Bird watching is one of the fastest-growing pastimes in the world, and this year the Birds, Blossoms & Blues Festival at Norfolk Botanical Garden is taking the hobby to new heights. The 2006 Festival combines the Garden’s popular annual plant sale with guided tours to restricted-access birding areas, and adds the beat of blues and bluegrass as a backdrop for family activities. The Mother’s Day weekend festival kicks off with a blues revue concert on May 11th.
For birders, bird-watching will get wild with trips to guided-only sanctuaries, including the Great Dismal Swamp, Piney Grove, Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, False Cape State Park, the Weyanoke Sanctuary, and Savage Neck Dunes Natural Area Preserve. Join the prowl for owls at Seashore State Park, or the entire family can tour the waters of Lake Whitehurst on the Nature on the Lake Boat Tour. Also new this year is an up-close look at the Garden’s family of American Bald Eagles. The Garden’s new “eagle cam” lets visitors see the eagles nesting on live video via monitors in Baker Hall Visitor Center. On a variety of walking tours within the 155 acres, knowledgeable guides will answer questions about the 95 species of birds that call the Garden home.
The gardening-inclined will enjoy guided walks highlighting the Garden’s Flowering Arboretum, Virginia Native Plant Garden and the new Hummingbird Garden.
The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries will be on hand to help gardeners and bird enthusiasts develop their own Habitat at Home® to attract specific birds, beneficial insects and wildlife. Whether beginner or advanced gardener, Norfolk Botanical Garden is taking the guesswork out of themed gardening at its annual Gardener’s Market and Plant Sale. For the first time, the Plant Sale will include plant packages with everything needed for Habitat at Home®, as well as groundcovers, tropicals, fragrant plants, perennial favorites, natives, winter interest, container gardens or varieties that grow well with roses. To help with planned planting, horticulture experts will offer advice on where to find these favorites in the Garden so gardeners can see plants in “real-life” settings before taking them home.
The next generation of bird enthusiasts will have plenty to do at Birds, Blossoms & Blues. Here’s a look at planned festivities that are family-friendly:
- Starting a “Life List” – Parents can help children connect with their environment and promote lifelong enjoyment looking for and tracking unique and unusual birds.
- Bird Detective – Kids will learn fun facts about Virginia’s state bird, the Cardinal, and how to identify common songbirds, raptors and waterfowl.
- Bird Bingo – Families can grab a bingo card and fill it in by spying feathered friends in the skies.
- Owl CSI – Adults and kids will learn about how – and what -- owls eat. After they digest their food, the nocturnal birds spit up pellets. Kids will collect and study those pellets to see what doesn’t digest.
- The Bird Buffet – Everyone can help migratory birds make the most of their meals by making them a simple bird feeder.
- Fashionable Feathers – Kids can make masks with fake feathers, sequins, beads and so much more!
- Take Action – As part of its educational mission, the Garden wants to encourage the next generation of bird-lovers to take action now to help keep our skies – and world – safe for our flying friends. Children can pick up a Bird Action Pledge Card and learn more about what they can do, from planting bird-friendly flowers to keeping feeders and bird baths clean and getting their parents to drink shade-grown coffee. By signing this pledge card, kids can start taking action now that will affect the world’s bird population for years to come. Saturday and Sunday only: the first 100 kids to sign the Bird Action Pledge Card will receive a poster commemorating International Migratory Bird Day, May 13th, 2006.
- Create a special make-and-take craft to give Mom on her special day.
See the full schedule of Birds, Blossoms & Blues activities and register online at www.norfolkbotanicalgarden.org.
