“It’s a great place to experience nature,” Shayne Mitchell said, “a great place to meditate.” He said that the Shanti Vun Meditation Garden held a special appeal to him, as well as the weekday peace and quiet of the Arboretum.
Serving on the Duanesburg School Board, including a year as its president, could sometimes be contentious. “It was energizing, but it was draining too,” he said. After deciding that he would not run for another term in 2023, Shayne was looking for something as rewarding but more peaceful. He found that at the Arboretum.
Shayne had been to Landis when his daughters ran the 5K race and “years ago” hiked some of the trails. As a retired DEC engineer, the notion of rehabilitating the 40 bluebird nesting boxes attracted him. Most of the boxes “needed love,” he said, and Shayne undertook the task of giving them his attention. There was also the element of collecting data, which is entered into the Carnell Lab of Ornithology’s Nestwatch nest-monitoring database. There was a creative aspect too: mapping the trail for visitors, drafting the “Birds and Birding at Landis” webpage, and initiating the bluebird lottery. Shayne gave a workshop in building bluebird nesting boxes in March; he led a walk along the Bluebird Trail in May. His blog, “News and Muse from the Bluebird Trail,” appears on the website and in the Landis newsletter. It's been a “multifaceted experience,” he said, “and fun.” “Everyone here is nice and easygoing,” Shayne said. And there was the peace and quiet, the time to meditate.
Shayne admitted that he was not a birder by avocation. A duck hunter, yes. He put out a feeder for birds in the winter, yes. But he said that his experience at Landis “converted me.” He bought a pair of binoculars and is learning to recognize birds and their song. He bought two highbush cranberries at the Spring Plant Sale: cardinals, robins, cedar waxwings, and bluebirds love the berries.
Of his experience as a volunteer at Landis, Shayne said, “It’s one small way to make it [the Arboretum] nicer for other people, birders or not.“ He added, “It’s a cool thing to learn about something new” – and to share that learning with others.
It was November when Shayne signed on as a volunteer. He remembers looking down the hill from the Farmhouse to the pond. It was that gray and brooding time of year, but, to him, especially beautiful. “There’s just something about that time of year,” Shayne said. Perhaps it’s peace. Shayne and many others have found it at the Arboretum.
