A voice from the past leads to new adventure
Well, it wasn’t really a voice — it was an email. I received an email from Bruce Lampright back in November 2014.
I met Bruce one autumn day back in 2000 (I think.) He was up with Chris Marsh and we spent a few hours sorting through fall migrants at Balsam Mountain Preserve. Marsh is (and was then) Executive Director of Spring Island Trust and Lampright also worked with Spring Island Trust. Spring Island Trust was the template for Balsam Mountain Trust and both Marsh and Lampright were on the first land management team for BMT. I was, at the time, contracted with Balsam Mountain Trust to do bird surveys and Marsh and Lampright wanted to get a feel for what migration was like on the property.
I said “hi” to Lampright one other time — the following spring when I was at Spring Island, getting some background information for a story I was doing on Balsam Mountain Trust.
So, I was a little surprised back in November when I received that email asking me if I would be interested in leading some birding trips in 2015 for Family Nature Summits. Well, I had never heard of Family Nature Summits, but those of you who know me and/or are regular readers of “The Naturalist’s Corner” know that I’m not that adverse to grabbing my binoculars and hitting the field for a little birding.
And here, I must insert a thank you to BMT Executive Director Michael Skinner, who brought my name up when Lampright contacted him looking for facilitators for the 2015 Family Nature Summit (see story page 34) — thanks Michael!
Today I know a little bit more about Family Nature Summits (FNS) and I am thoroughly impressed. The program is an outgrowth of the National Wildlife Federation’s 1970 Conservation Summit. NWF is no longer a direct sponsor of the FNS but according to FNS’ website “… NWF has assisted and encouraged Family Summits Inc. to continue to provide opportunities for families and individuals to experience and learn about nature together in the Family Summits community. Family Summits Inc. was created by a group of NWF member families and Summit participants dedicated to keeping the Summit tradition.”
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There were around 300 “summiteers” at Lake Junaluska last week and in keeping with the multi-generational theme around 60 were kids under 18. FNS offers childcare for kids 2 and younger; Early Discovery Program (age 3-4); Junior Naturalists (5-12); Teens (13-18); Young Adult (18-25); and old geezers — not really — just Adults 26 and up. And all of these programs have qualified instructors/facilitators.
I asked one of my birding participants how many Summits he had been on — “18” he replied. He said he and his wife regularly brought their children to the summits, and now they were enjoying summits with their grandkids. I don’t think you could ask for a greater testimonial than that.
By the way, the birding was decent. Kituwah was great with orchard orioles, blue grosbeaks, indigo buntings, common yellowthroat and even good views of white-eyed vireos. We couldn’t coax the yellow-breasted chat up for looks though. Chestnut-sided warblers along the Blue Ridge Parkway were quite cooperative, and we got good looks at many more like hooded warbler, scarlet tanager, rose-breasted grosbeak and more. One of the coolest stops was along Big Butt Trail on the parkway near Mt. Mitchell in a dense fog where we were surrounded by golden-crowned kinglets, winter wrens, blue-headed vireos, veeries and Swainson’s thrushes.
To find out more about Family Nature Summits check out their website at www.familynaturesummit.org and/or their Facebook page.
(Don Hendershot is a writer and naturalist. He can be reached a This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)
