Following the Snowy Owls
Since first moving to the Environmental Learning Center last August, many people have told me, “You must go see the snowy owls!” This advice has been on …
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Blog
birds
The call of the sandhill crane
By Hank Leftner — Join us at the Learning Center on October 22-23, 2011 for a Sourdough Speaker Series presentation by Hank as he introduces us to …
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Road Trip: Yellowstone
As much as we love North Cascadian landscapes, we here at the Institute are still called to visit and experience other amazing places on our planet. We …
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Birding Tools of the 21st Century
As students in the Masters of Environmental Education program, naturalizing is at the forefront of our studies. Our curriculum encourages, and requires, us to get outside and …
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Awaiting Spring
Spring is near. I can feel it. Here in the North Cascades, small changes signal the coming season. The surrounding forest echoes with bird song, swarms of …
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Union Bay Wild: An Artist's View
By Molly Hashimoto Teaching landscape watercolor in summer and autumn at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center on Diablo Lake encompasses everything I love best: peaks, forests, …
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Exploring Winter's Arrival
When I awoke the other morning to see a forest of snow-covered trees, I felt just as excited when I made the same discovery as a child …
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An Institute ode to spring
Harbinger—a presage, a foreshadow, to announce. Something that precedes and indicates the approach of something. We all experience the wildness of the North Cascades differently. Each of …
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Winter's swan song
As anyone in the Skagit Valley may recall, this past Saturday wasn’t as bright and dry as some of the days previous. However, as stories like these …
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Becoming bird observers
A flit of gold. A flicker of green. Soft song notes from within a tangle of blackberry vines. A surprising whoosh of hovering wing-sweeps, mere inches above …
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