One way to organize a walk is to think about specific places you want to visit and then think about activities or lessons you want to do when you get there.
Liberty – The Bald Eagle
No visit to Audubon is complete without visiting Liberty, our injured, non-releasable American Bald Eagle. It is best to take only one group at a time to see her. We try to figure out ahead of time which group will go first, second, third, etc. Scan the area near her enclosure to see if there is another group already there. If so, stall! If not, you can proceed.
Stop first at one of our “Eagle Quiet Zone” signs. Have the kids read the sign together with you. Tell them that when they come back to visit Liberty with their families, they will be the tour guide and if they forget the rules, they can stop here at the sign and read them again.
Encourage more reading when you get to the observation platform. After the kids have watched Liberty for a few minutes and they start asking questions, tell them, “Let’s read the panels together to see if some of your questions are answered.”
One of the most commonly asked questions is, “How old is Liberty?” The quick answer is, “We don’t know.” But, you can engage the kids in a little math lesson, if they seem willing:
- When Liberty went into rehab, she already had her white head and tail feathers making her at least 5 years old. (Immature Bald Eagles are all brownish/black.)
- She was in rehab for 1 year.
- She has been at Audubon since 2002.
From this, you can determine Liberty’s minimum age. But we really can’t tell her actual age. Eagles can live 20-40 years.
Arboretum
Ted Grisez was a Pennsylvania forester and a founding member of Jamestown Audubon. His pet project was to create a garden of native trees.
(More about this and the following destinations coming soon…)
Native Wildflower Garden
Woodland Wildflower Garden (Ferd’s Garden)
Herb and Butterfly Garden
Stump Garden
Bluebird Nest Boxes
Deer Carcass
The Overlook
The Tower
The Photo Blind
Spatterdock Bridge
A Red Pine Stand
The White Pines on Red Wing Trail
Misconceptions, Etc. <–Previous * Next–> So Much to Learn
