As 2026 begins, our organization is positioned to accomplish even more. Our hard-working staff and dedicated board are envisioning the next round of projects and strategizing how to fund them.
As the structure rose, students reflected on the teamwork and effort that made the project possible. Burns High School student Triston DeCroo shared, ‘everyone involved worked really hard to make the platform.” This sentiment was echoed throughout the group.
Written by Peter Pearsall/Photo illustration by Peter Pearsall, using photographs by Dan Streiffert The New World blackbird family, Icteridae, comprises familiar temperate species such as orioles, meadowlarks, grackles, and cowbirds,
My favorite part of the refuge is not what I see here, but who! I am convinced that we have the best volunteers. They continually teach me what it is like to selflessly pour yourself into something that you love with all of your heart.
My guess is that it’s because birds sharpen our perception and remap our attention onto the soft fascination of the natural world. Birds make the ordinary extraordinary: the invisible visible. They move between worlds we can’t, slipping between earth and sky, land and water, expanding our imaginations.
