Event lets visitors go buggy at Birds of Prey Centre

By Justin Seward - Lethbridge Herald on August 15, 2023.

Herald photo by Justin Seward Youngster Randi Chrupka holds a giant cockroach as volunteer David Relkoff looks on during Insect Discovery Day on Saturday at the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre in Coaldale.

The Alberta Birds of Prey Centre in conjunction with the Entomological Society of Alberta hosted the 10th annual Insect Discovery Day in Coaldale on Saturday.

Attendees had the chance to see, catch and identify many types of different insects throughout the day.

In doing so, people had the opportunity to do pond dipping, butterfly catching, walk around and view displays of strange insects from around the world and new this year was Maureen-Sexsmith-West from LadyBug Arborist doing a talk on arboriculture through her display.

“I would say first of all you have to understand that bug people are sort of geeky,” said Kevin Floate, a yearly volunteer from the Entomological Society of Alberta.

“You know we like talking about bugs, it’s not just a job, it’s a passion. So it’s not too hard to get volunteers to come out and I think it’s important particularly for younger children.

“It’s OK for them to touch a caterpillar or to be interested in spiders, right, not everything should be stepped on and gross people out. So, we’re trying to reach out to particularly our younger set to get them encouraged in insects, but more generally in nature and the Alberta Prey Centre, of course, is a great place to come to learn about nature.”

Giant cockroaches were on display and are big hit because kids are encouraged to touch them.

“And sometimes the kids go ‘ick,'” said Floate.

“And we say why? Like why is it ‘ick?’ They pick that up from their parents probably, you know, and we just want them to relax around nature, not everything is scary. Yeah, be careful, you know, you’re picking up bumblebees or Yellow Jacket wasps but you don’t have to be afraid of them either. Just get them to pause and think about what’s going on around them and enjoy it more.”

It is encouraged for people to bring insects from their backyards.

“And we can help them identify and depending on the year, we might get a lot of say field crickets,” he said.

“So depending on the year, we get a lot of certain types of insects and none of others. So we talk about how insects are very sensitive to changes in the weather or long-term trends like climate change. This year has been a very dry, hot summer and one of our common insects that we normally catch in the river valley, we didn’t see any and these are these big, fat caterpillars. And I think they’re just developing so quick that they’ve already gone underground now for the winter.”

Colin Weir, managing director of the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre, highlighted that this event is important to the facility with its ecosystem.

“So this centre is a lot more than just about the hawks, falcons, eagles and owls,” said Weir.

“They’re kind of the flagship species that we look after and care for and do wildlife rescue. But then we got this wonderful ecosystem around us as well. Wetlands filled with probably thousands upon thousands upon thousands of insects that are here every summer that we often take for granted. And a lot of people don’t know much about them.

“And so we’re trying to get kids out from behind their computers, away from their cell phones to explore things in our own backyards, which we used to do a long time ago (and) which we don’t do quite as much right now.”

Weir saw a guy in England about 50 years go with a falcon on his arm and that interactive experience changed his life and created a path for him to build the centre.

“And similarly, some of these young people coming through here today are going to meet people like Kevin for the first time and all these other volunteers we have from the Entomological Society, and I bet you some of those kids are going to become entomologist themselves after these experiences that they get just from this one day that we have each year,” said Weir.

“And that’s part of the reason they’re doing it as well is just trying to catch that passion and ignite that little flame and change a course of direction for young people.”

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