This week I went to Harris House on Tuesday to help with the “Put a Bird on It” event. To recap, Bethany received a grant that is allowing her to put together a bird mobile with the help of the community and bring awareness to the native birds. This day specifically she had two people from the autobahn society come to speak on scrub jays and barred owls. I honestly really enjoyed learning about these birds a bit. I discovered barred owls only ever travel about 6 miles from where they are hatched and scrub jays look similar to blue jays, but are larger and behave differently. Everyone used paint pens to color one of those two birds Bethany and I had previously traced and cut out of fiber glass. Everyone’s turned out so well, I think the final project will look great.
On Wednesday, I went back to help at the Beachside Center for Rehabilitation. We had a group of elderly patients and gave them a picture of reference to water color paint. Some struggle more than others, so I sat beside a woman and helped her throughout. She seemed to have adequate motor skills but was struggling cognitively, so she stuck to painting on top of the picture that was already printed out instead of the blank page. I gently encouraged her and helped remember what color she was using and what she could do next. At one point, she seemed to be giving up but I helped figure out what else she could add. She seemed happy with her picture by the end and everyone gave positive feedback about her piece. It was really great to see how being able to bring even just a few minutes of happiness to these patients made such a difference.
I went back to Harris House on Thursday to help paint the rods we will be using to hang the bird mobile and spray sealant on the rods/birds. We also brainstormed some about the teen center I had researched activities for previously (it’s called “Me in Progress). I gave her some of my ideas and she particularly liked the idea of a mural everyone could work on together, so we are going to continue to think of what we could do. Bethany also let me know that her grant for the Center for the Blind project got approved which is very exciting. She said the projects will cover multiple 4ftx8ft spaces on the walls. This project won’t come together for awhile, but both of us are looking forward to how it will turn out.
The scrub jays look great in your picture! I have encountered these birds a few times out at Canaveral. They can be aggressive about their territory.
One correction: It is “Audubon” society, not Autobahn. The first is a person, and the second is the German word for “highway”. There has actually been some pressure to rename the organization recently, but you can read about their decision to keep the name here.
Thank you for the correction! That is really good to know. Also, very interesting article about the name controversy.