This spring the Young Naturalists Club was thrilled to partner with Nature Canada on several events including Nature New Brunswick and Nature Nova Scotia’s Festival of Nature in Sackville NB. Our first event however was our Migratory Bird day event on May 9th at Wolfville Ridge in Gaspereau NS. We also worked with the Nature Trust to have a birding event on one of their protected properties on the Ridge. The day was a lovely spring day and we had a yurt set up with crafts and resources inside including bird taxonomy puzzles and bird mask making. The Nature Trust set up a spotting scope on the ridge and led a guided walk around the property. We also had some great activities for kids with a life size birds nest they could rest their weary wings in, and a Migratory Bird Obstacle Course. The Obstacle Course was a huge hit with the kids. They loved seeing what kind of migratory bird they were going to be and how many flaps they had to do, then navigating their way through the course of obstacles that migratory birds face. Dodging the pinwheel wind farm, over the toxic river, under the saran wrap windows, around the cardboard box buildings, under the power lines, all while avoiding the cat!
We played the Migratory Bird Obstacle Course again at the Festival of Nature in June. At this event we tried many different scenarios of the game; teams, relays and then adding and taking away the obstacles to see how that changed the outcomes. Other activities we enjoyed on the weekend included visiting the Tantramar Wetlands Centre and did a skull identification exercise and some critter dipping, and a visit to the Sackville Waterfowl Park were we did some bird watching and experiments on wetland soil and water quality.
Both of these events were great opportunities to talk to people about Migratory Bird birds and some of them we have here in Nova Scotia that make such long journeys every year. We were grateful for book marks, birding journals and other information on Naturehoood and Yard Map from Nature Canada to share with our participants. We were also able to share a lot of these resources to the public at our booth during the Active Living Expo at the Scotiabank Bluenose Marathon. We are grateful for Nature Canada’s support and help making all these events happen for us!