23rd Annual Leavenworth Spring Bird Fest Thursday, May 15th - Sunday, May 18th |
The time has finally come! We are so excited for another year of celebrating the return of Leavenworth's migratory birds. Birders of all skill levels are encouraged to explore one of our 30+ birding trips, workshops, and other activities. Keep reading to view some of our featured open trips. Register for all trips and activities at the Bird Fest Registration page linked below. |
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Birding Mountain Home Friday, May 16th
7:000AM-12:30PM |
Explore open forest and shrubby thickets along a scenic ridge to search for species such as Calliope Hummingbirds, Warblers, Nuthatches and more! This 3 mile hike has moderate gain but we'll take it at a leisurely birding pace. |
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Birding by Pontoon Boat Friday, May 16th 9:30AM-11:30AM |
A pontoon boat is a wonderful way to watch birds! Enjoy a leisurely float around Fish Lake to search for a variety of bird species from Osprey to Wilson’s Phalaropes. Thank you to the Cove Resort for providing the pontoon for this outing! |
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Bird Fest Happy Hour Friday, May 16th
3:00PM-6:00PM |
After a great day of birding, come socialize at this Happy Hour! Stop by WRI at any time to grab a drink, chat with fellow birders, and play some games or trivia! Wingspan and other bird games will be aflutter from 3:00-6:00pm and Bird Trivia will go from 4:00-5:00pm. No registration required! |
| Bird Fest Community Fair
Saturday, May 17th 10:00AM-3:00PM |
Looking for an easy way to drop by Bird Fest? Grab your friends and family and stop by the Community Fair (previously Family Day). This free vendor fair will feature local businesses, organizations, artists, and live music from Eric Link. Stop by each booth for fun nature related activities for birders of all ages. |
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Composition in Bird Photography
Saturday, May 17th 2:00PM-3:00PM |
as bird photographers, the excitement of the scene often makes us shoot first, think later. But rules of composition apply for us just as they do for other artists. What rules? Find out by joining photographer, Gary Luhm, for a class in the Red Barn on composition in bird photography to make the most of your photos. |
| E-Bike Lake Wenatchee Saturday, May 17th
10:00AM-3:00PM |
The most fun you can have on two wheels! Join local birders on a leisurely 30-mile E-bike ride starting at Lake Wenatchee State Park. We'll ride along a paved road to a beautiful meadow and then to Tall Timbers - another great birding area. Please bring your own e-bike or pre-arrange a rental bike from the state park. Non motorized bikes permitted with prior leader permission. |
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Start Swap TODAY, May 14th 5:00PM-6:30PM |
Join WRI and the Cascade Garden Club for a free Community Plant Starts Swap. This event is welcome for all!The E. Lorene Young Community Garden is located at the corner of Commercial St. and 12th St. in Leavenworth. If you have starts to swap, bring them and we will have tables set up for your plants. If you do not have starts, come on down to see what is available to take home!
