Date: 1/8/26 9:16 am From: Sarah Katherine Wagner <skw67...> Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Cornell Lab of Ornithology Volunteers Needed
Hello Cayuga Bird Club,
We have a few updates, including upcoming trainings and volunteer opportunities, that I wanted to share with everyone!
• Our group visits page<https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/visit/group-visits/> went live just before Cornell’s winter break. It includes descriptions for each of our guided tours and information on how to book. I suspect these will pick up as school comes back in session and we share the info more widely, but for now it’s a slower roll-out of tours. As they’re booked, we’ll share signups with trained volunteers.
• Our training series for drop-in activities (formerly Exploration Stations) will take place on 2/21, 2/28, and 3/7 from 10:00-12:00. If you’re interested in helping to lead these shorter activities at the Visitor Center, please complete this form<https://forms.gle/UpnYdh37Sesy2rEL8>. If you attended the fall training on leading tours, you’re welcome to skip the first training session (2/21), but otherwise please note that attending all three sessions is required.
• We’ve started working on our Kids Discover the Trail! (KDT!) trips for the spring. If you’re not familiar with the program, the Lab welcomes almost every 5th grader in the county, and volunteers are a huge part of helping them explore birds and nature. Please see the note from Sarah below with more dates and details!
• This year we’ll be consolidating our Volunteer Appreciation events in an effort to get more of us together at once. Rather than holding separate events in January and June for folks that help with separate programs, we’ll be hosting something during National Volunteer Appreciation Week (April 19-25). I’ll share more details as that approaches.
Please reach out with any questions! If you’re no longer available/ interested in volunteering and would like to be removed from this list, just let me know.
Best,
Peter
Hello all,
We have started planning for Kids Discover the Trail! (KDT!). Our field trips have been a huge hit, thanks in large part to many of you! For those of you who have volunteered in the past I hope you will join us again. If you are interested in joining the KDT! ranks please let me know!
What is required of KDT volunteers?
• January: Please confirm if you plan to volunteer this year.
• February-March: Sign volunteer forms, undergo a background check (for working with minors), get assigned a Cornell NetID, take a short online CU Learn course.
• April: Attend volunteer training and sign up for program dates.
o Attend 3 Monday morning training sessions in April (4/6, 4/13/, 4/20) for a couple of hours. If you attended the first day of the Tours Training, you can skip the first session.
o Practice biodiversity walk and afternoon rotations and shadow peer walks on Monday, 4/27.
• May: Help run programs! We expect ~20 program dates between May 4 – June 6 (exact dates TBA). Volunteer shifts are 9:00 am – 1:00 pm, for as many programs as you choose to sign up for, although we do request a minimum of 5 sign ups. New volunteers shadow / assist for their first two programs.
If you know of other people who might like to volunteer, please feel free to pass this on! As always, your help is what makes these programs possible. Please reach out with any questions or concerns – and most importantly, please let me (<skw67...><mailto:<skw67...>) know if you can volunteer this year no later than February 3.
Thanks so much and I look forward to hearing from you,
