Fall Into Autumn: October Programs

The sun is setting on fall migration.
Don’t let the birds leave you behind!

Let’s talk plants!
Say hello to Garden Director Mathew McDowell at our table at the Healthy Yards Annual Seed Swap & Plant Event. We’re excited to be a part of this event together with Bedford 2030, Hilltop Hanover Farm, and the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. The goal is to familiarize homeowners with the importance of native plants and the crucial role they play in the sustenance of a healthy environment. Complementary seeds will be available as well as plants for sale. Visitors are welcome to bring their own seeds and plants to exchange with neighbors. Professional landscapers and environmentalists will be on hand to help with plant choices. Bring your questions and drawings or photos of your yard or samples of plants you’d like to identify. For more information, visit www.healthyyards.org/home/plantswap. Or email info@healthyyards.org
Sunday, October 3, 10:00am-noon. Cost: Free. The event is taking place behind the Bedford Hills Train Station in parking lot 8, Railroad Avenue, Bedford Hills. (If it rains, the event will move to the front of the train station, 46 Depot Plaza, Bedford Hills.)

Hey, Yorktown… we’re coming to you!
The Yorktown Festival & Street Fair is back, and we are thrilled to be a part of it this year. Please stop by our table to say hello whether you live in Yorktown or beyond. The festival is sure to be a fun-filled day of food, music, and family-friendly activities.
Sunday, October 10, 11:00am-5:00pm. Location: Commerce Street and Veterans Road in Yorktown.

“From the fertile soils of love, land, identity, family, and race emerges The Home Place, a big-hearted, unforgettable memoir by ornithologist J. Drew Lanham…
Join Melanie Brocklehurst at the Bylane Book Club discussion of this award winning memoir. Dating back to slavery, Edgefield County, South Carolina―a place “easy to pass by on the way somewhere else”―has been home to generations of Lanhams. In The Home Place, readers meet these extraordinary people, including Drew himself, who over the course of the 1970s falls in love with the natural world around him. As his passion takes flight, however, he begins to ask what it means to be “the rare bird, the oddity.”

By turns angry, funny, elegiac, and heartbreaking, The Home Place is a remarkable meditation on nature and belonging, at once a deeply moving memoir and riveting exploration of the contradictions of black identity in the rural South―and in America today.

This book is available to borrow from the Westchester Library System or is available to purchase across a variety of platforms in print, electronically and on audio.
Monday, October 11, 7:00pm. Cost: Free. Registration required by emailing Susan at bedfordaudubonsociety@gmail.com or by calling 914-302-9713. This program may take place in-person indoors at Bylane with Covid protocols in place, or on Zoom. Please indicate when registering which you would prefer and help inform our decision. We look forward to seeing you!

How would you like to see David Sibley live via Zoom?
Don’t delay… register for What It’s Like to Be a Bird with David Allen Sibley, a renowned bird artist and birding field guide author. Sibley is the author and illustrator of the series of successful guides to nature that bear his name, including The Sibley Guide to Birds. He has contributed to Smithsonian, Science, The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, Birding, BirdWatching, and North American Birds, and to The New York Times. He is the recipient of the Roger Tory Peterson Award for Lifetime Achievement from the American Birding Association and the Linnaean Society of New York’s Eisenmann Medal. He lives and birds in Massachusetts.

This event is sponsored by twelve Westchester County libraries (Hendrick Hudson Free Library, Somers Library, Scarsdale Public Library, Irvington Public Library, Dobbs Ferry Public Library, Chappaqua Public Library, Tuckahoe Public Library, White Plains Public Library, Ossining Public Library, Yonkers Public Library and John C. Hart Library) and all five Westchester County Audubon chapters: Saw Mill River Audubon, Hudson River Audubon, Bronx River-Sound Shore Audubon, Bedford Audubon, and Central Westchester Audubon.
Tuesday, October 12, 7:00-8:00pm. Cost: Free. CLICK HERE to register.

