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Pioneers Parks Nature Center Newsletter, May 2010
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 It has been such a lovely spring! Woodland wildflowers: wood phlox, wild cranesbill, and wild columbine are putting on a great show. This is a wonderful time to walk in Fleming Woods and enjoy the color. Our ponds have plenty of water too! |
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Nature's Market
Over 600 people enjoyed a sunny spring day at this year's Nature's Market on April 17th. Sponsored by the Friends of Pioneers Park Nature Center, the fund raising event was a grand success.
Thanks to all the Friends whose hard work made this such a
successful and enjoyable event.
With Tom Bassett as auctioneer, 25 beautifully painted rain barrels found new owners and raised $7125. Thank you to Lincoln Watershed Management for their partnership in this project.
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18 vendors, lunch from Russ's Market Grill, a silent auction with 50 unique items, kid's crafts and performances by PANgea Prep and PANgea Steel Drum Bands rounded out a perfect day. All proceeds will fund scholarships to Nature Center programs.  |
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Birthday House
The Nature Center has long been a place for fun, nature-oriented birthday parties. Starting June 1st, those parties will be held in our new Birthday House! The activities will be the same: an hour program facilitated by our staff with a guided hike, an opportunity to meet one of our exhibit animals up close, plus 45 minutes for your own birthday activities.
Themes include Birds of Prey, Reptiles or Insect Investigations, and we will be adding a Wetland Investigation option for children 8 and older (May to September only).
Call 441-7895 for reservations at least two weeks in advance. |
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Preschool
Over the past few w eeks the preschool classes learned that the sun is a star and talked about other stars that we see in our night-time sky. At the end of April we celebrated Earth Day and Arbor Day.
A short unit on birds brought us to our Mother's Day Tea where we sang "Robin in the Rain" and planted flowers with parents, aunts and grandparents in our preschool butterfly garden.
Pre-K students have finished their study of the letters of the alphabet and have had many fun "letter-related" show-and-tells throughout the year. We have taken lots of nice long walks around our ponds, through our woods, and on our prairie during these beautiful spring days. It seems nesting Canada geese have greeted us around every turn!
We celebrated Earth Day by planting a cottonwood and learning a bit about our state tree, and learned about Arbor Day too. We look forward to our end-of-year family picnic in May.
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Featured on the Prairie Building Art Wall
 Wood carving and wood cut prints by Todd Znamenacek.
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Thank You to TierOne Bank
 Our thanks to TierOne for their donation of 51 trees. A group of employees gathered at the Nature Center to plant an American Linden on Arbor Day, April 30.
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Stay Connected
As you may have heard, Lincoln Parks & Recreation is using new, exciting ways to stay in touch with our supporters.
If you haven't done so already, please click the "Join Our Mailing List" button on the left sidebar. Here you can update your profile and select specific interest areas to receive information on various Lincoln Parks & Recreation happenings.
Last year, we updated our website to improve communication with people important to us and to allow them to receive the latest information on programs, activities and events for youth, adults and families in Lincoln. From the home page, parks.lincoln.ne.gov, you can:
  
If you know someone who would like to receive our e-newsletter, please click the forward button at the bottom of this email. |
Our summer program listing will be available soon. Check out all we have to offer! We have lots of nature information available on our website too.
Thank you for your continued support of what we do.
Sincerely,
Pioneers Park Nature Center
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Did you know...
Pioneers Park Nature Center is home to 12 raptors: 2 screech owls, 1 barn owl, 2 barred owls, 2 great horned owls, 3 red-tailed hawks, 1 American kestrel and a bald eagle. All of these exhibit birds have been injured and are not releasable.
Their diet at the Nature Center is primarily dead mice. Mice cost us $0.53 each. Our great horned owls eat 4 or 5 mice daily, depending on the weather. A quick look at the math shows that it costs us approximately $750 a year to feed one large owl.
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