Tribute to Nature Educators

Our childhood experiences of nature stay with us for a lifetime. Yet someone must first show a child the delights and knowledge of the natural world. Imagine a child seeing this Common Yellowthroat for the very first time! Today, we celebrate the nature educators who give the gifts of their time and knowledge. We're grateful for the invaluable service they provide! Consider sending your child - or another - to an Audubon nature camp.

BirdNote^®
Tribute to Nature Educators

Written by Chris Peterson

This is BirdNote.
[Medley of summer birds with the sounds of children]
Our childhood experiences of nature stay with us for a lifetime.
Yet someone must first show a child the delights and knowledge of the natural world. Someone must first open this gate for a lifetime of learning. When they do, the child who dampens his or her feet in a local stream becomes connected, however subtly, to all that flows through the watershed – even when it flows from afar.
[Stream running and song of the Common Yellowthroat]
For example, a child who learns to recognize a Common Yellowthroat, a bird that winters in Central and South America, can wonder why it’s so brightly colored or how it found its way over thousands of miles.
[Song of a Common Yellowthroat]
Today, we celebrate the nature educators who give the gifts of their time and knowledge. What an invaluable service they provide! Let’s listen in on some children in the field with a nature educator and some parent-volunteers:
[Audubon naturalist in woods with children]
Open the door to nature for a young person near and dear to you, or become a sponsor for a child to attend a local nature camp. Your rewards will be many. For BirdNote, I’m Mary McCann.
[Return to medley of summer birds and children]
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Medley of bird sounds and sounds of children recorded by C. Peterson and A. Sedgley.
Song of the Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s subspecies) provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by G.A. Keller
Stream ambient recorded by Kessler Productions
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2009 Tune In to Nature.org