Snow Goose | Steve Russell | Audubon Photography Awards 

by Molly Hetherwick, NextGen Councilmember

Fall kicks off hundreds of North American bird species’ long migration to wintering grounds in the southern U.S., Central and South America. While the birds travel, they aren’t concerned about breeding, so all that showy plumage they worked so hard to grow in spring and summer has been shed in favor of, for many, a sensible beige. Unfortunately for us, that means when dozens of cool birds and rare species pass through the Puget Sound area this fall, we’ll have to work a little harder to figure out who they are. But not to worry! Here’s one cool bird for every month this fall that you can identify without an honorary doctorate in ornithology.

Northern Harrier | Warren Hatch | Audubon Photography Awards

October: Northern Harrier

Harriers are a fun species to keep an eye out for because they have distinct field marks and their behavior is unique among raptors for several reasons.

To see a Northern Harrier, try visiting a field with lots of tall grass and interspersed shrubs. Keep an eye out for a medium-sized raptor with a long, banded tail and a very obvious white patch on its rump (the lower back-upper tail area, or tramp stamp real estate). For many raptors, both sexes have the same plumage, but can be distinguished by size; however, harriers are unique in that regard. The males are a ghostly silver, the females are a tawny brown with a streaky chest, and the juveniles (pictured) are a charming pumpkin color.

Behavior is another strong indicator for Harriers. For one, they nest on the ground in big fields, which means they’re often seen standing or running around in the dirt. For another, when flying, they hold their wings in a distinctive “V” shape, similar to Turkey Vultures. They also like to fly low and stare at the ground while moving, which I thought we all learned not to do when we took our driver’s test, but I guess it helps them use their facial disc to hear mice and other prey or something. Whatever you say, Harriers… just don’t let me catch you scrolling behind the wheel.

For more help with raptor identification, check out this video from Badgerland Birding: Hawk Identification Made Easy!

Sandhill Crane | Patrick Dennen | Audubon Photography Awards

November: Sandhill Crane

I hope this one needs no introduction. You know her, you love her, she’s a diva and a track star, she’s teaming up with Sabrina Carpenter for an album called Tall n’ Salty, just kidding but can you imagine, it’s the Sandhill Crane. [applause]

These iconic birds stand four feet tall and travel in the thousands through the wetlands of Washington and much of the central U.S. Hearing their trumpeting calls as a flock approaches is an insane experience that I cannot recommend enough. They’re pretty hard to miss, but if you really need some help, just check to see if it’s huge, grey and has a red forehead. If you see something huge and grey and it does NOT have a red forehead, you’re looking at a Great Blue Heron. Or perhaps an electrical box. Go get ‘em tiger, I believe in you.

There’s a very convenient tool called Sandhill Crane Finder that collates eBird sightings of the species and marks important bird areas that they’re known to be at. In short: Skagit Bay.

Surf Scoter | Matthew Reitinger | Audubon Photography Awards

December: Surf Scoter

Winter is weird duck season, and surf scoters don’t mess around. They also stand out because of their unconventional breeding strategy: Surf Scoters are “molt migrants,” meaning they nest in the tundra and then travel to slightly warmer climes to molt all their flight feathers before officially heading south to their timeshares in San Diego and Baja. For a weird couple weeks when they stop in the Puget Sound, they’re flightless—but the Sound provides protection from predators.

To see this bird, you’ll have to find some saltwater viewing spots, such as the Discovery Point Lighthouse or the Seattle Waterfront. They like to hang out in small groups, bobbing around and diving for fish. Males of this duck species have a very strange-looking orange bill that is thought to help them filter out salt from all the water that gets up their nose; females are brownish and have the same model bill, but in all black.

 This is another one I trust you can find just fine on your own, but if you’re curious about Scoters and other species of waterfowl, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife has an interesting map tool with data from aerial seabird surveys from all over Western WA. 

Ser Anderson shows volunteer how to look at windows to find signs of a bird-window collision. 

by Ser Anderson, Urban Conservation Educator

My name is Ser (they/them) and I’m an AmeriCorps member serving as the Urban Conservation Educator with Birds Connect Seattle. This is my second term with Birds Connect and over the last year, I have spent a lot of time coordinating the Seattle Bird Collision Monitoring Project, a community science project designed to improve our understanding of how many bird-window collisions occur in the greater Seattle area and where collisions occur, to engage people with the issue of bird-window collisions and to prevent future collisions.