Come “perch” with us high above I-684 at an unlikely aerie – a platform for counting + identifying thousands of migrating raptors.
Join Naturalist Tait Johansson and Board Member Steve Ricker for a complimentary Breakfast with the Hawks during this fall’s Chestnut Ridge Hawkwatch! This much-loved event is timed to take advantage of peak Red-shouldered Hawk migration and is perfect for families. (All children must be accompanied by an adult.) It’s also the time of year for a better chance of seeing a Golden Eagle! Bedford Audubon Counter and Spotter will also be on hand to “show and tell” what they are seeing. Co-sponsored by Westmoreland Sanctuary.
Saturday, October 16, 9:00-11:00am. Cost: Free. Level of Difficulty: Moderate (due to the uphill climb to the viewing platform). Register by emailing Susan at bedfordaudubonsociety@gmail.com or by calling 914-302-9713.

We’re back on track for Migration on Maple Avenue…
Start your morning right with Naturalist Tait Johansson on his Third Thursday’s Bird Walk. Kinglet and sparrow migration will be in full swing. We’ll also be on the lookout for late warblers such as the Pine and Palm Warblers. Don’t miss out on this popular walk at a beautiful time of year!
Thursday, October 21, 7:30-9:30am. Cost: Free. Level of Difficulty: Easy. Register by emailing Susan at bedfordaudubonsociety@gmail.com or by calling 914-302-9713.

Do sparrows confuse you? Do you avoid looking at them because it’s too hard to figure out what they are?
We get it…. Sparrows are hard to identify. Fear not – Naturalist Tait Johansson can help you distinguish these little brown birds from one another in his brand new two-part Workshop: Sparrow Identification. In the first part, Tait will provide information on to identify these underappreciated birds, from field markings, behaviors, and songs; in the second part, we’ll take a field trip to Croton Point Park, a sparrow “hotspot”, to practice identifying them in the field. In the end, you’re sure to recognize the subtle beauty of these often overlooked birds. Croton Point Park is a capped landfill that is now a meadow with great birding opportunities. We’ll be on the lookout for Vesper Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Lincoln’s Sparrow, and others.
Saturday, October 23, 10:00am – Informational Workshop; Sunday, October 24, 9:30-11:30am – Guided Bird Walk at Croton Point Park. Cost: $15.00 for members; $50.00 for non-members (includes a one-year membership). Each participant will receive an information packet to take home for future reference. CLICK HERE to register online or email Susan to pay by credit card or cash. Limited to 8 participants.

Did you know that by feeding birds in the fall, the migrating (and resident) birds you help can lead to an increase in the size + diversity of winged visitors to your backyard next spring?
It’s true! While it can take a few days for birds to find a new feeder, once they do, keeping it filled will help birds imprint on the location of your reliable food source. Not to mention how happy you’ll make resident birds during the colder months as natural food sources get depleted. Still not sure about bird feeding? Join Naturalist Tait Johannsson for a Virtual Workshop: Bird Feeding 101. You’ll see a “show + tell” on bird feeder styles, placement, and varieties of seed and suet that attract different bird species. After this workshop, you’ll have the knowledge to set out your feast and be entertained watching your feathered guests dig in!
Tuesday, October 26, 10:00am. Cost: Free. Register by emailing Susan at bedfordaudubonsociety@gmail.com or by calling 914-302-9713. A Zoom link will be emailed prior to the workshop.

Wouldn’t you love to see more birds in your yard other than those that flock to your feeder?
It’s not as hard as you think! Let Garden Director Mathew McDowell take you under his wing by registering for his seasonal Virtual Workshop: Beyond the Birdfeeder so you can get started. As the seasons change, birds have to think about where to source food. Bird feeders are fun and easy ways to bring birds to your home and help keep them fed in tough times, but they don’t support all birds equally. We’ll be covering plants for your home and garden that offer different fall and winter foods for residents and migrants alike, supporting bird populations and letting you observe natural foraging behaviors right from your window.
Wednesday, October 27, 6:00pm. Cost: Free. Registration is required by emailing Susan at bedfordaudubonsociety@gmail.com or calling 914-302-9713. A Zoom link will be emailed prior to the workshop.

Photo Credit: Song Sparrow by Mick Thompson