Birds and Their Habitats
Join naturalist guides Sue Keefer & Steve Norris for a birds and their habitats walk. Bring your binoculars to search for newly arrived birds and year-round residents along the trails at Hidden Valley Nature Center. Catch a glimpse of a flashy male attracting a female or defending his territory. Look for birds gathering materials for their nests or quiet hidden females keeping their eggs warm or feeding their young.
Imagine yourself living in a bird’s world, constantly aware of predators, always seeking food sources and building complicated nests from available resources. Discover what foods lie on the forest floor, from hidden bugs to delicate seeds, and what these tasty morsels reveal about the birds living in the trees above. Visit a variety of habitats to gain a better understanding of which birds live where and why.
Steve and Sue have been leading bird walks and creating educational programs in nature for over 20 years. They too are a migratory species – summering in Maine and migrating down to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas each winter.
This is an all-ages event. Children are welcome with adult supervision. Bring bug repellent and water.
A note to educators
There is immense value in getting students outside, even for short amounts of time, to explore the natural world. Research is continuing to show that taking kids outdoors benefits social-emotional learning and leads to greater focus when students return to the classroom. For many teachers, this may seem daunting for a plethora of reasons from short class blocks, behavioral concerns, ticks, access to trails, and the perceived difficulty of meeting learning goals in an unconventional setting. Teachers may also be new to learning about the ecology of their setting. This Naturalist Workshop Series is designed to help address the concerns and challenges of taking students outside and grow your comfort level facilitating class learning goals within and beyond the playground.
Each program will provide an opportunity to observe an educator teaching to a group of students. We will provide supplemental materials for teachers to bring back to school, content you can use with students, and time at the end to ask questions and brainstorm ways you can transfer the lesson to your school's unique setting.
We hope you will step outside with us and bring what you experience back to your schools!