The issue of bird window collisions is a serious one, but it doesn’t get a lot of attention. As many as two billion birds die in window collisions every year in the U.S. alone. Birds can’t see clear glass and they can’t distinguish reflected trees or other habitat elements from real trees or sky, but there are some relatively straight-forward things individuals can do to make their windows more visible to birds. To make glass visible to birds, people can put some type of marking on the outside surface of their windows, spaced no more than two inches apart, to interrupt the reflection for even the smallest birds. There are lots of different options for how to make these markings, everything from multiple types of commercially available decals and tapes to DIY art projects for kids or adults.

This fall, I created and led a workshop to provide individuals an opportunity to design their own window collision deterrent art, which they would be able to replicate on as many windows around their house as they want with a small investment in white oil-based markers and a moderate investment of time and energy. I led this workshop for the first time at the Rainier Beach Youth Conference and learned a lot from that experience. The hour we had together ended way too soon and none of the designs were completed, but all the participants left with the beginnings of a design and information on how to proceed to use their design to protect birds from window collisions at their homes.

I’m looking forward to offering the workshop again in the spring, using what I learned from the first one to improve future workshops and ensure that I have assembled enough materials that the workshop will be replicable by others, potentially future AmeriCorps members serving with Birds Connect Seattle or other people involved in bird collision monitoring and prevention across the country. I really enjoyed the opportunity to combine conservation with art to produce practical tools to address and raise awareness about bird-window collisions. It was an empowering experience to be able to develop a new workshop for Birds Connect Seattle from the intersection of a conservation need and my own interests.

My AmeriCorps service is helping me develop the confidence to learn about what the world needs and find ways to put my passion, interests, and skills to work to help address those needs. I’m excited to continue this process throughout the rest of my service term.

Join Ser at an upcoming workshop to learn how to create your own collision deterrent art. 

Ser trains Seattle Bird Collision Monitoring Project volunteers on what to do if they encounter a dead or injured bird during their volunteer service. 

Young Birders birding together at the annual Wenas Audubon CampOut. | Ser Anderson

Young Birders is Birds Connect Seattle’s group for youth interested in birding, comprised of teens aged 13-18 years old. Each month they come together for meetings, field experiences, community science, and more. For more on the program, visit our webpage and keep reading for a glimpse of May’s field experience at the annual Wenas CampOut.

Young Birders and other community members at  the Wenas CampOut. | Ser Anderson

Each year, Washington State’s Audubon chapters and friends come together on the east slope of the Cascade Mountains at Wenas Valley for the annual Wenas Audubon CampOut. Here, participants engage in a variety of different activities, including birding, wildflower walks, field sketching, presentations, and more.

Young Birders observe a small reptile. | Ser Anderson

In late May, five Young Birders (plus 2 parents) attended the annual Wenas CampOut. While at the CampOut, they enjoyed exploring the less familiar habitats of the eastern slope of the Cascades. These habitats include sagebrush and ponderosa pine forests that support a wide variety of flora and fauna. While birding from the early hours of the morning until after dark, Young Birders observed White-head Woodpeckers, lots of bluebirds, Black-headed Grosbeaks, a Peregrine Falcon, and a Common Poorwill, as well as a Pygmy Short-horned Lizard and a couple scorpions.

Two Young Birders look around by a fallen log. | Ser Anderson

One Young Birder said that they “loved the campout,” others stated that their favorite parts of the Young Birders program included field experiences, having fun birding together, community science, bird surveys, and “learning more about birding and meeting other birders.” Learn more about our Young Birders program.

Young Birders at the Wenas CampOut. | Ser Anderson

Birds Connect Seattle offers a number of youth environmental education programs, connecting children and teens to the wonder of nature and opportunities to get involved in local conservation efforts. Youth programs are made possible through the generosity of donors like you. 

Explore More Stories from Birds Connect Seattle

by Christine Scheele, Program Director and Senior Education Manager

Washington State has incredibly diverse ecosystems. An ecosystem is a community of living things interacting with their surroundings. Within our state borders, we have prairies, shrub-steppe, wetlands, marine waters, rain forests, grasslands, estuaries, and high alpine ecosystems. Washington also has two unique ecosystems found nowhere else in the world: the temperate rainforest of the Olympic Peninsula and the scablands of the Columbia Plateau. An ecoregion is an area where ecosystems are generally similar in geology, landforms, soils, vegetation, climate, land use, wildlife, and water. Washington has nine distinct ecoregions.

