The Pelican-- Birding Outreach at the Riverside Farmers Market at Idlewild Park

By Tina Nappe and Patty Moen

The lollipop barn owl gets a workout at the Riverside Farmers Market at Idlewild park during the summer when Northwest Nevada Bird Alliance sets up a booth. The soft feathers are ruffled, the pointed talons are touched. The big glass eyes of the Red-tailed Hawk bore into the meandering crowd. 

“Have you ever seen an owl up close?” asks Patty Moen, stepping out of the booth. The barn owl on a stick is offered to passers-by, especially to a curious child. Patty is an AmeriCorps member, serving as the Community Outreach Coordinator for NNBA. She works with the Education Committee and helps with the numerous requests NNBA receives to deliver programs on birds. She assists with many of the programs that NNBA offers in classrooms, field trips and events, and, well, the Riverside Farmers Market booth. Over the course of a year, Dr. Alan Gubanich, the lead presenter, Patty, and other volunteers may reach over 3,000 people.

The NNBA booth at the farmers market owes its existence to one of the founders of Lahontan Audubon Society, the late Dr. John Davis. He died in May 2023 leaving behind a large collection of books on birds and nature. His widow generously donated the collection to NNBA, which included 28 boxes of bird related books (a small fraction of his total library). What were we to do with them? We felt that it was important to get them into the hands of a new generation of readers. Patty reached out to the Riverside Farmers Market to see if we could sell the books there. It has proved to be a wonderful opportunity to connect with the community. Some people are drawn in when they see books, and others are drawn in by the taxidermy birds. Now at the end of the second year, the number of books has been whittled down, and we have received more book donations from other community members. 

Meanwhile, over a season at the Riverside Farmers Market, several hundred visitors are exposed to the Great Horned Owl, a Cooper’s Hawk, a Great Blue Heron, an American Coot selected for each time we attend. NNBA has about three hundred taxidermy bird mounts to draw from. NNBA has a USFWS permit to receive dead birds, take them to a taxidermist to have them mounted, and then used for education purposes. At the end of the year, the barn owl, great horned owl and other birds will become part of a report on where, how often these display birds are used, and the number of people that were exposed to them. The mounts are invaluable. While some people are unsure about them at first, they are often surprised by their beauty and amazed by the softness of the owl’s feathers. We rarely get to see live birds so close, so in their deaths these birds are able to reach people, and help us to teach the community. 

In the meantime, our monthly visits to the Riverside Farmers Market are an ideal place for birds—even stuffed ones—and the public to mix. The NNBA attended their final Farmers Market for the season at the end of November. We will be back next spring. Maybe next year you might like to help and show a passerby the lollipop owl.

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