Denver Audubon’s Wings & Wonder WinterFest 2024
December 9, 2024
Last week, December 1-7, Denver Audubon held their first annual “Wings & Wonder WinterFest” in an effort to engage our surrounding Denver community in the magic of nature, not only at Christmastime, but year round! After all, the Denver Audubon mission is “Inspiring actions that protect birds, other wildlife, and their habitats through education, conservation, and research.”
This week-long program included bird watching, hiking, learning about beavers, creating sustainable and eco-friendly gifts, nature journaling, campfire smores and hot cocoa, and even birding with the big guy himself, SANTA!
If you joined at any of the events during the week, I hope you’ll leave a comment and let me know what you enjoyed most or an interesting thing you learned. If you did not get a chance to join, I hope this blog inspires you to join an upcoming event, which can be found either by subscribing to the Denver Audubon emails or checking their website regularly. Most programs are free and designed for all skill levels!
For my part, I volunteered at 5 events throughout the week, including: Nature Journaling, Beaver Hike, Nature’s Gifts, Bird Feeders & Seed Eaters, and Birding with Santa. At each event, I learned valuable information and got to participate, as well as help answer questions, and connect with many lovely people!
For nature journaling, you don’t need much to get started; just a piece of paper and implement (be it a pen, pencil, watercolor, marker, crayon, etc.) and time to sit quietly. Nature journaling can be a few minutes or several hours. It can also be something you start and revisit later when the weather or seasons change. Nature journaling allows for reflection, creativity, and is a wonderful way to deepen your knowledge or ask bigger questions to discover the world around you. Have you tried nature journaling?
Beavers! The 2nd largest rodent in the world! Beavers are important ecological engineers, and it was wonderful to spend a couple hours walking the wetlands at the Kingery Nature Center to see where the beavers have been, what they have built, and how they have helped shape the landscape for the better. The Kingery Nature Center is home to at least 2 or 3 beaver families, and probably more. There are dens located in various places along the water that feeds into the South Platte River. The beavers typically fell cottonwood, aspen, and Russian olive trees around the property. The beavers have helped open up areas to allow native plants, like rabbitbrush, thrive and become habitat for numerous bird and insect species. The beavers have also helped clean up the water in the South Platte River, as well as the Muskrat and Blackbird ponds, by creating a natural filter with their dams. Beaver teeth grow throughout their lifetime, so they must chew on trees regularly to help file teeth down. When beavers chew on trees, they are aiming to gather building materials for their lodges and dams, but also enjoy the sweet sugary liquid that lies underneath the bark. A beaver will work to fell a tree in order to access more of the sweet stuff to feed on and get energy to continue working. Beavers are incredibly important and you can learn more about them on a nature hike at the Kingery Nature Center!
Another great way to connect with nature is to create gifts that are all-natural and beneficial to person and planet! During Nature’s Gifts, we created pomanders with oranges and cloves, room sprays with witch hazel, essential oils, and water, and bath salts with essential oils and Epsom salt. These items make great gifts or self-care items too. Have you made a pomander?
During the Bird Feeders and Seed Eaters presentation & hike, we learned about different birds that utilize bird feeders and their specialized beaks that allow them to eat or favor certain seeds. We discussed native plants that can help attract birds to your yard, and how feeding birds & planting native plants helps our environment. We also touched on mitigating invasive species (both removing/limiting non-native plants and limiting feeding invasive bird species). I highly recommend taking a plant ecology class (which is available through CSU Extension or through Denver Audubon’s Naturalist Training) to help identify plants anytime you are out walking or hiking, and how the plants affect the nature in your area!
And finally, the culmination of the week, getting to go Birding with Santa! The weather was perfect as we took to the trails to see what special birds we could find! A highlight from our walk was a Brown Creeper that flew in close and gave us some good looks. These inconspicuous birds blend in so well with their surroundings, you may not even see them! We also enjoyed seeing a nice variety of common winter birds seen in Colorado. Santa happily took photos with participants, as we enjoyed hot cocoa, bird-friendly coffee, crafts, and shopping at Front Range Birding Company’s pop-up shop!
