The Birds of Longfellow Gardens

In the heart of south Minneapolis, tucked inside a bend of Minnehaha Creek, lies a 13-acre city park, Longfellow Gardens, where photographer Ted Hall often goes to “de-stress” and photograph birds. Hall discovered the park about a decade ago and, surprised to find this relatively quiet patch of nature amid the city’s bustle, began visiting regularly at dawn or dusk.

“It’s like my meditation,” he says. “You don’t know which birds are going to show up or what’s going to happen, so you have to just be grateful to be there.”

Longfellow Gardens has a storied and colorful history. First the site of a private zoo, then the subject of legal wrangling before it was acquired by the city, it was also part tribute to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, whose epic poem “The Song of Hiawatha” made the nearby Minnehaha Falls world famous. Now the decaying, lichen-spotted statue of Longfellow stands sentry over a small patch of restored native prairie, with creekside marshlands on one side and, atop a small rise on the other side, a formal garden with paths, benches, and an arbor, all tidily kept without the use of synthetic pesticides.

At first, Hall challenged himself to photograph the ruby-throated hummingbirds coming to the trumpet-shaped blooms in the formal garden. He soon learned not to chase after the skittish birds—“that just does not work,” he says—but rather to observe their patterns and habits, set up his tripod strategically, and wait for them to come to him. “This sort of got me into the world of the hummingbird,” he says.

As his photography led him to become an aspiring birder, Hall took a greater interest in the prairie and marsh areas of the park, realizing they attracted many other photogenic bird species. He again employed patience, letting the birds become comfortable with his presence as he immersed himself in their surroundings.

“It’s almost like you have to hang out long enough to get permission to photograph them,” says Hall, who plans to continue visiting the gardens, camera in hand. “I find it to be a very grounding environment.”