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Birds

Discovering Dow Wetlands

By Community Events, Outdoor Learning Center

If you have seen the Miwok dwelling at the Lafayette Community Garden, you should know that the tules come from the Dow Wetlands.  These tules were cut and harvested over the past few months with the help of the wonderful volunteers who maintain the Wetlands and conduct tours for visitors.  The Wetlands are in Antioch and are teaming with birds, river otters, turtles and beaver.

Who can identify this fellow below?

 

Class Sign Up

By Blog, Community Events, Outdoor Learning Center

Classes begin Saturday, June 2 and you can register here.  But if you were at the Garden yesterday around 6:00 PM you would have been treated to quite an acting class.

According to naturalist Jules Evens, “a killdeer is one one of our most vociferous and citified shorebirds. They can nest in very urban environments, and often chose rather high-traffic areas. The don’t build a nest, but put a “scrape” in a loose gravelly area, often on the shoulder of a road or path where the eggs are cryptically colored. When a potential predator approaches, like you, they try to distract it and draw it away from the nest by calling loudly, and if you get too close, they feign injury (“broken wing display”) in an effort to lure you away from the nest or their ridiculously cute chicks.”

Check it out!

[wpvideo 41WGxjU3]

Earth Day Success

By Community Events, Outdoor Learning Center

It was great fun celebrating Earth Day with an open house at the Community Garden and Learning Center yesterday.  We had a good turn out and featured docent led tours, bird watching with an expert from the Audubon Society, a glass bee hive hosted by the Mount Diablo Bee Keepers Association and more.  Big plans for this week including digging post holes for the perimeter fence and a work day on Saturday.

Below is a photo of the birders spotting an Acorn Woodpecker (clown of the Oak forest!).  You can see a lot more photos from yesterday at our Facebook page.

Spotting an Acorn Woodpecker at the Community Garden