Ijams Hiking Club explores the Urban Wilderness

Could the day have been more perfect for a five mile hike? 

I think not. A perfect day for the Ijams Hiking Club to meet. 

Ijams thanks volunteers Amy Oakey and Lisa Labine, both graduates of the TN Naturalist @ Ijams program, for leading the "Explore the Urban Wilderness" hike. 

We went to Forks of the River WMA and back, stopping to investigate all things great and small.

- Stephen Lyn Bales 

The inventor of the mobile home.

Kids grow up happier if they grow up outside, where they have space for their minds to roam.

We practiced our nesting skills at Yardbird-ology

Thank you Sue and Judah for the wonderful strawberry-bird nests. Yum!

Last week's Ijams Yardbird-ology 101 class was great fun. We learned about the 15 most common year-round songbirds found near everyone's homes.

We also shared yardbird-themed snacks and went outside to build bird nests. And it is harder than it looks, and birds use only their feet and mouths. 

It was a perfect day.

WBIR's Jim Matheny wins awards for Ijams jellyfish story

•

WBIR's Jim Matheny

Congratulations to our friends at WBIR and television journalist Jim Matheny for winning several 2016 Edward R. Murrow Awards for writing, videography and overall excellence.
 
Matheny's work included a story on freshwater jellyfish reported from Ijams at Mead's Quarry Lake last August.
 
Here's a look back, click: Jellyfish
 
And Matheny's creative use of video, click: Jellyfish
 
Pat yourselves on the back!

The Matheny Rig: GoPro camera rigged to float underwater and follow the canoe.

Family Nature Club @ Ijams featured in News-Sentinel

Hey. What ya looking at? 

Oh, yeah! Our new Family Nature Club @ Ijams made yesterday's Knoxville News-Sentinel.  Here is the online version, click: Into the woods
 
The nature club meets again in May to talk about plants with Peg.
 
Thank you, Susan Alexander and Ali James with the News-Sentinel!

- Stephen Lyn Bales

Family Nature Club @ Ijams meets for first time

•

Thanks to all who attended yesterday's first meeting of the Family Nature Club @ Ijams. Our topic of the day was birds.
 
And thanks to the junior naturalists (B.K.U.), the Best Kids in the Universe, for making the day so memorable. You know who you are.

-Stephen Lyn Bales

•

Junior Girl Scouts @ Ijams host photography workshop

Recently, the Junior Girl Scouts of the Southern Appalachians completed a Digital Photography workshop at Ijams.

They learned some dos and don'ts of taking photos and available apps to edit their pictures.

Needless to say, one of the tricks they learned is called "framing," i.e. putting your visual point of interest inside a frame within the overall composition. (As in the photo above.)

For a list of upcoming Girl Scout events click: GS Events

Dogwood Arts: Missy Kane and her group hike at Ijams

Ijams welcomes Missy Kane and her hiking group here this perfect morning for an exploration of two of the most popular trails at the nature center. 

Ijams is one of the Dogwood Arts Trails & Gardens locations.