Let’s get wild!

I love to check the community bulletin boards at local coffee shops for news of Valley offerings in arts and culture. I stopped Monday at the Starbucks at McDowell and 7th St. and discovered a poster for the “4th Annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival.”

This year’s festival takes place Thurs, Aug 18 at the Tempe Center for the Arts. A 5pm reception precedes the 6-9:30pm festival — which  features a new film titled “Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time.”

The festival will also showcase several “shorter films that cover a variety of environmental issues” — and share a bit about the “Sonoran Desert Western Initiative,” a local campaign to protect West Valley public lands.

The reception features light appetizers and a cash bar, live music by “The Petty Thieves” and a raffle. Special ticket pricing is available for children, students and seniors.

The event has several dozen sponsors, including the Sonoran Institute, Changing Hands Bookstore, the Desert Botanical Garden, Sonoran Desert Heritage and the Phoenix Zoo.

The event is organized by the Arizona Wilderness Coalition. I’m having enough trouble surviving Arizona with all the oddly-named creature comforts we enjoy — like clean water and air conditioning.

I can’t imagine how other creatures, and plants, do the same. It must help that they waste less and depend on each other more. But humans can help too, and the coalition’s website offers plenty of ways to get involved.

Scottsdale Community College has also gone a bit wild — thanks to their Center for Native and Urban Wildlife, which has just announced 2011-12 field trip opportunities for fourth grade classes. The tours, which take place Tuesday and Thursday mornings, are free.

Tour highlights include Toad Hall (home to amphibians, lizards, snakes, arthropods and fish) and the Hall of Biodiversity Past (home to replicas of dinosaur and mammal artifacts, plus a giant wall mural painted by an SCC student).

Also time with birds, such as hawks or owls, handled by Liberty Wildlife — which educates students about their natural history and role in native ecosystems, also suggesting ways to keep native animals from harm.

Students bring lunches, and enjoy a bit of scientific Q & A time after they eat — then end their CNUW experience with a toad calling contest with prizes for the winners (the people, not the toads).

Predators and Prey of Arizona takes place through Sept 23 at The Arboretum at Flagstaff

The Arizona Game and Fish Department is presenting “Predators and Prey of Arizona” at The Arboretum at Flagstaff through Sept 23. It’s part of a wildlife program that “educates visitors about the role of plants and animals in a balanced environment.”

“Predators and Prey of Arizona” includes “a zone-tail hawk, a harris hawk, an antelope ground squirrel, and a pocket mouse.” It’s free with arboretum admission and can be viewed Wed-Sun from noon to 2pm. The arboretum is open daily from 9am to 5pm April through October.

— Lynn

Coming up: Art adventures: Las Vegas, No-cost and low-cost concerts

The Merry Widow?

Trixy Trimble is ruling her own roost these days (Photo: Christopher Trimble)

We have a precious little lovebird named Trixy who has been singing, and swinging, a bit more than usual these days.

I jokingly referred to her as “the merry widow” Thursday morning as Lizabeth was enjoying a bit of Trixy time before heading off to school — but Lizabeth was not amused.

Because Trixy is flying solo after the loss of her lifelong companion, Taffy, who now shares a lovely bit of earth in our garden with a tiny rodent named Gidget who met a similar fate about a year ago. Both were high energy animals, and we like to think they just ran themselves right out of steam — living life to the fullest before meeting their fate.

While Lizabeth was at school Thursday morning, Christopher and I headed to Ingleside Animal Hospital to have Trixy’s wings clipped. She’s a whole lot safer not being able to escape her cage for the wide open spaces of the house we also share with a cat named Pinky. Next we headed to the pet store for a small cage Lizabeth can keep in her room for Trixy together time.

It was a bit of a bird theme day as we also went in search of jewelry with a bird motif. We wanted to find a little something to honor one of Christopher’s colleagues who is retiring from her position with the Center for Native and Urban Wildlife at Scottsdale Community College.

My first thoughts were of Laurel Burch earrings, because they often feature creatures like cats and birds — and because I remember my mother wearing them when I was a child. Nowadays they’re harder to find, unless — like my daughter Jennifer — you’ve mastered the fine art of Etsy.

We ended up at the Phoenix Art Museum because it’s right next to Phoenix Theatre, where Lizabeth has afternoon classes with fellow theater students at Arizona School of the Arts. They helped us locate all kinds of bird fare — from origami paper crane earrings to a graphite carving in the image of a bird.

We also found brightly colored kitchen gadgets inspired by birds, a coloring book and note cards featuring bird art by wildlife artist Charley Harper, some hip bags (big and small) with a playful bird motif, and a couple of contemporary pins with whimsical bird designs.

I spent part of Thursday evening enjoying the Scottsdale ArtWalk, where I found more works inspired by dogs, pigs and rabbits than birds — but Trixy will never know unless she learns to read before my gallery photos get folded into a future “art adventures” post.

It’s always easy to get a bird fix at the Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center, a fun place for kids and grown-ups to enjoy indoor exhibits and outdoor adventures. They’ve got a fun little retail area where my favorite finds are plush birds that make authentic sounds.

I jumped on their website recently and found all sorts of goodies — ways to help wildlife displaced by natural disasters, news of wildlife advocacy efforts in D.C., tips for “e-birding” and Arizona results of the “Great Backyard Bird Count.”

Their summer camps, all sporting intriguing names, are noted on the website too. Think Teen Naturalist. Bird Blitz. Pollinator Power. CSI Audubon. Click here to learn more about summer options for children and teens — or to explore their many programs.

