Darlene Schoenwald
Don France
Christy Nielsen
Last fall, three intrepid adults commuted from the north to take part in the 12-week Wenatchee Naturalist course: Darlene Schoenwald arrived from Withrop, Don France traveled from Manson, and Christy Nielsen drove down from Chelan. Here is a look at each of their final projects.
Darlene Schoenwald proved herself to be a lyricist for a familiar “covered” holiday favorite, The 12 Days of Christmas. She begins, “On the 1st week of class, Susan gave to us; An overview of the Wenatchee Naturalist.”
Darlene Schoenwald’s 10/16/18 Black cottonwood page
Darlene’s field site was along the Twisp River, where she walked from her home.
Water birch and snowberry explorations
Darlene Schoenwald’s Loop Loop Pass field notes
She traveled to Loop Loop Pass to explore a higher elevation forest to compare characteristics of several native conifer species
Darlene Schoenwald’s Twisp River Field Site journal page
Her 12/3/18 included an adult bald eagle and a study of a non-native Eurasian collared dove.
Christy Nielsen applied her natural history learning to her expert skills as a wildlife photographer. She is featured as a Bird Photographer Extraoirdinaire in the fall edition of Lake Chelan Magazine .
Christy Nielsen’s Snowy Owl
Snowy owls are her speciality and the magazine features her remarkable captures.
Christy Nielsen’s photo of a snowy owl
After watching non-native California quail, Don France grew curious about a lesser known native Northwest species – the Mountain Quail. He dove into the research and wrote a lively summary – A Tale of Two Quail – of their known distribution, habitat preferences, and on-going research questions.