The birds are back! Free family morning at Lakeside Community Garden

Every May, birds who overwintered down south return to Lakeside. Some stay all summer to nest. Others stop to rest and fuel up before continuing north. Bring the kids to learn about these birds, celebrate their lives, and discover how to attract them to your yard.

Is Killdeer nesting here again, hiding their eggs in plain sight on a path? Are Bluebirds and Tree Swallows competing for the newly installed nest boxes? Have Purple Martins claimed the colony house or the gourds in the northwest corner? Is Kestrel using the nest box on the fenceline?

Listen to Song Sparrows singing from the hedgerows, staking out their territory before building their nests. Watch the Goldfinches flit between seedheads in the butterfly garden and pocket meadows, males bright in their yellow breeding plumage. Who else can you see or hear?

Welcome Hub: start here. Pick up a Trail Map and a Scavenger Hunt card to plan your visit. Chat with Chris from the Kingston Field Naturalists (KFN) who has a collection of bird skins — feathers, wings, and beaks — for you to feel. Discover what's on the menu for each of the birds at Lakeside. And learn what to do if you find a baby bird.

Self-guided Bird Trail: 8 stations that guide you through Lakeside's habitats: open ground, hedgerows, the Little Nut Forest, the vernal pond, the Butterfly Garden, and the meadow with Purple Martin, Bluebird, Tree Swallow, and Kestrel houses. Learn more about who lives at each.
Bird safety obstacle course: Become a migrating bird trying to reach Lakeside safely and learn about the threats birds face: windows, cats, pesticides, and habitat loss. Good for ages 4 and up. Three runs: 10:30, 11:30, 12:15.

Scavenger hunt: for kids ages 4 and up. Discover clues at each station along the trail. Return a completed sheet to the Welcome Hub for your take home gifts.
Find a bird's next meal: hunt for insects in the garden using Seek by iNaturalist on your parent's phone. Photograph what you find, let Seek identify it, then come back to the Welcome Hub and match your insect to a bird on the What's on the menu? display — which bird at Lakeside would eat what you found?

Merlin Bird ID: try the free Cornell Lab smartphone app that identifies birds by sound.

Bird card: of the birds you learned about, who is the bird your family would most like to attract to their yard? Take home that Bird's Card

Tree, shrub, pocket forest: with help from a Little Forests or Master Gardener volunteer, choose a tree, shrub or sign up for a pocket forest to create habitat your bird.

Bird bingo card: spot birds in your neighbourhood all spring. Start your life list!

Download Seek by iNaturalist and Merlin Bird ID — both free, iOS and Android, no account needed. Seek identifies insects, birds and plants using photos. Merlin identifies birds by sound.

Lakeside Community Garden is a four-acre ecological edible ecosystem with a Miyawaki Little Nut Forest, an edible hedgerow, a butterfly garden, pocket meadows, beetle banks, Purple Martin houses, Bluebird and Tree Swallow nest boxes, a vernal pond, and a Kestrel box in the far corner.
Lakeside is a living demonstration of what it looks like to celebrate birds, welcome the gifts they bring to our city, and become responsible bird neighbours. Every native plant in the hedgerow and meadow is a caterpillar nursery. Every stem left standing, every log on the ground, every compost pile feeds birds in spring when food is scarce.

Lakeside is accessible by express bus. There's also free parking at Centre 70 parking

The Welcome Station will be located next to the entrance which is off the Centre 70 parking lot. A stone dust path goes from the Welcome Station, along the hedgerow, past the butterfly garden and to the centre of the food forest. The remaining paths are woodchipped.

For seating, we have benches, chairs and stumps. We also have a shelter in case of light rain.

Earlier in the day, the Kingston Field Naturalists are organising a Morning Bird Walk at the Lemoine Point Conservation Area starting.
Meet at the Lemoine Point south parking lot at 7 am. The moderately paced walk will last 2 to 3 hours. The terrain is flat, but good walking shoes are recommended.
The event is open to everybody. Experienced birders will be glad to guide those with less knowledge.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Little Forests Kingston