Winter Visitors: Birds of Bailey's Backyard

We have already had our first blanket of snow here in South Haven, with our gardens resting beneath. But plenty of life still remains, deer nestle their noses in the shrubs that's left, squirrels are still adventuring through the barren trees getting ready for their hibernation, and the delicate tracks in our woods from other small creatures. What was once rustled with leaves and summer insects now fills with wingbeats and soft calls. It is a season that slows the world down just enough to make you notice the birds that stay in the colder months. It is also a time Liberty Hyde Bailey Jr. would've cherished.

Bailey approached the natural world with a sincere attentiveness that blended scientific rigor with philosophical reflection. For him, the act of observing winter birds was not only a pastime, but an expression of what he termed "rural mindfulness," a deliberate engagement that pursues human schedules with the seasons. He maintained that winter offered a strange unique and valuable vantage point: when the foliage had fallen and the landscape simplified, the essential patterns of nature revealed themselves with great clarity. The wonderful W. S. Merwin once wrote "Nature withdraws nothing but invites a deeper kind of seeing."

The winter assemblage of birds on the museum grounds reflects the ecological character of southwest Michigan. Black- capped chickadees move through the canopy in cohesive flocks, their vocalization serving both social and navigational functions. Northern cardinals, whose plumage appears almost incandescent against the snow, maintain territorial fidelity even in the most severe cold. Downy and red-bellied woodpeckers continue their foraging along the museum's mature trees. Dark-eyed juncos, winter migrants to the region, occupy the leaf litter and low shrub layers, their presence signaling the broader hemispheric rhythms in which even small gardens participate.

Providing support for these species is a modest but meaningful extension of Bailey's ethic of stewardship. Supplemental feeding, when undertaken responsibly and consistently, offers natural forage. Native shrubs such as viburnum, serviceberry, and red osier dogwood retain fruit through early winter, forming a structurally diverse habitat that aligns with Bailey's advocacy for ecologically informed planting. Access to unfrozen water - whether from a heated birdbath or a regularly refreshed basin - addresses a fundamental physiological need often overlooked in winter ecology. The Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum and Gardens will be adhering to this as we will be providing fresh water for our outdoor friends, as well as hosting events to make things like food ornaments for the birds to feed on in the tradition of Christmas. If you'd like more information, sign up for our weekly newsletter on http://libertyhydebailey.org.

To attend to these birds is to practice the observational discipline Bailey believed essential to both scientific understanding and personal enrichment. Winter birdwatching cultivates a heightened awareness of environmental refinement: subtle shifts in temperature and light, the architecture of bare branches, the interplay between animal behavior and seasonal constraint. In this way, the winter garden becomes a living laboratory, inviting reflection on ecological continuity and change.

The birds that frequent the museum grounds in winter remind us that vitality persists in every season. Their presence affirms Bailey's conviction that the natural world remains active, instructive, and interconnected even when it appears austere. In observing them, e engage in a tradition of inquiry and reverence that lies at the heart of Bailey's legacy. And may we remind you that we keep up on our grounds even when the museum isn't available to the public our grounds are, so you are always capable of sitting down at one of our benches and watching the winter birds.