Subject: [Tweeters] Owl and Spider walks at Camp Long - West Seattle
Date: Oct 11 20:42:39 2009
From: Stewart Wechsler - ecostewart at quidnunc.net


All,

Here are my next scheduled nature programs (Owls!, Spiders!) and some ideas for more (including more some with more of a plant focus for you plant-people) - your ideas sought too!:

(I'm offering the following 3 programs through the Seattle Parks Dept.)

Celebrate upcoming Halloween with fun and fascinating owl and spider adventures!

Owl Hike:
Saturday, October 17th from 7 - 9 pm - (as of Oct 11 only 6 spots left!)

Join me on one of my famous owl hikes at Camp Long in West Seattle. After a short indoor guided tour of our live-mount owls, we'll take a fun night hike through the deep dark forest to hoot for Barred Owls. We'll find their tell-tale droppings (white-wash) where they perch, possibly find a pellet or 2 and determine what the owl ate the night before it was wretched up. We might even see one of the owls in our binoculars or scope, hear them, or both! Great Horned Owls occasionally show up at Camp Long in October to November also, so we will look and hoot for these too! See a Screech Owl being eaten by a Barred Owl! As always, it will be a hoot for you or your whole family! Bring binoculars and a flashlight (to use sparingly) if you want, or borrow ours. Dress for the weather.

Fee $8 per person.
Pre-registration is recommended to ensure a spot for this Seattle Parks Department program.
Call Camp Long at 206 684-7434 to pre-register as soon as possible as these programs often fill up fast.
Alternately you can pre-register on line:
http://class.seattle.gov/parks/Activities/ActivitiesCourseDetails.asp?aid=247&cid=45650


Family Spider Hunt:
Saturday, October 17th from 10:30 am to 12:00 noon

First meet Rosy our 18 year-old Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula in the Wonder-Lab and get a chance to shake hands with her, we'll then go on an adventure to net and shake spiders out of the trees and find them in their hidey holes! We'll use one trick to make the webs more visible, and another trick to fool the spiders into thinking there is a bug in their web. We'll hold them by their silk threads, look at them in bug boxes and learning their fascinating stories. We'll likely find jumpers, hunters, and various sorts of web weavers. We'll all have a blast and everyone of all ages will learn more about these beloved creatures that eat the bugs that may bug us.

Fee $7 per person.
Call Camp Long at 206 684-7434 to pre-register for this Seattle Parks Dept. program.
Alternately you can pre-register on line:
http://class.seattle.gov/parks/Activities/ActivitiesCourseDetails.asp?aid=247&cid=45652


Owl Hike:
Saturday, November 21st 7 - 9pm
See description above for Oct 17 Owl Hike

Fee $8 per person.
Pre-registration is recommended to ensure a spot for this Seattle Parks Dept. program.
Call Camp Long at 206 684-7434 to pre-register.
Or to pre-register on-line:
http://class.seattle.gov/parks/Activities/ActivitiesCourseDetails.asp?aid=247&cid=45651


Got requests for more programs? I hope to put together some additional programs that I would mostly offer on my own (not necessarilly through the parks department).
I can lead virtually any kind of group on almost any type of nature program. Wild native and alien plants, butterflies, birds, reptiles, amphibians and various invertebrates inlcluding beach dwellers are among my specialties. Your requests could help me get past my indecision.

Possible future programs might include:

Weed identification and strategic weeding and native plant community restoration tactics:
Over the years I have worked out a number of strategies with which to maximize one's effectiveness in working to turn back the tide of weedy aliens displacing the native plants that our bugs, birds and beasts depend on. We would practice some of these tactics hands-on in different green spaces. Almost any wild plant dead or alive, native or alien, from seedlings to saplings could be identified and its story and ecology discussed.

"Church of Nature" "service" in the park. - Sit around and talk nature over morning coffee / juice followed by a bird / bug / plant / fungus / etc. walk with a stewardship element.
While I am always preaching the gospel of nature, I'd try not to get too preachy.

Guerilla seeding - biodiversity restoration. We'd first sort seeds from my collection of local native plant species. We'd discuss their ecology, including habitat and butterflies, birds and beasts they support and identification of each species. We'd then choose some seed species to strategically toss (or maybe sling-shot in balls of dirt) to appropriate re-introduction sites along roadways or in parks. We could theoretically systematically go through nearly our whole local flora over a series of programs.

Plant salvage, seed gathering and stewardship trips.
Salamander Sallies (sally forth seeking salamanders)
Birding walks / trips
+++

-Stewart

Stewart Wechsler
-Ecological Consultant - Nature Guide
Naturalist - Botanist
206 932-7225
ecostewart at quidnunc.net
-Advice on the most site-appropriate native plants to maximize the site's potential for native biodiversity
-Educational programs, nature walks, and field trips for schools, public and private groups
-Botanical Surveys

To save the world we love we must infect this whole generation with the bug for nature!