FREE Family-Friendly Fall Events!

FREE CLASS
"How to Create Your Own Bird-Friendly Garden"
Saturday September 26th from 11:00am-12:30pm

NEW TIME AND NO FEE!
As part of the Grand Opening of the Magnuson Wetlands and Athletic Fields, the Magnuson Community Center will be hosting a great new family-friendly class that will help you add bird-friendly features to your own garden!





























Saturday September 26th from 11:00am-12:30pm
“HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN BIRD-FRIENDLY GARDEN”
presented by Emily Bishton, landscape designer and educator

The class will include:

• A table display with hands-on examples of plants, nesting boxes, bird nests, books, etc. for children and adults to explore.
• A brief and colorful PowerPoint slideshow that illustrates how to add wildlife-friendly features to your own garden, to attract birds, butterflies, and other beneficial insects. (family-friendly with lots of pictures and very few words!)
• A guided tour of the Community Center's new Bird-Friendly Landscape.
• Free printed materials such as a Top 10 Native Plants List, The 4 Keys to Success, National Wildlife Federation habitat info, and other educational materials.
• Question and Answer time.
  

Location:
Magnuson Community Center
Building 47
7110 62nd Avenue NE
Seattle, WA 98115
206-684-7026

Fee:
FREE!

For more info or to register for the class, contact the Community Center staff at 206-684-7026 or visit http://www.seattle.gov/parks/magnuson/


Other Family-Friendly Fall Events:

• Sun. Sept. 20th- Fall family workparty in the Magnuson Community Center Bird-friendly Landscape. Join community volunteers from the YMCA "Y-Guides" program as we do a fall cleanup and mulching in this great new garden. Refreshments, tools, and gloves provided for all!
  
• Sat. October 17th- Seattle Works Day in the Magnuson Community Center Bird-friendly Landscape from 10am-2pm. Come enjoy the fun of planting new shrubs and groundcovers, and finishing the mulching in this great new garden. Refreshments, tools, and gloves provided for all!

Family Birdwalks at Magnuson!

The Family Birdwalk program is an exciting opportunity for families who participate in any of the Magnuson Family Campouts. The campouts take place on selected Friday nights during the summer, when the Magnuson Swimming Beach becomes a tent "village", full of fun such as as singing around the campfire complete with s'mores, nighttime bat walks, breakfast in the park, and the opportunity to go on an early morning bird-watching expedition.

The Family Birdwalks are free, and designed to educate and excite the whole family about fun and successful ways to watch birds in action while exploring the park. The walks wind through the trails in the wooded area just south of Kite Hill, the grasslands near the Tennis Courts, and a gradual climb up the west side of Kite Hill. The 45-minute walks are moderate in distance and topography, to enable even those with small children to enjoy participating, and to allow time for all to stop, look, and listen in some of the most bird-friendly spots.

The program took a giant step forward this summer with two events that each drew a large group of families. We hope you'll be along for the next one in 2010!

On Saturday July 11th, a group of 21 adults and children saw and heard a variety of bird species, including:

• Bewick's Wren
• Red-Winged Blackbird
• White-Crowned Sparrow
• American Crow
• Rufous Hummingbird
• Downey Woodpecker
• Barn Swallow
• Spotted Towhee

On Saturday August 8th, a group of 17 adults and children saw and heard:

• Northern Red-Shafted Flicker
• Red-Tailed Hawk
• American Goldfinch
• House Finch
• American Robin
• European Starling
• American Crow
• Tree Swallow
• Anna's Hummingbird

The Family Birdwalk program also gives families the opportunity for a free preview use of the Magnuson Family Explorer Backpacks, which are filled with a variety of bird-watching supplies such as:

• adult-size and child-size binoculars
• bird ID guides, fandecks, and laminated cards
• detailed maps to several bird-watching trails within the park, with lists of the birds most commonly seen there
• a bird activity book for kids with coloring pages, crossword puzzle, fill-in-the blank pages, scavenger hunts, and more
• a bird card game for rainy day fun

The Magnuson Family Explorer Packs can be checked out for the fee of $5.00 per day at the Magnuson Community Center reception desk, anytime that the center is open. For more information, call 206-684-7026 or visit http://www.seattle.gov/parks/magnuson

Our Dedication Celebration was a Blast!

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony with Ciscoe Morris

May 10th, 2009

L-R: Seattle Parks Recreation Director Sue Goodwin, YMCA "Pocket Gopher" volunteer Jesse, TV and radio personality Ciscoe Morris, Campfire Group volunteers on each side of Seattle Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher, Magnuson Park Planning & Development Coordinator Kevin Bergsrud, and Jr. Nature Explorer/community volunteer Jake

We had such great fun at our Dedication Celebration; seeing all the smiling faces gathered together in the sunshine with the plants thriving, the solar water feature bubbling away, hummingbirds bustling in the flowers, and hearing the Chickadee nestlings peeping away in their new house!

Our celebration was kicked off by the New Old Time Chautauqua Marching Band, who paraded up to the Community Center accompanied by jugglers, clowns, and tree-costumed revelers!