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Another year, another batch of 3rd graders wrapping up their 4-week Wild Bird Program! Students participated in a variety of activities to further their understanding of birds. From using binoculars to identify wooden birds to looking at taxidermized bird specimen, each activity inspired curiosity to connect with our native bird species. We can't wait to see them for 4th grade programming next year. |
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Continuing on the bird theme - 25 third and 18 fifth graders traveled to WRI from their school in Wenatchee for their own iteration of the Wild Bird Program. In addition to our usual activities like using binoculars and looking at bird specimen, they also built bird nests to learn about what makes for a good bird home. |
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To round out our spring of Wild Bird Program, 89 third grade students from Grant Elementary in Ephrata visited WRI to learn more about birds. They had a great time exploring the outdoors and discovering the wonders of our native birds through our Wild Bird Program activities. |
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WRI had a great time when the entirety of Beaver Elementary (K-4th grade) visited our campus to try their hand at being Habitat Detectives! They built habitat homes, went on a scavenger hunt to learn about where animals live, and adopted a tree to learn how it could be a good home for an animal. |
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Bird Fest Merch - Now Available at Bird Fest! |
You asked, we answered! Select Bird Fest Merchandise will now be available for purchase at Bird Fest. We have 3 fun souvenirs for you to choose from! Pick up a Bird Fest shirt for $32, a stylish "dad hat" (in 3 fun colors) for $20, a tote bag for $10, or a classic sticker for $5 each. Can't decide? Get them all! All proceeds benefit WRI and the North Central Washington Audubon society in the planning and execution of Bird Fest. Pick yours up at any of the following times - Thursday/Friday at the WRI Offices from 8:00am-5:00pm
- Friday at the Bird Fest Happy Hour from 3:00pm-6:00pm
- Saturday at the Community Fair from 10:00am-3:00pm
- Saturday at the Birders' BBQ from 5:00pm-6:30pm
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Land Steward's Observations |
Have you all met the handsome Northern flicker that lives in the wildlife tree behind the River Haus? He is a very handsome gentleman, and we've all had a great time watching him carve out a hole near the top of the snag. Not only do we get to see (and hear!) him every day, there are several other lady flickers that have been coming by to investigate his little house. Hopefully they will create a successful nest and we'll have even more of these flashy woodpecker friends to enjoy. It really seems like this year is the Year of the Flicker, especially since the BirdFest winning artwork features one! An interesting thing about this species is that there are two different forms, that look quite different. The Northern flickers on the East coast have yellow underwings (known as the yellow-shafted variety), while the West coast ones have orange/red underwings (known as the red-shafted variety. The males also have different color facial markings, with the yellow-shafted having a black mustache and red band at the nape of their neck. The red-shafted variety has a red mustache and no red at the nape. It's wild that these 2 varieties are still the same species! Occasionally these 2 groups will hybridize where their populations overlap and produce males that have both the red mustache and red nape. How cool! Birds are the best.
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Thank you to our donors from the past 2 weeks! |
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Christine Emmel - Sustaining Melissa Roe - Sustaining
Diane Young and Herb Young - Sustaining Mary Carol Nelson - Sustaining Orin and Lisa Melvin - Sustaining Mandy Maxwell and Bill Riedel - Sustaining Mark Weick and Carole Ann Borshard - Sustaining Larry Gussin Martha Bean and Ralph Haugerud - Sustaining Cassie Hartman Gro Buer and Bruce Williams - Sustaining Kathleen Klaniecki Lexine Long and Nate Hugh-Snee - Sustaining Jessica Kocian and Christopher Cox Steve and Betsy Backstrom in honor of Arne Backstrom - Sustaining Calbom & Schwab Law Group, PLLC Constance Cogburn and Andrew Day - Sustaining
Hillary and Chris Clark - Sustaining Pierre Dawson Annette Jouard and John Taylor - Sustaining Four Point Taxidermy Anonymous Donor Matthew Porter |
| Kim Johnston Emily and Joshua Wagner
Diana Vickery Meeche White Chuck and Candace Egner - Sustaining David Stoller and Diane Patterson - Sustaining Dr. Paul and Mary Hessburg Kamuron Gurol - Sustaining Skip and Linda Claeson Alex McDonnell Lisa and Jim Osse - Sustaining Scott and Haley Simmons
Susan Rae Sampson Christine and David Morgan Angela Morris Nicolas Pottier and Stephanie Ogden Jane and John Zanol Alex and Jenaleigh Fox Lisa and Brian Koblenz Betsy DeSimone Alana Springer and Brandon Hughes Joshua Meese Hans and Andrea Mulders Ian Palmgren
Dave and Pat Notter - Sustaining Heather and Ole Bore - Sustaining James Leifheit and Kristi Karpenko Barbee Teasley Katerina Weinfurtova
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I'm so excited for stone fruit season :) |
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