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Friday, July 24, 2009

For the birds? NHEST offers online nature lessons

NHEST, Inc. (the acronym stands for Natural History Education, Science, Technology) is a non-profit group dedicated to offering people who are blind or visually impaired a satisfying way for studying nature.

The main thrust of this effort is the NHEST web site, and the centerpiece of the site is its bird identification lessons. Visitors to the site can listen to the songs (in the form of .wav files) of more than 28 bird species: from the haunting woodwind-like call of a loon to the gregarious laughter of the common crow. The site's designers have taken good care to provide substantive descriptions for each bird. For example, the typical Mallard duck is said to be "a little longer than an adult's forearm." There's an on-line quiz visitors can take to test their ability to recognize different bird songs.

The NHEST site also has a wonderful section on designing a garden for non-visual aesthetics. There are many helpful tips for selecting flora to create a garden rich with tactile sensations and smells. For example, a gardener can create a landscape with varying pockets of cool and warm air temperatures by making full use of the shade produced by trees. The shade of a pine is often denser, warmer and more humid than the cooler shade produced by a hardwood with a high canopy of leaves. The site also provides guidance in selecting plants and bushes that will attract song birds and other interesting creatures to your garden.

NHEST relies upon the generosity of donations to fund its projects. To contact the group, use the information below.

NHEST
402 Atkinson Rd
Bradford, ME 04410
Phone: 207-327-1453
Fax: 207-327-1025
Email: info@nhhest.org
Web: http://www.nhest.org

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