In my last blog post, I shared that I wanted to find an impactful and meaningful way to educate the public on the importance of protecting Marbled Murrelets. In creating my program, I decided that the best way to make people want to protect the land and its wildlife was to take a laissez-faire approach. My guided hike program, titled “Get Your Beak Into Birding,” takes place on a trail that transitions from the forest to the sea – the switch in habitats is intended to teach people how to appreciate the differences between bird groups (forest vs. sea birds) and families. By teaching people how to use field marks like beak shape (and adaptive function), feet design (webbed vs. unwebbed toes), and body structure, visitors can begin to develop observational skills I believe are necessary to understand and appreciate the unique features that make birds so special. The ID skills I want to convey are universal: wherever the visitors go next, they can use what they’ve learned at Cape Perpetua to pinpoint what bird belongs to which family. Although my approach to the program was more hands-off, I made sure to weave in the “leave no trace/keep it crumb clean” messaging, as well as a brief discussion on the Marbled Murrelet. 

At the end of the first execution of my program, all 6 people in attendance had expressed how enlightened and connected they felt to the birds of the forest and sea. I was elated to see that my laissez-faire approach had worked! By refraining from explicitly saying “you have to care about this issue,” the visitors were able to forge a deeper sense of responsibility for protecting wildlife. It made me feel great to see that my ultimate goal for the program was achieved, and I cannot wait to see how the program evolves throughout the rest of my season!

In addition to my guided hike, I am currently working on developing a tabling program that focuses on bird adaptations. I want to include an interactive element that involves people matching bird eggs (I’ll be making a lot of bird egg replicas for this activity) to the right bird to discuss some important differences about bird reproduction. I will also be including some bird skulls to discuss beak adaptations. The goal of the table will be very similar to my guided hike, but I am definitely planning on emphasizing the Marbled Murrelet’s adaptations in relation to why they are currently a struggling species in Oregon. 

I have also been participating in a number of outreach field trips with some local schools. For example, a few weeks ago, I did an interpretive talk about the importance of coastal meadow habitats and pollinators like the Western Bumble Bee at Mary’s Peak. I also ran a Western Snowy Plover station at the Oregon Dunes for a Spanish immersion school – here, I discussed some important threats to the Plover and led a game that helped enforce how those threats can very easily prevent Plover’s from successfully reproducing.