Tracking Lecture - February 28, 7-9 pm, Unitarian Society
See through the eyes of an expert tracker. Learn to change your perspective so you are more aware of the landscape and how animals move among the topography of your local wild area. This is a perfect introduction to the field day on March 2!
Santa Barbara Tracking - March 2, 9 am-4 pm
Track and sign specialist Nate Kempton will take you on a day of wandering through the hills of Santa Barbara. Expand your awareness and hone your perception to see what  the animal sees and predict where animals are roaming, sleeping and feeding by looking at the landscape. Understand how landmarks attract or deter certain animals and why animals use the trails they use. Learn basic track patterns of the animals that are living right under your nose.
Bring a lunch.
Bird’s Eye View of Santa Barbara -
May 10, 10 am-2 pm at Lake Los Carneros
Join us for a fun day that will go way beyond your run-of-the-mill bird walk. The gift of flight gives birds an incredible awareness of the landscape around them, and they are constantly talking about their perspective. In addition to sorting out who’s who in the world of birds, we’ll also try to translate what they’re telling us about the world beyond our view: where is the Great Horned Owl roosting? Where is the Cooper’s Hawk  hunting? Where are the nestlings hiding? As lovers of wildlife, we’ll try to tap into what the birds have to offer us and expand our awareness.
Binoculars are highly recommended, but not absolutely necessary. Bring a lunch.
Volunteer Training - May 24 10 am-4 pm
For folks who are interested in volunteering with us or who are already volunteering with us, this will be an opportunity to learn more about our work, philosophy, and nurture our relationships with one another. We will share our story with you and are looking forward to hearing yours. This is a great opportunity to share your gifts for the benefit of future generations, to challenge yourself and see what it is like to mentor and to be mentored by each other and the natural world. Our volunteer mentors are required to go through training before working with our youth and family programs. We will be using different teaching styles, role playing and both experiential and cognitive methods to better understand and explore how to become more effective mentors. We will challenge ourselves to go beyond our comfort zone of what we know into the vast realms of what we have yet to realize. |
