A rainy day workshop with UCSC's Mini Slugs!

During the past week we had the opportunity to visit our former tromping grounds at UC Santa Cruz and teach our first workshop (!) about the birds of the campus. With a bit of wet weather engulfing Santa Cruz for the day, Kevin and forty 6-9 year old campers hunkered down in an "activities" room and talked about bill shapes and sizes.



A big thanks to Chris Lay, curator of the UCSC Museum of Natural History, for letting us use some bird specimens. We spent the morning talking about different birds in Santa Cruz and wondering, "What do they eat?"


True scientists, hard at work, examining a Rufous Hummingbird noggin and accompanying bill


After a discussion about the different types of bills and what they are used for, we built homemade bird feeders out of pine cones, sunflower seed butter, and bird seed.

For more on this art project, follow the link here.

Question of the day (from the campers): Do birds sing in the evening before the sun goes down, too?
Answer: What do you think? Get out there and listen!

We are thankful to have two more workshops scheduled with the campers at UCSC's Sammy Slug Summer Camp. Stay tuned for more updates as we prepare for our adventure this Fall!