June 1st E-NEWSLETTER

Programs

Transitional Kindergarten

Transitional-kindergarteners were sensory scramblers, but bird style! Students had to use their senses, but pretend they were a bird. They learned about unique senses that birds have, like beaks! They attempted to build a nest like a bird and find food with a beak-like tool. They even dressed up in bird costumes and went on a bird parade to look at the nests that they built. They also went on a scavenger hunt looking for spring nature items and took time to listen to what nature sounds like on their campus.

5th Grade Field Days

Each 5th grade classroom from Alpine Lakes Elementary visited the WRI campus for four half-day Field Days over the entire school year. They just finished their last Field Days before summer! They were ornithologists as they studied birds. They got to play a WRI favorite: "What's That Bird?" where they searched for wooden birds in the trees and then described them to their partner as the partner colored the bird as described. They were hydrologists as they tested the quality of the Wenatchee River to determine if it was a healthy river. Fifth grade students were the only students that visited WRI in all four seasons. They experienced something new each season!

 

Thank you to those who have volunteered for Youth Programs in the last two weeks: Tim Abel and Leila Fischer.

Want to volunteer for Youth Programs?

Click here to view upcoming opportunities.

Place

Bird Fest was a Hoot!

Thank you to all who attended and were a part of the 20th annual Leavenworth Spring Bird Fest! This event is a partnership between WRI and the NCW Audubon Society. This event would not be possible without all of the volunteers who led field trips, planned events, and more. Thank you all!

 

This year was exciting, as it was our first year back to "normal" since 2019. This year, seven "pre-festival" birding field trips were introduced, oriented for beginning birders, working folks, and youth. In total, there were 33 in-person birding field trips, five of those were offered in English and Spanish thanks to bilingual trip leaders and Team Naturaleza. There were two virtual art workshops, an in-person art workshop, and an in-person art field trip with local artist and trip leader, Heather Murphy. There were two presentations which were offered as hybrid for those who couldn't attend in person, this included the Keynote Address with Derek Sheffield! There were also two workshops, including a hummingbird workshop with Bruce McCammon. Check out all things hummingbirds on the NCWAS Hummingbird website, view his presentation here, or watch his hummingbird movie.

 

Photo credit: Alex Trimpe (top left), Heather Murphy (top right), and Dee Butcher (bottom two photos).

There were over 200 participants in birding field trips. This doesn't include participants from the Keynote Address or Family Day. Family Day was a long-loved Bird Fest tradition that we were very excited to bring back. There were a total of 12 booths and about 20 different activities to take part in. There were over 100 people who visited, many of which were families, visitors, and Bird Fest participants. We also had our Birders' BBQ take place at WRI for the first time ever thanks to our Events Committee!

 

Another thanks to the organizations who helped make Bird Fest one to remember! NCW Libraries, for one, had many bird-oriented activities for Bird Fest, including the Tiny Bird Fest Art Show, bird silhouettes, and storytime at Family Day!

 

We also want to take another moment to thank our wonderful Bird Fest Sponsors! Please help us show our gratitude by supporting their business or even learning more about them by visiting their websites. Financial support from our local businesses and organizations make Bird Fest possible!

 

To view more photos from 2022 Bird Fest, check out our Facebook album. We hope to see you at the 21st annual Leavenworth Spring Bird Fest from May 18th-21st, 2023!

FireWise Work at WRI

Starting this weekend, WRI will be resuming the FireWise work and hazard tree removal around the WRI property. We are motivated to do this for several reasons:

• Fire risk – not only for WRI, but for our neighbors
• Risk of trees falling on people or structures
• Tree health (dead trees, pine bark beetle infestation, etc.)
• Removing some trees will improve the health of the trees that remain

Thank you to Cascadia Conservation District for coordination and the 20+ crew of volunteers from Team Rubicon! A local contractor is removing and limbing trees. We are excited to work with them to improve the health of our existing trees and reduce fire risk.

Thank you to our donors from the last 2 weeks!

Tiffany Brine-Davies and Bill Davies - Sustaining

Dave and Nancy Bartholomew - Sustaining

Clint and Julie Lougheed

Lisi Ott - Sustaining

Mary Carol Nelson - Sustaining

Paul Love

Jeanne and Don Poirier

Derek Sheffield

Lynn Dickinson - Sustaining

Laura and Greg Reichlin - Sustaining

Christine Emmel - Sustaining