Birds are crucial to ecosystems’ health, serving as natural pollinators, controllers of insect populations, and seed dispersers. Birds help to regulate populations of plants and animals within their ecosystems through consumption and predation. Their stable presence is an indicator of a balanced ecosystem, as they depend on a diverse range of food sources and habitat features to thrive. Birds connect different ecosystems and ecoregions, serving as messengers of nature’s interconnectedness. Some bird species, such as the Dark-eyed Junco, thrive across a wide range of ecosystems. These generalists can be found nearly year-round in all nine of Washington’s ecoregions.

Some Dark-eyed Junco communities stay put in one area,partic ularly in the western Washington lowlands, whereas others migrate during breeding season. Conversely, some species, such as the Greater Sage-Grouse, are specialized to live in a singular ecosystem type. The Greater Sage-Grouse is only found in Washington’s shrub-steppe ecosystem and would be ill-equipped to survive elsewhere due to its reliance on sagebrush as a food source and important habitat feature.

People have recently played a significant role in shaping ecoregions for birds and other wildlife. Through urbanization, resource extraction, deforestation, and climate change, we have altered the landscapes that birds call home leading particularly to a decline in the populations of ecosystem specialists. The Greater Sage-Grouse formerly ranged from the Columbia River, north to Oroville, west to the foothills of the Cascades, and east to the Spokane River. Now, a smaller population of about 600 birds is located in Douglas and Grant Counties, on mostly private land. The Yakima Army Training Center in Kittitas and Yakima Counties has another population consisting of 300-400 birds. That is all that is left.

Dark-eyed Junco | Jeremiah Zurenda | Audubon Photography Awards

This is why the conservation, science, outreach, and education work of organizations like Birds Connect Seattle is vital for bird and ecosystem health. The adage of “we protect what we know and love” is the foundation of Birds Connect Seattle’s education programming and what fuels our conservation work. Our science projects, in addition to collecting valuable data that tracks bird population trends over time, also weave in foundational education and conservation action.

The classes, field trips, outings, and science programs of Birds Connect Seattle have the unique ability to bring people together and build community. Organized birding classes and outings provide a space for folks to share their passion for birds, exchange knowledge and experiences, and form lasting friendships. This sense of camaraderie and shared interest creates strong bonds among members of the birding community.

Over the past few months, a new community of birders has formed around Bird University, an online and field class program for intermediate to advanced birders. The Bird University program is organized around Washington’s ecoregions, offering nine distinct course modules based upon the birds and natural history of each ecoregion. For instance, birds of the Central Puget Lowlands is one course, Birds of the Columbia Plateau is another. Some of the species covered in curriculum may migrate between the two ecoregions, many other birds are covered only in one course because they are adapted to only live in a particular ecoregion. The ecoregion module gives Bird University students a deeper understanding of the importance of habitat to their understanding of bird biology and behavior, as well as the option to choose a course that meets their interest, study pace, and prior bird knowledge and experience.

In the coming weeks, Bird University students will visit urban forests and shorelines in the Seattle area, the volcanic plains of the Columbia Plateau around Kennewick, and the lakes and valleys of the Okanogan ecoregion around Omak and Republic. Time in the field is essential for learning about an ecosystem and the birds that live there, connecting people to beautiful places in Washington, and bolstering friendships new and old.

The connection between birding and people is multifaceted and profound. From providing a therapeutic escape and building community to offering educational value and fostering conservation efforts, birding enriches the lives of individuals and contributes to the greater good of society. So, next time you spot a bird soaring through the sky, take a moment to appreciate the intricate bond between these winged creatures, the places they connect, and the people who admire them.

Bird University participants | Paul Meijer

Related News and Stories

by Hanae Bettencourt, Community Engagement Manager

As we emerge from the challenges of the past few years, we recognize the deep need for meaningful social connections and community. Prior to 2020, Birds Connect Seattle would host regular meetings of and for the community, under the name of “member meetings,” “nature nights,” or “program meetings.” Many would gather, enjoy a speaker on a bird- or nature-related subject, say hello to some familiar faces, and head home. However, we realized that these meetings were more than just educational sessions; they were opportunities to build connections within our community.

When the idea of bringing back these quarterly meetings was proposed, I knew that we couldn’t just repeat what was done before. Our public surveys continue to surface comments that we should “focus on the birds.” This tells us that Birds Connect Seattle needs to communicate more clearly and more often about how our mission for birds aligns with environmental justice principles—cities where people AND birds can thrive.

