Connections

Here we are, ready for raptor season 2014.  We have a great crew of naturalists to help you out along the road and to teach programs.  We have our schedules set (mostly!) and we already have many private programs on the calendar.  But what are our goals for the 2014 migration season?  What are we hoping to share with our many visitors? 

One of my personal goals every year is to not be surprised by any school buses! That is a logistical challenge, one that requires organization and good record keeping. That isn’t my true goal, though.  That isn’t why I or the other naturalists went into environmental education.  We are in this field because we want to share our love of nature with others.  We want to raise people’s awareness not only of how absolutely crazy, cool raptors and all birds are, but also of how important they are in the ecosystem.  We hope people will think about what birds do for us, like eat lots of critters farther down the food chain, critters that could be problematic if their populations go unchecked.   We hope that people will think about keeping habitats intact and healthy because that is what leads to healthy populations of birds, and people for that matter.

We do great research here at Hawk Ridge, as you’ll read about in the banding and counting blog posts.  We also do great education.  Birds are excellent educators and connectors.  They connect us to our back yards whether they are urban, suburban or rural.  They connect us to food chains.  They connect us to all types of habitats from wetlands to woods to tundra, jungle, prairie, stream and lake.  They connect us to cultures and people in other parts of the world through migration.  The migrating birds that we look forward to seeing now at Hawk Ridge are the same birds that people south of us or in Central or South America look forward to having in their world all winter.  There is so much that we can learn from birds.

So, here is our 2014 crew of managers, naturalists, count interpreters, owl program teachers and songbird banders.  We are ready to connect with you and share our love of birds and nature.  We can all enjoy and learn together. 

Katie, Caitlin, Matti, Clinton, Sarah, Julia, Gail, Margie, Jessica, missing - Allie.  We look forward to your visit!

 

See you at the ridge! 

If you can't make it to the ridge, we hope you enjoy and learn from afar.

Gail

Education Director