Birds are everywhere – they are agile, inspiring, mysterious, but they are also threatened, and Burien’s Environmental Science Center is offering some ways to learn and help them.
As biological indicators, they help determine the health of our surrounding areas and guide communities to take positive actions for natural and urban environments. Learn how to identify local winter birds and the upcoming counts you can participate in to help you help them from home.
PNW Backyard Winter Birds: Ed Dominguez
Learn about and marvel at the birds you’ll find in your backyard and neighborhood this winter! From the small bushtits and juncos to the varied thrushes and pileated woodpeckers, discover where and when you’ll typically find them, what to look and listen for, and how to tell them apart. Ed has been an educator and outdoor leader in the Pacific Northwest for over 30 years and will share his identification skills of flora and fauna, along with his levels of appreciation for them. Until recently, he served as lead naturalist at the Seward Park Audubon Center in Seattle. He also worked as a naturalist for the North Cascades Institute, and for 25 years he has been a scramble (mountaineering) leader for The Mountaineers, co-founding their Introduction to the Natural World course. He is now leading private walks, and continues to share his passion and skills through videos on his YouTube channel, Getting Wild. Regardless of the format, Ed’s hope is that by sharing insights into the natural world around us, he can enrich your life whenever you step outside; whether in your backyard, your neighborhood, your local lake or stream, or out in the mountains.
If You Can Count, You Can Help Birds: Kharli Rose
Birds can inspire and enlighten us, so it’s time to uplift them
. They face increasing threats, but all ages can help by simply counting them. Scientists and bird enthusiasts can learn a lot by knowing where the birds are. Their populations are dynamic and constantly in flux, which can make monitoring them challenging. Community science projects, such as the Great Backyard Bird Count, Audubon Christmas Bird Counts, Project Feeder Watch and eBird submissions provide the “big picture” about what is happening to bird populations. The more data is collected, the more scientists can investigate far-reaching questions about birds, the environment, and our role within theirs. Regardless of your birding skill level, Kharli Rose will share resources and information about upcoming counts and community projects, mostly that can be done from home. As the community engagement manager at the Environmental Science Center, you may have found her birding with toddlers at Seahurst Park, or at ESC’s annual Bird Fest, which she coordinates. She spent a decade in the news industry and began birding in the middle of it. This joy soon revealed many natural connections and a desire to share them with others. Working with national estuary programs, natural resource departments and local Audubon groups were wonderful conduits. Kharli is thrilled to fuse environmental stewardship with community involvement, and hopes to have more people spread the bird word.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
WHAT: Protecting Our Watershed Series
WHEN: Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020: 7 – 8 p.m. – online via Zoom (eplays on the ESC YouTube channel)
“Join presentations on our region’s natural health, and ways to sustain or enhance it. We’ll host three Zoom webinar sessions with two speakers at each, and though you won’t be on camera, you can write in questions throughout for live answers. Find session and speaker details here, and please register to engage with us!”