Trixy’s agent might object to my speaking on her behalf, but I have a feeling she’s a firm supporter of all things Audubon — and grateful we didn’t stumble on a tiny tutu with her name written all over it.

— Lynn

Coming up: Music meets summer at the MIM, Stage Mom picks for the 2011/12 season, Art adventures: Scottsdale ArtWalk, Moms in musical theater

Art meets Audubon

It's the perfect day to try a bit of bird-related art in honor of John James Audubon

John James Audubon, a naturalist and artist known best for his work with birds, was born April 26, 1785.

Hence today’s Google doodle with the beautiful bird theme.

If you’re feeling inspired to honor Audubon’s contributions to the worlds of art and science, consider making a bit of bird art with your children this week.

A few ideas…

• Build a birdhouse — from scratch or using a kit.
• Paint a bird at your local pottery painting joint.
• Write poems about some of your favorite birds.
• Take a walk to look for birds in your neighborhood.
• Cut bird pictures out of old magazines, then use them to create a collage on canvas or poster board.
• Use stencils to create whimsical bird designs along a wall in your child’s bedroom.
• Plant a bird friendly plant in your garden.
• Draw birds you see on exhibit at the Phoenix Zoo.
• Look for birds in art exhibited at the Phoenix Art Museum or Heard Museum.
• Take a sketchpad and pens/pencils along to draw birds you see at the Desert Botanical Garden or Rio Solado Audubon Society.
• Make bird designs by tracing your child’s spread out palm (a favorite with kids at Thanksgiving time).
• Sew simple birds using felt and embroidery floss, then use them to create a hanging mobile.
• Fold paper to make origami birds.
• Use bird puppets or plush (like those from the Audubon Society or Folkmanis Puppets) to create puppet shows full of birds.
• Read books about birds, then write your own bird stories.
• Draw birds that start with thumbprints made using colorful ink pads.
• Take photos of birds in your neighborhood or natural settings.
• Observe different birds, then make up dances that mirror their movements.

If you’ve got an idea for a bird-related craft or activity, please comment below to let our readers know. Or send photos of some of your family’s bird-related artwork so I can add them to this post for others to enjoy.

— Lynn

Note: Click here to learn more about the Rio Salado Audubon Center in Phoenix — which offers summer camps for children, as well as other programs for children and adults. Learn more about John James Audubon from PBS and the National Gallery of Art — and the National Audubon Society.

Coming up: Memphis meets movie theater

Update: The Arboretum at Flagstaff will hold “Saturday Morning Birdwalks” led by bird experts from local chapters of the Audubon Society during May, June and July. Admission is free and all ages are welcome. Learn more at www.thearb.org.

Bird brain

There’s a giant tree that towers near a set of north-facing windows in my son’s room on the second floor of our Scottsdale home. A cat tower sits nearby so the family cat, Pinky, can take in the view — which often includes birds flitting between branches.

We often enjoy the sound of birds in the morning as we eat breakfast in a kitchen nook with a large bay window that gives us a bird’s eye view of citrus, pine and assorted desert trees. Sometimes hummingbirds land on nearby plants — but typically they prefer the garden in front of our house.

Our garden — filled at the moment with brightly colored poppies and geraniums — sits under windows for other rooms, making it easy for everyone in the family to watch birds with some regularity. We’re not seasoned bird watchers, but we do enjoy watching families of quail — especially babies lined up behind older birds — as they duck in and out of bushes and shady plants.

One day Christopher and I were looking for something to do. He’s never been much of a sitter, which means television and Nintendo-type gizmos have never held much appeal. Usually we try and get outdoors or at least explore something with an artistic or animal twist of some sort.

We settled on the Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center in Phoenix — which features both indoor exhibits and outdoor habitats that are fun for folks of all ages to explore. We took lots of photos that day so we could put together the following slide show to give you a feel for the Center, which you’ll enjoy a whole lot more if you head out exploring with your own kiddos and camera.

My favorite bird experience by far took place when Christopher was in elementary school. We lived on a quiet street in a house that looked a bit like something out of “Hansel and Gretel” — but with a mahogany-colored, ivy-covered facade rather than sides covered in striped hard candies or red licorice.

Christopher’s room was at the back of the house, far from the front and back doors. Still, a tiny baby quail found its way into Christopher’s room one day. We spotted it near a denim beanbag chair that nowadays serves as napping central for Pinky.

The bird ran inside Christopher’s closet when we tried to get a closer look. Thank goodness it never made its way to Christopher’s large LEGO table, where it surely would have been lost among pint-size construction trucks and pizza chefs.

We all knew better than to touch the baby bird, but we needed to get it to safety. We called an organization that does bird rescue — and they gave us very detailed instructions on how to get the baby quail from our house to their rescue center.

I don’t remember the name of the group we called, but I’m glad we found them. And I’m proud that my three young children knew better than to try and pet the baby bird or keep it as a pet.

Most of us don’t have bird on the brain all that often. But just in case you run into a similar situation of your own one day, why not take the time now to get the name and number for an animal rescue organization like “Liberty Wildlife” on your bulletin board or in your favorite organizing gadget.

Somewhere out there is a mommy quail who thanks you.

— Lynn

Note: Click here to learn more about an initiative of the National Audubon Society called “Pennies for the Planet.” It’s a fun way for kids to support wildlife conservation projects including boosting habitats for Monarch butterflies in Arizona.

Coming up: More outdoor art adventures