothills of California. My hunch is that the animators liked the pileated look, but gave him the laugh of the local California woodpecker: the acorn.

Worked out rather well for them, didn't it?

36 posted on 08/06/2008 8:16:30 AM PDT by Flycatcher (Strong copy for a strong America)
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To: MissyMa
If you enjoy birding, you'll love the Christmas Bird Count. But it's grueling: from sunrise to sunset, with only short breaks to nibble on food. I do CBCs in the Desert Southwest, where the winter temps aren't too bad. I truly pity you attempting one in New England. But cross your fingers — there's always a shot for great gray owls, snowy owls, gyrfalcons, and irruptions of Bohemian waxwings.

Dress warmly! :)

37 posted on 08/06/2008 8:20:50 AM PDT by Flycatcher (Strong copy for a strong America)
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To: gorush
Nice shots of an indigo bunting and a female rubythroat.

Always brightens my day to start with some bird pix. Thanks!

38 posted on 08/06/2008 8:29:19 AM PDT by Flycatcher (Strong copy for a strong America)
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To: Flycatcher

I guess it did. :) Woody is a cultural icon.


39 posted on 08/06/2008 8:41:52 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: Flycatcher

Doh, is it that grueling!! I guess I will have to triple layer and bring some food I can eat w/ one hand or something.


40 posted on 08/06/2008 9:26:39 AM PDT by MissyMa
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