Community and social connection seem to be something we both crave and need. With the recent return of our newly named Community Speaker Series, we have chosen to focus these presentations on the themes of Grow, Center, and Connect. In doing so, we believe we can foster a more inclusive and impactful conservation movement that more clearly illustrates the interconnectedness of avian conservation and environmental justice and will shape the future of urban conservation.

• GROW – Increase membership and program participation, particularly with people who have been historically excluded from conservation work and expand our understanding of urban conservation.
• CENTER – Hear from diverse perspectives in the world of environmentalism and conservation.
• CONNECT – Come together around our shared appreciation for birds and nature and help one another.

This past March, we kicked off with a visit from Demarus Tevuk, who spoke on Indigenous Perspectives of Sustainability. Attendees were encouraged to reflect on their own relationship to nature and how they might challenge their own understanding of science. Our
second event welcomed Taha Ebrahimi, who took us on a lovely tour of the diverse street trees of Seattle, encouraging us to think
about how these urban trees reflect our humanity.

We are beyond excited for our September event, where we will welcome Alison Mariella Désir, athlete, activist, television host, and author of Running While Black. We hope that you, our members, will be part of our ongoing journey to grow, center, and connect with birds and one another.

Your donations allow Birds Connect Seattle to continue to grow, center, and connect our local birding and conservation community. Thank you for your generous support. 

Related News and Stories

Installing Feather Frindly bird-window collision deterrent | Photo by  Hanae Bettencourt

Has a bird ever crashed into a window at your home or office? It happens frequently.  More than one billion birds fatally collide with windows every year in the US, including tens of thousands annually right here in Seattle.

Our birds need you to save them from bird-window collisions. Here are a few ways you can help.

Make windows safer for birds.

Rufous Hummingbird suspected to have died after colliding with a window.

-Many birds do not recognize glass as a barrier. Reflections of trees or sky in windows are hard to distinguish from reality for many species. We can help birds recognize glass as a barrier by adding “visual noise” on the outside surface of the glass.

Visual noise is anything that birds can see that breaks up reflections in glass or removes the illusion of fly-through conditions. Visual noise can be anything from insect screens to adhesive decals. You could even streak your windows with a bar of bath soap. 

Some windows may be more hazardous than others. Windows facing gardens, trees, or other good habitat should be treated first, as should windows close to birdfeeders and those through which indoor plants are visible from outside.

Click here for a tool to help you assess the relative collision risk of windows around you home or office. 

When using decals or markings on windows, try to follow the 2 x 2 Rule: space markings no farther than two inches apart either vertically or horizontally. This helps protect small species like hummingbirds and chickadees that can fly through very tight spaces. Other solutions are effective with different spacing. For example,  Acopian BirdSavers, are effective with four-inch spacing between cords.

The markings in the figure above demonstrate application of the two by two rule. Whether the markings are applied horizonally or vertically, expanses of exposed, untreated glass should be two inches wide or smaller. Black-capped Chickadee for scale.

Click here to see The Nature Shop’s selection of bird-window collision deterrent products.

Go lights out for wildlife

Seattle is behind the curve when it comes to policy to help prevent bird-window collisions. Dozens of cities and counties across the country already have bird-safe building regulations in place. New York City has the most stringent requirements.

If New York City can adopt bird-safe building standards, Seattle-area cities can too.

Click here to easily email your local elected officials, urging them to adopt bird-safe building standards.

Report dead or injured birds at dBird.org.

If you observe a dead or injured bird that you suspect collided with a window, please report it at dBird.org. Conservation scientists around the country use reports from dBird.org to document, understand, and reduce human-related bird mortality. You can also report bird deaths and injury from other causes, such as cat attacks, poisonings, entanglement in plastic pollution, disease, and more.

Submitting a dBird report is easy and takes just a minute. No account or registration is required. Simply open dbird.org in an internet browser, answer a few questions about the bird and where you found it, upload a photo, and that’s it.

Invite your friends and family to take action.

Burrowing Owls | Stephan Kent | Audubon Photography Awards

Saving birds from window collisions will take action from a lot of people. Share what you’ve learned about bird-window collisions with your friends and family and invite them to take action, too. 

Related Articles

Søren Solkær Sort Sol exhibition photograph of a Starling murmuration in The Netherlands.

by Hanae Bettencourt, Education Manager

Every once in a while, a partnership opportunity comes our way that seems to fit like a glove.

In spring of 2023, we were approached by Kate Dugdale, the National Nordic Museum’s Education and Interpretation Specialist with an inquiry to partner on an event in celebration of an upcoming photography exhibit featuring starling murmurations. 

