Bats and Mud and Sky
This morning/afternoon I attended Bat Ambassador Training.
"What is Bat Ambassador Training?" you might ask. Well, it means that after 4 exciting hours of learning about bats (behavior, echolocation, diet, migration, species info, reproductive behavior, and local types) I am now a Bat Ambassador and can now give presentations about bats! This was run by an organization called Bats Northwest who are a fun, intelligent group of people who dearly love bats. This was their basic volunteer training and I had so much fun.
I conned achyroptera into coming with me and we both left with a really great feeling. The Bats Northwest presenters were really organized and friendly (they gave us lunch!). We learned a bunch and we even got to see a few real live bats that were oh-so-adorable. I am totally planning on doing volunteer work with these people. It was awesome and, well, bats are small mammals. I <3 small mammals.
The training took place at Magnuson Park; this meant that afterwards achyroptera and I decided to wander the park looking for birds.
There had been rumors of a Bohemian Waxwing in the park and achyroptera really wanted to see it. So we tromped hither and yon looking vainly for the Bohemian Waxwing. In the process we encountered some other birds (Red-winged Blackbirds, yay! And an Anna's Hummingbird! I will never get over the idea of hummers in winter). Eventually we met up with some other birders in a parking lot: they had just seen the Bohemian Waxwing but it had disappeared, flying out of the park. Sadness.
However, while we were at the park we did get to tromp through some fun muddy sections, watch the clouds and sky do some amazing things, chase ducks and watch some crazy guy trying (and succeeding actually) to fly a kite that is as big as my car.
"What is Bat Ambassador Training?" you might ask. Well, it means that after 4 exciting hours of learning about bats (behavior, echolocation, diet, migration, species info, reproductive behavior, and local types) I am now a Bat Ambassador and can now give presentations about bats! This was run by an organization called Bats Northwest who are a fun, intelligent group of people who dearly love bats. This was their basic volunteer training and I had so much fun.
I conned achyroptera into coming with me and we both left with a really great feeling. The Bats Northwest presenters were really organized and friendly (they gave us lunch!). We learned a bunch and we even got to see a few real live bats that were oh-so-adorable. I am totally planning on doing volunteer work with these people. It was awesome and, well, bats are small mammals. I <3 small mammals.
The training took place at Magnuson Park; this meant that afterwards achyroptera and I decided to wander the park looking for birds.
There had been rumors of a Bohemian Waxwing in the park and achyroptera really wanted to see it. So we tromped hither and yon looking vainly for the Bohemian Waxwing. In the process we encountered some other birds (Red-winged Blackbirds, yay! And an Anna's Hummingbird! I will never get over the idea of hummers in winter). Eventually we met up with some other birders in a parking lot: they had just seen the Bohemian Waxwing but it had disappeared, flying out of the park. Sadness.
However, while we were at the park we did get to tromp through some fun muddy sections, watch the clouds and sky do some amazing things, chase ducks and watch some crazy guy trying (and succeeding actually) to fly a kite that is as big as my car.