Nature Camp Review & Learnings

 

I had a fantastic time at Nature Camp, especially with meeting Gucci (gyrfalcon) and Nono (barn owl), which you saw in the last two posts. At $350 for 4 nights, including delicious food and interesting sessions, I would say that is a great deal! 

I found the workshop leaders to be passionate and well informed on the content of their workshops. I appreciated how interactive many of the sessions were, and was impressed by the overall professionalism of the organization. 

While most of the people attending had some history with the camp, either attending as kids or sending their own kids to the camp, the people made an effort to welcome me as a first time participant. 

It was definitely a camp experience, sleeping in twin bunk beds in a cabin and having to venture to a different building for shower and toilet facilities, but you also have the option to bring a tent and camp. Their museum/lab/library was really neat and the library was a dream - I wish I could have stayed for a weekend alone just to read! 

Here are a few more highlights from my session:

First time seeing a wood duck! 

Photo credit: All About Birds

 I learned you should never touch a fluffy white caterpillar in case it is a flannel moth caterpillar, which has a nasty sting!

Photo credit: Haysop Hill Photography

I saw my first ever wild owl - a barred owl, which has the call that sounds like "who cooks for you."

Photo Credit: Denise Machado

Some of the other sessions I enjoyed:

• Environmental Ethics & Ideologies - bringing up questions like:
• Why do we value nature? 
• Do non-human animals have intrinsic worth or are they resources for human use (whether that be for nourishment, aesthetics, or scientific use)?
• How do different organizations see this issue, and what impact does it have on how they approach conservation?
• What are the differences between conservationists, preservationists, and transformational ideologies like Ecofeminism & Deep Ecology? 
• Where do I stand? 
• Watercolor prints using leaves

• Crepuscular Sounds (Sounds from animals appearing or active in the twilight, as certain bats and insects)
• We got to hear the calls of the following animals:
• Great Horned Owl - classic "who who" sound (listen here)
• Barred Owl - "who cooks for you" (listen here)
• Screech Owl - sounds like horse's whinny (listen here) 
• Whippoorwill - sounds like its name (listen here)
• And a few others
• Book sharing - many people brought a few books to share about and then left out on a table for perusing, this added a few to my list for upcoming reads. 
• Nature journaling - writing down or drawing what you see, hear, smell, feel and taste to help be more present in nature and observe surroundings more closely. 

There was also a great presentation by Vibe Tribe Adventures, a non-profit that offers outdoor recreation and adventure sports for Black, Indigenous, People of Color and Allies. They brought a young man who is working on climbing all of the mountains in Colorado over 14,000ft (you can check out his Instagram here). Hopefully they will develop some kind of partnership with Nature Camp; they were on site to see the facilities and start a partnership conversation. They are looking for donations and volunteers. 

If you love nature, miss summer camp, or want to go for the first time as an adult, I would definitely recommend checking out the adult session at Nature Camp. 

For the parents reading this, please consider sending your child there if they share your passion for animals or the outdoors. I would have absolutely LOVED to go to something like that as a kid! Learn more about their sessions for kids or adults here: https://naturecamp.net/

Sources:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/

https://citybugs.tamu.edu/factsheets/biting-stinging/others/ent-3010/