River Connection Field Trips

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Water’s Changing Journey

With the wonderful combination of an instructor’s guidance and our interactive exhibits, students learn where water comes from and how they can help to conserve it and keep it clean. Through the hands-on approach of our exhibits coupled with the outdoor experience of dipping for pond and river insects or conducting water quality surveys, students learn how important water is to all living creatures in our desert environment.

Nature is for the Birds: Bird Watching and Bird Biology

Over 200 bird species have been seen near this stretch of the Rio Salado, providing an excellent opportunity to contrast the adaptations of species ranging from a Great Blue Heron to an Anna’s Hummingbird. Students will be instructed on how to use binoculars, how to start identifying birds by sight and sound, and how bird conservation plays a major role in Audubon’s mission.

Paws for Thought: Sonoran Mammals

Due to the restoration of the Rio Salado over the past six years, many mammals have returned to the area. With the help of pelts and skulls of native Sonoran Desert mammals like the Ring-tailed Cat (AZ state mammal) coupled with fun games, students learn that mammals are all around them and are easily affected by pollution and habitat destruction.

Native Plants

Using information sheets with images of the common plants of the Sonoran Desert, students will walk along the Center’s interpretive trail and down to the river to learn about each species in person. The teacher will discuss the amazing adaptations of these plants to their desert environment.

History of the Rio Salado

Using several hands-on examples and diagrams, teachers will demonstrate how the Rio Salado used to be a huge perennial river and how humans have altered its flow. The students will take turns pumping water into our model irrigation system, which waters what will eventually be a native seed garden. Younger students will play petroglyph games...making up stories about water and people in the Sonoran.

Please contact Emily Morris to schedule a field trip.  Emorris@audubon.org

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