Museum partnerships are a fun way to connect urban birds with culture and art. While European Starlings are seen across the United States, they aren’t commonly celebrated, due to their complicated history created by people. For this reason, we don’t have many opportunities to focus on them in our regular programming.

Introduced to the US in the 1890s, European Starlings quickly adapted to our environment and spread across North America, reaching populations of over 150 million nesting pairs by the 1970s. With their sheer numbers and aggressive feeding habits, they were quickly deemed an invasive species and vilified. But like all bird species on North America, their numbers have decreased over the last 50 years, and current populations have declined by about 50%.

This partnership with the National Nordic Museum felt like a good opportunity to offer a different perspective on European Starlings. Despite their introduction to our area, starlings are well suited to city life and offer people a glimpse at urban wildlife in the densest parts of the city. Why not take a moment a learn about these feathered neighbors of ours?

Working with Kate, I developed signage with short, digestible facts about starlings and an accompanying interactive worksheet for young exhibit visitors. The exhibit itself is a collection of large-scale striking photographs and has limited educational and interpretive signage, so it felt like a good way to add context to the beautiful images. 

Our partnership was capped off by an open to the public Family Day in January. Families of all ages stopped by the lobby of the museum to engage with our display of bird skin specimens, bird window collision prevention information, and a fun craft activity, that offered a birdy twist on a traditional Nordic project. Kate and I had the pleasure of greeting and educating more than 250 visitors of all ages.

I’m so glad we were able to partner with the National Nordic Museum on this event, as so many new connections were made. We were able to connect with another Seattle entity on a shared appreciation for birds, our corresponding communities were connected at the Family Day, and continents were connected via a common resident bird species, the European Starling. 

Providing National Nordic Museum visitors information about starlings and local conservation initiatives during Family Day.  

The European Starling

is a medium sized black bird with speckled purple-green iridescenct plumage. 

Just before dusk, Starlings form huge flocks, sometimes in the thousands, called murmurations. Together, they syncronously twist, turn, swoop, and swirl across the sky in beautiful shape-shifting clouds.

European Starlings were purposefully introduced into the United States by European colonizers in the 1890’s. The original 60 birds in New York’s Central Park reproduced and spread quickly across developed and other human-altered habitats. European Starlings were first recorded in Washington in 1943, only 53 years later.

Søren Solkær: Sort Sol Exhibit

Sort Sol, running December 9, 2023 – March 10, 2024 at The National Nordic Museum, features recent work by Danish photographer Søren Solkær (b. 1969). Solkær established his career in the early aughts with penetrating portraits of legendary performers Björk, Metallica, Paul McCartney, the White Stripes, Amy Winehouse, and many others. 

Solkaer’s Sort Sol is a photographic series that studies the murmurations of starlings. The Danish term “sort sol” refers to these murmurations, the forms of which temporarily obscure the sun. A “murmuration” is the form made by a flock in flight. The word derives from “murmur,” or the soft sound of the starlings’ flight calls and fluttering wings as they move together midair. Starling murmurations take myriad forms—from abstract to representational, and Solkær has captured this phenomenon across Europe since 2017. Occurring before dusk in the spring and fall months, the mysterious act may function as an open call to join the evening roost and provide protection against predators. While Solkær’s Sort Sol series celebrates this curious occurrence of shape-shifting starlings, it also pays homage to landscapes as subject matter in European paintings and Japanese woodblock prints. Featuring over 50 photographs and video art, Søren Solkær: Sort Sol is the first exhibition of this series in a US museum.

Related Articles

Injured Sharp-shinned Hawk after a window collision | Photo by  Scott Houghtaling

by Hanae Bettencourt, Education Manager

On a lazy Saturday morning in December, I received a text message from an unknown number. The message said, “Hi. I’m a neighbor, Scott. There is an injured Sharp-shinned Hawk in our yard. Any advice?”

When you’ve worked in the bird world for as long as I have, (almost 10 years,) and are pretty into birds yourself, word gets around to friends and neighbors. The usual text messages I get are of the “what’s this bird”-type, accompanied by a blurry cell phone photo. But this was the first injured hawk message I’d gotten. So naturally, I sent back an “I’ll be right there,” and sprang out of bed.

Cities can be dangerous places for birds. Collisions with windows and cars, and run-ins with cats and poisons are all too common for urban birds. As part of their volunteer service, our Seattle Bird Window Collision Monitoring volunteers are trained on proper handling of both dead and injured birds so that they can be transported to a wildlife rehab facility or the Birds Connect Seattle freezer (for science!) with both health of the bird and the human in mind.