The majority of the celebration was devoted to honoring the many volunteers who helped make this project such a big success, including:

• The YMCA Y-Guides "Pocket Gophers" group
• Campfire group #912 “Tanda Kani Ka Ta” from St. Luke's School in Shoreline
• Seattle Works TeamWorks volunteers
• Jr. Nature Explorers program volunteers and families
• Magnuson Advisory Council volunteers
  
• Community volunteers from Seattle Audubon and surrounding neighborhoods

Ciscoe with youth volunteers

Also, to recognize the enormous support from the staff of the Magnuson Park Community Center along with the Magnuson grounds crew gardeners and Park Administration staff, who all helped to make this project a big success!

L-R: Seattle Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher, Ciscoe Morris, Magnuson Community Center Director Karla Withrow, Seattle Parks Recreation Director Sue Goodwin, and Landscape Designer/Project Coordinator Emily Bishton

You're Invited to the Dedication Celebration!

You're invited to the
Magnuson Community Center Bird-Friendly Landscape
Dedication Celebration!

Sunday May 10th,
beginning at 10:00am
at the
Magnuson Community Center
(aka Building #47)
7110 62nd Ave. NE
Seattle, WA 98115
206-684-7026
Cost: FREE!

Come celebrate this beautiful new addition to the Magnuson Community Center; a landscape that provides much-needed habitat for native birds and other urban wildlife, as well as a peaceful oasis for bird-watching.

The Dedication Celebration will be filled with lots of fun for the whole family! Enjoy refreshments while you browse through a display of bird nests and other materials, take a tour of the landscape with its designer, then make sure to join the Chautauqua Marching Band Parade and Ribbon Cutting with special guest Ciscoe Morris!

After the Dedication Celebration, join the parade to the Festival of Trees, a FREE family event to celebrate Seattle’s trees with a day of learning and entertainment.



Festival of Trees- Highlights:

• Lots of indoor and outdoor nature activities for kids and families; make Mother's Day gifts from recycled paper, help create a tree mural, and explore the acclaimed Magnuson Children's Garden.
• Free talks by your favorite famous gardener; Celebrity gardeners include author-columnists Ciscoe Morris, Marty Wingate, Arthur Lee Jacobsen, Linda Chalker-Scott, and others.
• The New Old Time Chautauqua will provide a boatload of family fun and live entertainment: music, magic, juggling, comedy, aerial acrobatics and more.
  
• Live tree planting and tree care demonstrations all day.
• Tour the secret gardens of Magnuson Park.
  
• Browse education displays from local Environmental Organizations
  
• Shop at booths filled with eco-friendly products, crafts, and healthy-food.

For more info: See festival link on homepage of www.PlantAmnesty.org


The Magnuson Community Center Bird-Friendly Landscape could not have been possible without the energy and spirit of scores of community volunteers!




























Directions to the Magnuson Community Center:
Travel on Sand Point Way NE to the stoplight at NE 74th Street, which is the main entrance of Magnuson Park. Turn on NE 74th and go into the park, then in 2 blocks you will see 62nd Ave NE, which is a right-turn only. Turn onto 62nd Ave and in approx. 2 blocks you will see a large brick building on your left, which is the Magnuson Community Center. There is a parking lot just south of the building, and street parking is also allowed.
See you there!

2009 Family-friendly Classes and other Events

This spring, the Magnuson Community Center will begin hosting family-friendly classes to help you create a bird-friendly landscape in your own yard!















Saturday April 25th from 10:00am-11:30am
“HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN BIRD-FRIENDLY GARDEN”
presented by Emily Bishton, landscape designer and educator

The class will include:
• A table display with hands-on examples of plants, nesting boxes, bird nests, books, etc. for children and adults to explore.
• A brief PowerPoint presentation on the topic, that illustrates how to add wildlife-friendly features to your own garden, to attract birds, butterflies, and other beneficial insects.
• Info on Bird-Friendly maintenance techniques for your garden.
• A guided tour of the Community Center's Bird-Friendly Landscape.
• Take home materials such as a Top 10 Native Plants List, The 4 Keys to Success, and other educational materials.
• Question and Answer time.

Location:
Magnuson Community Center
Building 47
7110 62nd Avenue NE
Seattle, WA 98115
206-684-7026
For more info or to register for the class, contact the Community Center staff at 206-684-7026 or visit http://www.seattle.gov/parks/magnuson/

The class will be repeated in the fall of 2009,
on Saturday Sept 26th from 10:00am-11:30am
at the Magnuson Community Center


Other 2009 News:

You're invited to the
Dedication Celebration
for the
Magnuson Community Center
Bird-Friendly Landscape
on
Sunday, May 10th at 10:00am
Cost: FREE!
Refreshments, information, tours, and a ribbon cutting,
featuring the
New Old Time Chautauqua Marching Band
and bird-loving garden expert Ciscoe Morris!

For more info, click on the "Dedication Celebration" link of this blog

Also in the news: New collaborations are being formed with Sustainable NE Seattle, Seattle Audubon, and the NE Seattle Community Wildlife Habitat project for this landscape to be an active part of fulfilling our mutual goals!