Friends of Bird City Gardens
Connecting native gardens stretching east to west across the city of Stillwater. Inspiring appreciation and stewardship through art and science.
Education
In 2027, we’ll be teaching classes on nature-inspired art, nature, and journaling in our open-air classroom for all ages. Education is key to our mission, especially for young people. To see the class offerings, sign up under “Contact.”
Conservation
Mulberry Creek Bird Station, a neighborhood bird sanctuary, is nearly complete — 6,000 square feet of native bird-friendly plants in a teaching garden on Stillwater’s North Hill on the McKusick Ravine. Created by volunteers and designed by Brett Stolpestad, Washington County Conservation District, it was designed to inspire gardeners to choose natives to encourage habitat biodiversity.
Stillwater Wildway
Friends of Bird City Gardens’ has won a Great Idea grant from Saint Croix Valley Foundation to create what we call the Stillwater Wildway —a mosaic of urban native gardens from the St. Croix River to Lake McKusick and Lily Lake.
Planting Advice and Assistance
What to plant and where? How large a garden do I need to attract birds and pollinators? You’ll be able to get free help from volunteers with garden plans, plant choices, and sometimes even garden labor! Starting soon, we’ll canvass the neighborhood to map existing native gardens and suggest new ones to create our pilot project goal of 25 new bird gardens in the first year of the Stillwater Wildway.
Technology
As part of our educational mission, we have the latest technology to monitor the science of birding. We are gathering data on the birds that visit our feeders and are flying in the sky over the McKusick Ravine. This data is publicly available via our Bird Buddy camera and our Haikubox.
Birds at Mulberry Creek Bird Station feeders are captured in stills and video using the Bird Buddy camera. Bird calls and frequency are captured 24/7 with Haikubox. Apps for both devices are available for download.
