This free family event will have many educational booths, as well as fun activities for kids, such as a children’s pollinator costume parade and face painting.

RecFest celebrates recreation and community at the Tuolumne River Regional Park (TRRP) in Modesto. All are welcome to join and spend a day enjoying nature in this rehabilitated riverside park. Through restoration and community effort, the TRRP is transforming into a welcoming space for outdoor recreation along the Lower Tuolumne.

The Welcome Booth Area will be located at Gateway Park near South Morton Blvd and 10th Street. Parking will be available underneath the 9th Street Bridge and will be patrolled by volunteers. 

On this field trip, we’ll explore Woodward Reservoir and the surrounding area, looking for waterbirds on the reservoir and birds of open grasslands. A good variety of ducks and geese should be present as well as herons and egrets, grebes and perhaps a loon or two. Nearby grasslands may have raptors such as Merlin, Prairie Falcon, Ferruginous Hawks as well as grassland sparrows, Horned Lark, and if we are lucky, Mountain Bluebird. We’ll return to Oakdale by around noon.

Meet at the Cost Less Market, 888 N. Yosemite, Oakdale, at 8:00 a.m. There is a Dutch Brothers coffee shop there. Bring your own water and snacks. Please note that there is an entrance fee for Woodward Reservoir of $20 per vehicle, with a reduced rate for seniors, so carpooling will be advantageous. For questions contact John Harris at jhh.birder@gmail.com 

Earth Day is a global event that takes place annually on April 22 to raise awareness about environmental issues. The event is free and family friendly.  

• What to expect: Recycling trivia: Win a prize for answering recycling trivia questions 

• Picnic: Bring lunch and enjoy a shaded picnic 

• Games and music: Play games and listen to music in Mancini Bowl 

• Mascot photos: Take a picture with local mascots.

As the ponds dry, the shorebirds will move around to find the perfect soil moisture and water depth as they try to gain as much fat as possible before they fly north.  We will start the day at 8am with a walk to hear early songsters on the Meadowlark trail, followed by views from the platform to listen for Sora Rails and search for shorebirds. Then at 9am we will drive the auto tour route in search of more shorebirds, enroute to the Pintail Marsh platform. While there at the other platform we can also walk the Bittern Marsh Trail, hoping for warblers, sparrows and other passerines. Young owls may have recently left the nest. Raptor nests are like time-share-condos: owls in winter and hawks in spring to summer. The departure of the young owlets from the nest is making room for the next occupants.