Diversity above and below

Diversity on an organic farm includes what’s above and below the soil, and also living in the trees and hedgerows. Our master gardener highlights what birdwatching opportunities we have at the Rodale Institute.

By Eileen Weinsteiger

Many modern farmers who convert to organic practices anticipate improvement in soil health. What often surprises them is the visible, audible and wonderful return of many types of birds to their farm and fields. After 30 years of organic farm management, the Rodale Institute has large populations of feathered wildlife.

Farming without synthetic chemical products allows bluebirds at several locations and other species to find abundant food, nest and raise their families. They “pay rent” by helping us to manage insects—not eradicate them—as we look for biological balance of many ecological cycles.

Visit our Demonstration Gardens and observe many species of trees and shrubs and flowers that attract birds. The beautiful cedar waxwings love to visit the garden in the spring to snack on the fermented fruit of the American Cranberrybush, Virburnum trilobum. Elderberry, Sambucus Canadensis fruit is cherished by many bird species especially the mockingbird.

Observing the birds of the season is a great added benefit to hiking our Perimeter Trail for exercise, or just for fun. The 3-mile trail, blazed with blue-and-orange signs, begins and ends at the Rodale Institute visitor center. Here are walking instructions (and a mention of the birds you might see at each part of the journey):

From the visitor center parking area, cross the road and head north. On your right, view our neighbor John Brubaker’s dairy farm. (Not open for visitation.)

Proceed on the path that borders the Brubaker property. To your left view Rodale field crops, specialty crops and/or green manures (nitrogen-fixing legume crops) grown in a three-year rotation.

As you walk along the farm road you may see and hear woodpeckers that are often feeding on insects and grubs in the hickory, black walnut and conifer trees in the hedgerows. Hedgerows include trees, shrubs and berries, which means shelter and food for wildlife.

A catbird hiding in a hedgerow.

Continue along the east side of the north apple orchard. Turn west at the north side of the orchard, turn right at the steps and follow the signs past the pond. (Summer: majestic kingbirds and the brilliant blue tree swallows.)

Before entering the woodlot, look southward to observe the panoramic view of the Rodale Institute campus. (Red tail hawks, turkey vultures, harriers, kestrels, Cooper hawks.) The pond area supports waterfowl, amphibians and mammals.

This oak-hickory woodlot is a re-growth forest after its cutting in the 19th century. (Spring and summer: warblers, tanagers, orioles, buntings, thrashers, flycatchers, bluebirds, owls, and birds of prey.)

Exit the woodlot on the west side in this area. (On a very overcast day in May I have seen the black-and-white warbler, yellow-rumped warbler, hooded warbler and American redstart exiting this area, and on the north side of the woodlot I was once greeted by a pair of chatty blue-gray gnatcatchers. Also, to the west of the woodlot is the fields that have been left to naturalize I was very fortunate to see brown thrashers nesting in multiflora roses, that I had not seen for a number of years.)

Continue south on the east side of the hedgerow. The field to your left is often seeded in a grain and, depending on the season, you may observe that a legume (for crop help or hay) such as a clover was seeded into the “stubble.”

Proceed toward the small grove of black locust trees. After you exit this area (here is where I often see many morning doves), you will be walking on a path between fields of farm crops. (This is an excellent area to view red-tail hawks, Cooper hawks, Northern harrier and American kestrals.)

Stop at the observation platform and view another panorama of the farm and our neighbors.

Continue on the right side of the hedgerow and observe the Farming Systems Trial research on organic and conventional farming practices.

Turn left at the second break in hedgerow and head south to enter the Norway spruce grove. (owls, blue jays, sparrows, titmice, hawks.)

Look for owl pellets at the base
of the trees in the spruce grove.

As you exit the spruce grove you will enter a wetland area, which serves as a natural water filter, wildlife habitat and refuge for rare and endangered species of plants. (Red-winged blackbirds, blue herons and, occasionally, egrets.) This is the area that the rare Macgillivray’s warbler was sited.

Cross the footbridge and turn right onto Siegfriedale Road, head west and turn left at the house and continue south past native persimmon trees on your right.

Continue on the path. Greentree Nursery owns the nursery on the right. Windrows of Rodale compost are on your left.

Continue walking south as you approach a small walled cemetery, the family burial plot for the Siegfried’s who owned this farm for generations.

At the cemetery, turn left and walk east toward Christman Road. Cross the paved road and continue south, turn left before the Foliage Farm Nursery that borders the Rodale property and head east.

Continue along the hedgerow, turn left again at the end of the field and walk north. Field crops will be on your left.

Continue to a small grove of trees and shrubs; black walnuts, hickories hawthorns, multiflora roses, sumacs, chokecherries and fruiting brambles grow here. The south pond is on your left. (Belted king fishers, tree and barn swallows, wood duck, mallards, mergansers, herons snow geese and Canadian geese.)

Continue on the path toward the south apple orchard and observe the mature black walnuts, hickory, alders and brambles and an active flowing spring.

Finish at the visitor center, with its well-stocked store and pavilion. A self-guided tour booklet gives you many more details of what to see at the farm.

Birds are a delightful part of an organic farm, and a sign the farm is successful in building upon healthy soil and aboveground diversity.

Eileen Weinsteiger has been gardenig at the Rodale Institute, and enjoying the natural beauty of our farm, for more than 30 years.