Resolved: Be Connected to Wildlife, Nature in 2010

Right now, many of us are envisioning a happier, healthier new year, and what we will do to make it so. Feeling connected to the natural world is a key part of physical and mental well-being. And it's easy to do.

At the Museum, the fresh snow offers a great way to track the deer, squirrels and racoons all around us. Wildlife Curator Nolan Harvey recommends grabbing a copy of the guide Scats and Tracks at the Museum store and marveling at the winter activity around here, as well as in our own backyards.

Take some time on our tranquil, meandering paths along the snow-lined ponds and streams. Notice how the bright pink and green colors of rainbow trout gleam in the dark water. Listen to bald eagles calling out. Look into the eyes of our Northern spotted owls, Polka and Dot. Stop by the wood stove at the 1880 Homestead cabin to take the chill off.

Every small step toward positive change counts. Come and kick off the new year starting January 2 with a day of discovery at the Museum!

Exploding Gingerbread + More Cool Fun Dec. 27-30

OK, had enough of gingerbread? Then let's blow some up! And, as the icing flies, you'll also be learning the cool, weird, materials science of the High Desert. And more wild experiments with expanding, gooey and exploding stuff is the best way to wrap up a great year. It’s Back: Science Party, Dec. 27-30, 11 am and 2 pm. (Dress warm for this one in our outdoor pavillion!)
Tickets at www.highdesert.org or call 541-382-4754, ext. 241. $7, plus admission. Members, $5
Presented by:
Vernier and Bend Research

Last-Minute Gifts of Fun, Meaning

It's right about now that you're thinking you're out of options for cool gifts. Not true! Come in for fun and 20% off at the store for members through Jan. 1: great unique books, jewelry, toys and more.

Or, give a Museum Membership, Behind-the-Scenes Tour, or Adopt an Animal online or by phone.

Museum Membership offers a year of free admission with exclusive events and privileges! $75 for the whole family all year – about 20 cents a day.

When you adopt an animal –a bobcat, owl, otter or other rescued creature, the gift helps provide food and care for them. It comes in a gift package of a cute animal "carrier,” with an adoption certificate, button, animal photo and more.

Behind-the-Scenes Tours and Store Gift Certificates are great options.
Give an hour-long tour – a special look at how we care for wild animals.
$15 per person plus admission. Members, $10.
Buy instantly at 541-382-4754, ext. 271.

Preschoolers Discover Nature Friday and Saturday

When 3-and 4-year-olds don little backpacks for a nature adventure around the Museum tomorrow and Saturday, they will be having so much fun, they may not realize how much they are learning. They will be engaging their senses with exciting activities created just for them and their parents.

What they observe in nature will inspire the stories and pictures they create. And in many ways, that's what the Museum is all about. Children who discover the beauty of nature grow up to be good stewards of it.

The 90-minute program happens at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, and at 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday. $20 per child, $15 for each additional child, plus admission for accompanying adult. Museum members: $15 per child, $10 for each additional sibling. Dress for weather-permitting outdoor and indoor exploring!
Advance registration encouraged. Please call to register, and to confirm times: 541-382-4754.
Sponsored by US Bank
www.highdesertmuseum.com/.docs/record_id/10482/pg/10039

Animals Outwit Humans in Sub-Zero Temps

Animals here handled the below freezing temperatures last week a lot better than we humans did!

Many of our visitors asked the wildlife staff here how our rescued animals – from eagles and owls to the porcupines, fox, otter and bobcat – dealt with the extreme conditions. When animals sense cold weather approaching, they get out of any direct wind, hunker down in place, and don’t move. Conserving energy and body heat is the most efficient way of staying warm.

Our raptors stay in one place and fluff up that nice down jacket they wear all the time and that keeps them nice and toasty.

Our badgers deal with it another way: they sleep. It's called “torpor,” a type of semi-hibernation in the winter. They live off their body fat part of the time, and get food from us daily too if they are hungry. This means they are usually curled up in a little ball, sleeping off the cold weather in their kennels, and only coming out if they need to.

Lastly, some animals stay warm by eating more food, and raising their metabolism rates… kind of like us during the holidays!

So, come and visit the animals, and learn how to stay as snug all winter.

Have a great holiday season,
The Wildlife (and Wildlife Staff) at the High Desert Museum

A Santa Visit You'll Never Forget...

Let's face it, many of us have fond memories of visiting Santa when we were kids, but not all of us like the commercial atmosphere involved in re-creating the experience for our children.
But at the Museum on Saturday, children can visit with Santa – in his 1880s incarnation, Father Christmas. You can have your picture taken with the Victorian-era icon who was the period's Santa Father when homesteaders were celebrating the holidays on the frontier.
With his flowing emerald robe and white beard, this Santa visit will be remembered forever. Tell him what you want this holiday season, write your name in icing on gingerbread, and take home a photo!
All proceeds benefit the nonprofit Museum's educational programs.
$10 plus admission. Members, $5. 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. With 1880s music live from the Thorn Hollow String Band: live mandolin, banjo, fiddle, guitar and vocals. 12 p.m. – 3 p.m.!

Which Gift Is Better? A Sweater, or a Year of Fun?

This is the time when we might be resorting to default gifts: the sweater – yawn. Socks – zzzzzzzz....

But you don't have to be a gift-giving bore. You could give someone or a whole family on your list a year of:
- wild eagles, a furry bobcat, frolicking otter and other wild animals
- cool, new fun programs and exhibitions that make learning about the nature and stories of the High Desert a lot of fun.

The gift of a High Desert Museum membership gives a year of free admission and exclusive events and privileges. At $75 for a whole family all year, that's about 20 cents a day.

And, it feels great to give as well as to get a membership because it supports the Museum, a nonprofit that cares for more than 100 rescued animals, thousands of priceless artifacts, and inspires people every day.

It's easy! You can buy one at highdesertmuseum.org, e-mail membership@highdesertmuseum.org, or call 541-382-4754 ext. 244.

Happy (and wild) holidays!

Porcupine Performance Pleases Post

You know those couples – the ones that have you wondering if it's going to work out? Well, it was sort of like that with our porcupines Thistle and Honeysuckle, until one day last summer, when we discovered they had a porcupine "pup" (that's the technical term) last summer.

And that pup made her first public appearance last week at an elementary school in Virginia, and was featured in The Washington Post.

The porcupine was named Magnolia in a contest won by third-grader Leo Higbie, 9, of Purcellville, Va. The winner was announced during a surprise special assembly with the porcupine and 400 students at Emerick Elementary School in Purcellville on Nov. 24.

Magnolia’s mother, Honeysuckle, came to the High Desert Museum last year because she was too shy to leave her cage in front of big crowds during school programs offered by Wildlife Ambassadors of Paeonian Springs, Va. Becky Shore, executive director of that nonprofit, sent her to the High Desert Museum with the understanding that any of Honeysuckle’s offspring would go to Wildlife Ambassadors.

Shore didn’t know how Magnolia would behave in her first public appearance. According to the Post article, Shore was relieved when Magnolia walked across a table and started sniffing and chewing on antlers Shore brought as part of the show-and-tell assembly. Magnolia returned to her cage, and nibbled on an apple. The kids cheered collectively. Then in unison, they said, "Bye, Magnolia."

Visitors can meet Magnolia’s parents, Thistle and Honeysuckle, daily at the Museum. Like all of the wild animals at the Museum, the porcupines are here because they cannot survive in the wild.