The Outdoor Classroom keeps getting better and better as volunteers work to restore our woods!

Thank you to the volunteers who have made a difference for the wildlife who make the MEco Woods their home, and the volunteers who create new ways for us to learn about conservation.  Special thanks to Anne Crocco and her Girl Scouts for their continued work on installing a rain garden, and to Ann McManis, outdoor docent to Mrs. Trent’s class and unofficial keeper of our woods.  Below are pictures that Ann took when her son Jack was studying whether or not the birds were using the nesting boxes installed last year.  Also, thanks to Julie Radeff Huang and Officer Peg Bohan who have put in many hours with the newly formed MEco Conservation Kids Club.

Here, right inside the front entrance to the Outdoor Classroom, the parent black-capped chickadee is cleaning the fecal sack (poop) created from the brood inside the box. (Sound familiar?) Conclusion . . . YAY!!! the nesting boxes are being used!

The parent bird is back with lunch . . . . an unfortunate moth!

MEco Conservation Kids Club began on Thursday, April 28!

Each Thursday, Officer Peg Bohan of the Mukilteo Police Department volunteers her time to teach third, fourth and fifth graders about conservation topics.  So far, these club members have studied geology, falconry and the 7 conservation principles of Leave No Trace.  On May 19, guest speaker Seth Layman, a friend of 4th grade club member Lana Huang, spoke to the group about falconry and the overall benefits that result from studying wildlife in captivity.  Kids watched a video of a peregrine falcon named Frightful that Mr. Layman raised and trained, and who was studied by scientists to determine just how fast a peregrine can fly – at least 230 miles per hour, but probably more! See more on YouTube.  Kids also met Joe, an imprinted (bred and raised in captivity) falcon, and watched Joe eat a snack of chicken meat. 

Seth Layman and the imprinted falcon he brought to class to meet the ME falcons in the club.

Most Thursday afternoons, Officer Bohan teaches the lessons on Conservation.  Here she’s teaching the class about volcanoes and the different types of molten rock that make up the lava. 

The Girl Scouts broke ground on their Rain Garden project, working with a Cub Scout troop of ME students, to dig out the initial Rain Garden bed just north of the amphitheater.  When the project is completed, rain water that has been diverted through storm drains and piping will be filtered through this rain garden, thereby cleaning the water that eventually will make its way down the hill into the Puget Sound.

For more information about work parties or about anything MEco Outdoor Classroom related, please contact Sue Idso at idsoso@mukilteo.wednet.edu