Injured raptors on the other hand pose unique challenges. Raptors are generally larger with many more sharp edges, making handling dangerous for both parties. The general rule is to NOT handle raptors at all. With that in mind, I headed around the block wondering what I would find. Would I be able to help this bird?

When I arrived at Scott’s house, he directed me across the street where the hawk was found resting on a stump. It hop-flew a few feet away as I approached, at which point I didn’t notice any visible injury in both its wings or feet. But clearly, something was wrong. He apparently had been hanging out in their yard all night, coming up on 18 hours. Very strange behavior for a wild bird.

Based on the size of the bird, docility, and lack of apparent injury to its extremities, I was confident that I should be able to capture the bird for transport to PAWS, our local wildlife rehab facility, without causing it further injury. Equipped with a bath towel, leather gardening gloves, and a salmon net I borrowed from Scott, I was able to slowly back the hawk into a low bush and get my hands around it without struggle. Into a small, towel-lined dog carrier he went, and my Saturday morning continued with a trip to PAWS.

Stunned Sharp-shinned Hawk being captured to take to a wildlife rehab facility | Photo by  Scott Houghtaling

Scott and his daughter apply small stickers to their window to prevent future bird-window collisions | Photo by  Hanae Bettencourt

Before and after of the window the Sharp-shinned Hawk struck | Photo by Hanae Bettencourt

Related Articles

Nature Campers on a forest walk | Birds Connect Seattle

Children and families have always been a primary pillar of Birds Connect Seattle’s programming. A key element of that programming has been our summer Nature Camp. This coming summer will bring an exciting and transformative expansion of our Nature Camp program designed to reach more families.

In 2024, Birds Connect Seattle Nature Camp will be welcoming kids and families at two new brand-new locations in North Seattle and Burien. We’ll also be returning to two sites we’ve piloted in the past in West Seattle and Shoreline. While this means that we’ll be saying a fond farewell to Magnuson Park, these new sites will allow us to reach more kids and families who have been historically excluded from our programming than ever before.

Background

Birds Connect Seattle started Nature Camp in 1982, and for more than 40 years we’ve built a reputation for quality environmental learning, emphasizing experiential outdoor activities that instill an appreciation for nature. Small group instruction with experienced naturalists inspires children to become explorers and stewards of nature.

We offer sessions for kids entering kindergarten, 1-3rd grades, 4-6th grades, and 7-9th grades. Older high school students also have the opportunity to participate as “Junior Naturalists” assisting the camp staff. The theme of camp rotates weekly on topics like birds, bugs, oceans, and more.

Birds Connect Seattle’s Education Manager, Hanae Bettencourt, had this to say about our campers, “Nature Campers are special. They usually come to camp with a baseline of basic knowledge and curiosity about the natural world. They love animals. They love being outside. They love exploring. They attend Camp eager to learn and explore more. There are the “bug kids” that come to insect week, ready to equip themselves with a bug net and catch anything they can. There are the beach-lovers who aspire to being marine biologists and could spend an entire day tide-pooling at the beach. There are the natural artists, who want nothing more than to take the things they see outside as inspiration for their next art project. And, of course, we get plenty of “bird nerds.”

Rationale for Expansion

Every child deserves access to this kind of high-quality environmental education. Yet, according to a 2018 American Camp Association report, summer camp participants are overwhelmingly white, and from middle- to upper-class families.

Birds Connect Seattle’s mission, vision, and values commit us to addressing this gap and providing equal access to our programming. For years, Birds Connect Seattle has attempted to address these disparities through increasing financial support for and outreach to low-income families and other community groups led by and serving Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. While we will continue to be committed to these strategies, a persistent barrier to breaking this trend has been the physical location of our programs. We were simply too far away from the communities in greatest need.

In addition to accessibility, summer camp programs need to feel relevant and speak to a child’s own lived experience. Field trip programs that bus children far from home to see “nature” are missing the opportunity to connect them with the habitats and wildlife in their own communities. All Nature Camp curriculum focuses on place-based learning, allowing campers to see their connection with the natural world just outside their front doors.

Registration Information

More information on registration and offerings at each location will be available on our website later this month. This year’s camps will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis as we build relationships within these new communities. If you know any families near these sites who would benefit from access to high-quality, outdoor environmental education this summer, please make sure that they’re signed up to receive Birds Connect Seattle emails so they’re among the first to receive the registration link.

Related Articles