If you happened to visit Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center this summer, you may have heard this song being sung by young prairie explorers from Lincoln Community Learning Centers (CLCs). The kids are here as part of our ongoing summer camp program to provide them with 20-25 hours of hands-on investigation of the prairie and the birds that live in it.

This year, thanks to grants from BirdNote and the Coleman and Susan Burke Center for Native Plants, youth from over 10 CLCs across Lincoln are not only learning and exploring, but they are creating community projects to provide more native plant habitat for birds at their schools and community centers. We call the overall project NEST: Nebraska Environmental Student Teams.

In addition to each youth team creating their own project(s), they help remove invasive plant species, learn all about bird adaptations and migration, and will present some of their projects – along with a free native plant giveaway – at our Fall Fest on Friday, September 27. Creating bird-friendly communities and our next generation of conservation leaders in a fun and feather-friendly way is what our NEST summer camps are all about.