On February 20, Natalie McFaul and Andie Duffy presented a children’s program at the Lemont Library called Birds Can Fly, Why Can’t I? The focus was “5 Reasons Why Birds Can Fly.” After an interactive lesson with Andie accompanied by great slides from Natalie, the 10 participants, first- through third-graders and one four-year-old, made a paper bird that could flap its wings. Afterwards there were other activities: observing feathers with magnifiers, matching their “wingspan” to various birds’ spans, playing bird sounds on an Identiflier device, and finding familiar birds among picture cards.
Natalie and Andie report that the group size made everything very manageable and the children were very well-behaved and participated enthusiastically. Kudos for your creativity, Natalie and Andie.
Also at the Lemont Library the same week, Bob Fisher presented What a Tweet - Winter Birding Chat to adults interested in learning more about the birds found in our area during the winter months.
If you’d like to be on the Outreach team, please contact Mike Warner at mwarner@gmail.com. We need people willing to respond to community requests for information about birds. There are lots of existing presentations and materials to support these kinds of requests. We just need your time and your enthusiasm!