Point Reyes Birding Festival Youth & Family Programs
The Point Reyes Birding & Nature Festival is offering a great line up of youth and family programming perfect for kids ages 8+.
Birding Abbott’s Lagoon for Families
Saturday, April 25, 2015 at 9:00am – 1:00pm
Led by Sharon Barnett and Kevin Stockmann
Location: Point Reyes National Seashore.
$25 Per Adult (Kids ages 8-17 FREE with adult)
Join Sharon Heron and Kevin Kestrel for an interactive and fun day of observing and game-playing that teach us about the fascinating life of birds! Binoculars in hand, we will look for California quail, sparrows, hawks, herons, snowy plovers and other bird species that inhabit the chaparral, fresh water pond, brackish water lagoon, dunes, sandy beach and open ocean. Searching for birds, butterflies, tracks, scat, and if we are lucky, river otters will make this a great outing for families! Easy walking. Carpools meet at the Dance Palace at Point Reyes at 8:30AM
Bilingual Family Birding Adventure Pickleweed Park, San Rafael
Saturday, April 25, 2015 9:30am – 12:00pm
Led by Juan Carlos Solis
Location: Pickleweed Park, San Rafael, CA.
FREE for families!
Explore one of San Rafael’s little know birding hotspots and enjoy a morning stroll along the Bay Trail con la familia. We’ll check out the mouth of the San Rafael Creek and take a close look at the waterfowl and land birds living at the edge of San Francisco Bay. We’ll look beyond the birds and search along the intertidal zone and costal shrub to find out what morning morsels are these birds looking for. Possible bird sightings are Snowy and Great Egrets, Ridgway’s Rail, Willets and predators such as Peregrine Falcon and Red-tailed Hawk. The program will be lead in English, Spanish and some Spanglish.
2nd Annual Rich Stallcup Memorial Youth Hike
Sunday, April 26, 2015, 9:00am – 12:00pm
Led by Steve Howell
Location: Point Reyes National Seashore
FREE to Essay Winners!
In honor of the late Rich Stallcup, a local legendary birder who inspired hundreds with his sense of wonder and adventure toward nature, the 2nd Annual Rich Stallcup Memorial Nature Hike for Young Birders will be led by international birder, Steve Howell. To qualify for this event, birders aged 11-17 must submit a two page essay explaining why birding is important to them, and how birding is part of thier life. Submit essay by April 1, 2015 to events@eacmarin.org with subject line “Stallcup Memorial Hike Essay.”
Sunday, April 26, 2015, 12:00pm-3:00 pm
Led by Andrea Freeman
Location: Agate Beach (Duxbury Reef), Bolinas, CA
$30 Per Adult (Kids ages 8-17 FREE with adult)
Come enjoy a low-tide exploration of one of the largest shale reefs in North America. We’ll discuss the unique geology of the area and the marine influences that make it such a rich site. Peering into tidepools we’ll marvel at many extraordinary critters, admiring the adaptations that enable them to survive. Some of the amazing invertebrates we may see include purple sea urchins, giant green anemones, ochre sea stars, an array of crabs and curious worms, as well as mussels, whelks, barnacles, limpets, chitons and bryozoans. If we’re lucky, we may also find some nudibranchs – sea slugs of such incredible beauty they’re referred to as the ‘butterflies of the sea’. We’ll also be looking at the diverse assemblage of seaweeds, many of which are edible, that grow on the reef.
Sunday, April 26, 2015, 12:00pm-3:00 pm
Led by Sonoma Birding’s Tom Rusert and Darren Peterie
Location: Point Reyes National Seashore
$5 Per Child (Adults FREE with child)
Experienced birders will lead small teams of approximately six kids each (with parents along to observe, assist and help transport birding teams). Groups will scour several unique habitats within the beautiful Point Reyes National Seashore, with a goal of having the kids spot 20 species per hour…a total of 60 bird species in three hours! A 90-minute hike will be followed by a compilation celebration in Point Reyes Station.