Celebrate Earth Week Wednesday – Wildlife & Habitat with the Evanston Northshore Bird Club and other local partners.

Start the day with a morning birding walk in Perkins Woods. Then, join us at the Evanston Ecology Center from 4–7 p.m. for a full slate of bird-themed activities:

• Bird Collision Workshop with Holly Greenberg
• How to Bird drop-in session
• Bird walks through the arboretum
• Drop-in table with artifacts and birding tips

Plus, from 4–7 p.m., Pick  up a free native whip (bare root seedling) giveaway with Natural Habitat  Evanston. Whips offered while supplies last: American Plum, Blackhaw  viburnum, Elderberry, Fragrant Sumac, American Hazelnut, Jack Pine,  Nannyberry, Persimmon, Red Osier Dogwood, Roughleaf Dogwood, Shagbark  Hickory, Swamp White Oak.

This talk is Co-Sponsored​ by Natural Habitat Evanston and Edible Evanston, both of which are programs of Climate Action Evanston.

Wild Weeds in the Apothecary and the Kitchen - from chickweed pesto to chickweed ointment, explore nature's abundant harvest for food and medicine. 

So many of the plants you pull out as weeds, maybe throw in the compost or feed to the chickens, can actually be delicious foods or powerful medicines. Stinging nettle, chickweed, cleavers, burdock, lambs quarters, horsetail are familiar garden pests that you can learn to love and appreciate. Working with weeds means following the seasons, getting to know the local flora, being able to harvest your own food and medicine, and weaving them together so that you can eat your medicine. 

In this illustrated talk we will join a medical herbalist to explore the wild weeds beneath our feet, and to learn to use them safely for sustenance and healing.

This month Nurturing Nature presents two Evanston conservation initiatives, aimed at biodiversity.  Their work demonstrates how much difference they,as individual Evanston residents, make.

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Bird Collisions in the Anthropocene A national conservation and community art project based in Evanston which raises awareness about bird collisions through public crafting workshops. This crowd-sourced environmental art project invites participants to help craft over 10,000 bird replicas, one for each bird killed and collected in Chicago in 2023, and learn about ways to prevent collisions through window remediation techniques. The finished artwork will be a sculptural carpet measuring over 300 feet in length representing over 250 species of birds crafted by over 10,000 participants from around the globe.

Results from the RustyPatched Bumble Bee project in Evanston This talk shares key findings from the Evanston Host Plant Initiative: Host Plants for the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee, a community‑science effort in which 275 residents documented and grew host plants for this endangered species in 2022. We’ll explore what iNaturalist data revealed about plant distribution, habitat hotspots, and foraging connectivity across Evanston, as well as what we learned from surveys about gardening practices and perceptions of pollinator conservation. The session highlights how collective action in private yards can meaningfully expand habitat for an endangered pollinator.