Worried about making it through the long, dark days of winter until spring migration? Or maybe just looking to round out your bird and birding library? In either case, you’d be wise to check out The Birding Life: A Passion for Birds at Home and Afield.

Chimney swift tower in Long Island City.

In the July-August issue of the magazine, Frank Graham Jr. wrote a nice story about Paul and Georgean Kyle, a couple near Austin, Texas, who have dedicated most of their time as well as their property to nature in general and chimney swifts in particular. One of the many nice things about the story is that the Kyles’ passion seems to be infectious, and swift lovers around the country are following their lead and building nesting/roosting towers. This is happening all over the place, including in New York City.

A callery pear tree on Broadway and 70th Street in April.

New York City is about as urban a place as you can find, but even here, when spring springs, it can be spectacular. The parks, of course, are bursting. The forsythia seem to lead the way, followed by the dogwoods and the daffodils, the cherries and the tulips.

But New York’s street trees contribute to the celebration as well.

Anyone who has spent much time in New Jersey knows and appreciates its varied natural splendor, from its beautiful beaches and expansive wetlands to the million-acre Pine Barrens in the state’s southern half. I’m particularly partial to the rolling farmland of the northwest. So to me it’s great that New Jersey has to date permanently protected something like 1,800 of its farms and 180,000 acres of its precious farmland.

Just a few months ago, this site was overrun with invasive plants. By August, after the restoration work, native plants, like this blue vervain, were reappearing.
Photo courtesy of John Parke

A few years ago my family was approached by John Parke, a stewardship project director for the New Jersey Audubon Society (NJAS). He wanted to see if we had any interest in getting involved in conservation programs on our farm in Warren County, in western New Jersey. I have seven siblings (and we run the farm in partnership), and getting everyone to agree on things can be a challenge. This, however, was a no-brainer for us.

Every year the United States loses roughly 1.2 million acres of agricultural land to development, says the American Farmland Trust. By my calculations, that works out to roughly 3,300 acres a day, or about 137 acres an hour, or nearly 2.3 acres a minute. Somehow to me the daily, hourly, and by-the-minute tolls sound the scariest, since 1.2 million can seem almost abstract. Still, no matter how you look at it, it’s pretty frightening stuff.