Exploration

Nature preserves, parks and trails are a great way to enjoy Durham’s local wildlife.

Sandy Creek Park and the Durham Parks Foundation will participate with wildlife and bird sighting opportunities. You are invited to come to the park at your own convenience and make as many observations as you can. Learn more about Sandy Creek Park. Download a wildlife sightings list and plaster casts instructions below.

Wildlife Sightings Sandy Creek Park PDF

Plaster Cast Animal Tracks Instructions PDF

Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association has five nature preserves open to the public from dawn to dusk: https://www.ellerbecreek.org/our-preserves.html

Durham Parks and Recreation has many public parks and trails that you can visit from dawn to dusk:

• https://www.dprplaymore.org/159/All-Parks

• https://www.dprplaymore.org/35/TRAILS-GREENWAYS

Along the Eno River, various preserves and parks have trails open to the public from dawn to dusk:

https://www.enoriver.org/events-and-activities/visit-us/

Duke Forest has miles of running and walking trails to visit: https://dukeforest.duke.edu/

Other Ideas

Nature is all around us! You don’t have to travel to find it -- you can even find life living right in your own backyard.

Try taking a walk outside and look at your garden, or even just a bush or small tree. Notice the trunk, the stems, the leaves, and the flowers. Look closer, and you’ll see that there are insects living on those trees, and spiders poised to eat the insects, and bees pollinating the flowers. Turn over stones or walkway pavers and take a look at the worms and snails living underneath them.

Walk across grass and watch as grasshoppers and planthoppers jump out of your way. Turn an outdoor light on at night and check out the moths and other critters that are attracted to its glow. Nature is surprisingly easy to find – we just have to know where to look!

Education

Participate with Your Class

We’d love to have your class participate in the Durham BioBlitz! Teaching through outdoor projects can be a great way to engage different learning styles, center students’ interests & questions, and apply what they’re learning in the classroom.

City Nature Challenge, another BioBlitz project, has a great Education Toolkit that provides tips on getting ready to bring students outside, how to use iNaturalist, and how to integrate BioBlitz participation into your curriculum.

Have more questions about how to participate in the Durham BioBlitz with your class? Email Kati at kati.henderson@duke.edu.