Morning bird walk in Sisson Meadow.
A Celebration of Birds in Sisson Meadow on Oct 7th was a big hit with kids, families and community members who joined in on the Sisson Meadow bird walk, children’s nature activity and birdhouse building contest and auction. In its second year, this partnership between Raven Tree Wild Bird and Nature Shop and Siskiyou Land Trust drew people outside to enjoy nature.
Nearly two dozen people, from young children to retirees, attended Saturday’s bird walk, which turned out to be a beautiful day for bird watching. Kendra Bainbridge, owner of Raven Tree, and Christine Jordan, wildlife biologist and Siskiyou Land Trust (SLT) board member, led the walk. They shared birding tips and pointed out a number of species.
“It was a great morning for birding,” said Jordan. “It was cool and the air was very still, so we were able to see quite a few birds. SLT is looking forward to doing more outings like this.”
Kids joined in on the bird walk.
Following the bird walk, Bainbridge and Jordan led a children’s nature activity in the meadow. A dozen kids, ages 3 to 12, made bird notebooks that included illustrations of bird species often spotted in Sisson Meadow. The activity included assembling their nature journals, stamping and coloring in the pictures.
People gathered at Raven Tree Wild Bird Shop in the afternoon for the prize awards for the bird house building contest and silent auction. There were 46 bird houses entered into the contest, with 30 of those coming from kids under the age of 18. The 10-year-old and under category had the most entries, with birdhouse kits made available for free for them to assemble and decorate. A number of older kids build their own bird houses and several adults entered creative, highly detailed bird houses (photos are on the Siskiyou Land Trust Facebook page).
“SLT is grateful to all of the people who entered the bird house contest and auction. It’s such a creative, fun way for people to support Siskiyou Land Trust,” according to Renee Casterline, executive director of SLT. “We’re especially touched by the kids who gave their bird houses to the auction to benefit Sisson Meadow and other conservation projects.”
Exploring around the pond.
The free bird house kits were made possible by the work of Glenn Harvey, a very active community volunteer, and donated cedar materials from Rich Linden of Mt. Shasta. Bainbridge also built free kits; over 20 kits were given out.
“We had such a great time with this event. I’m excited by the number of bird house entries we had this year and I’m looking forward to getting more kids, especially high school students, involved next year,” Bainbridge said.
Siskiyou Land Trust is dedicated to conservation, stewardship and community projects in Siskiyou County, including Sisson Meadow in the heart of Mt. Shasta. We work with willing landowners, agencies and partners on long-term stewardship of agricultural, forest, wildlands, trail and greenspaces.
