July 2026 Cardinal
In this issue:
- Chimney Swift Sit
- Brain Health and Birds
- Landscape Revival – Final Report
- Important Action Needed – Protect Pollinators
- July Events
Photo Credit – David-Boltz
Chimney Swift Sit
On a balmy summer Saturday evening in June, a crowd gathered in the parking lot of a historic West Side neighborhood in St. Paul. People set up their lawn chairs and picnic blankets and munched on popcorn, waiting for the show. Not a movie, not a band, not Shakespeare in the Park. No, we were there to witness the show of Chimney Swifts descending from the sky into their night roost in the chimney of Casa de Luz, a church and rectory on George Street.
This Chimney Swift Sit event was sponsored by the MN DNR’s Non-game Program, the US Fish & Wildlife Service, Urban Bird Collective, Land of Lakes Bird Alliance, and Saint Paul Bird Alliance.
Monica Bryand from Urban Bird Collective and Mags Edwards of the DNR Non-game Program told us about the statewide Chimney Swift Recovery Project now underway. It is a community-based scientific project that everyone can join for free. The goal is to find Swift roosts, count Swifts, and track those numbers as they change week to week, including when they arrive in the spring and when they leave for South America, where they overwinter.
To learn more about the Swift Recovery Project and see how you can get involved, visit the MN DNR Chimney Swift Project.
It is important that we do all we can to help the Swifts. They are in steep decline. The loss of their roosting and nesting sites, along with the collapse of the insect population, puts Chimney Swifts in danger of extinction.
If you get a chance to go to a Chimney Swift Sit, do it! At our Sit on the West Side, I met so many neighbors. One family was very proud of their beautiful historic home and of hosting the Chimney Swifts. One neighbor had never heard of Swifts until that night. He was so grateful to learn. He told me about his parakeet and how much the bird means to him. Suddenly, my friend Arthur Brady showed up! He had been visiting his dad across the street and wondered what all the hullabaloo was about. Arthur started thinking that his dad’s house has a chimney of Swifts, too. “I always thought they were bats!” Arthur said.
That’s the thing about Chimney Swifts, and birds in general, they help us humans connect with each other on common ground. Birds show us we are all related.
Kiki Sonnen – SPBA President
Photo Ben Cvengros
Landscape Revival – Summary
Landscape Revival Recap
June 6, 2026
Colleen Swedberg, LR Coordinator
The June 6, 2026, Landscape Revival event saw approximately 1,175 attendees and positive engagement, featuring new exhibitors and strong vendor participation from across Minnesota and Wisconsin. Survey results indicated high venue satisfaction, with milkweed, grasses, and leadplant among the top purchases, and a need for a larger native plant inventory to meet demand.
- Attendance continues to be very good. There were approximately 1,175 in attendance, and of those, approximately 285 went inside to visit the Exhibitors. These numbers were slightly down from last year but still very good. (Weather was good – a little warm in the sun, but had a nice breeze). Economic uncertainty could be affecting people’s actions.
- Although this year we didn’t ask where the customers lived in our survey we found out just by talking to them. I found out one couple came from Grand Marais and another from Brainard. Other people came from Minnetonka and New Richmond, WI. People came from all over MN & WI. That shows how important this event is to the community.
- We had a couple of new Exhibitors – Bird City of Stillwater and Scrap Recycle of Ramsey & Washington County.
- This year St Paul Bird Alliance was able to rejoin us. They had not been able to join us for the previous couple of years. Neil Carlson did a great job hosting that table. He brought a powerful ultraviolet light and different-colored rocks to show which colors some birds see. It was GREAT!
In summary, a special thanks to the St Paul Bird Alliance for the grant given to Landscape Revival. Between the grant money and the grower/vendor fees, the money was spent on paying for the postcards, Facebook blasts, weights for the canopies (instead of using buckets of water), and an additional 6’ folding table.
This does not include the money that Jeff and I continue to donate for the volunteer food truck lunches and the waters & protein/granola bars in the coolers for the Exhibitors, Growers & Volunteers.
Overall, it was another successful year. Many thanks to all the growers/vendors, the LR Committee Members, Exhibitors, and Volunteers that participated!
Photo Evan-Barrientos
