Park Happenings

Event Details

***This workshop meets at Ijams Nature Center at 2:00 PM***

Designed for children ages 11-14 and their families, the East TN Young Birders Club is a safe space for beginner and avid birders to enjoy the outdoors with a focus on birding through free workshops birding outings, and more!

From typical bird walks to bird banding sessions, art workshops, and more, the East TN Young Birders Club is designed to have something for every bird lover out there! Children will come away with new naturalist skills, a deeper understanding of birds and the ecosystem, and look at the birding world through new artistic lenses.

The East Tennessee Young Birders Club is run in partnership with Seven Islands State Birding Park and Ijams Nature Center.

Every year, billions of birds are killed in collisions with human-made structures—especially glass. This workshop explores why birds collide with buildings, how factors like artificial light, reflective surfaces, and urban design contribute to the issue, and what it means for bird populations at local and global scales.

We're partnering with Bird Collisions in the Anthropocene, a Chicago-based nonprofit crowd-sourcing the handcrafting of 10,836 birds to match the number found in 2023 by the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors after they hit windows.

Each participant will be given a fabric bird base, a bio of a real bird, and everything needed to craft your bird. Finished birds will be tagged with the artist’s name and donated to the project.

***Please meet at the Visitor Center at Ijams Nature Center at 2:00. This is a free workshop. Please contact Ranger Clare at clare.dattilo@tn.gov with any questions.