Birds and Spiders

2210 South FM 973
Austin, TX 78725
Google Map directions 

(Please note that if you search your online maps for “Hornsby Bend” or even “Hornsby Bend Center for Environmental Research,” you may get the wrong place. PLEASE use the address or directions link provided.)

Classroom is located in the brick building just inside the security gate to Hornsby Bend Wastewater Treatment Plant. Check in with the gate guard, let them know you are in the CAMN class. There is plenty of free parking. The CER has an auditorium (to the right as you enter), bathrooms, water fountain, etc.  See the Hornsby Site Map for more details.

Date:  03/02/2019
Start time: 8:00 am
End time: 2:30 pm

Lunch

Bring your own lunch. Plenty of space to spread out and eat lunch inside or outside if the weather is good.

Where to Park

In the parking lot just inside the guard gate, next to the visible building. There is plenty of parking. Just let the guard at the gate know that you are here for a CAMN class.

Class Speakers

Jane Tillman

• Jane is a retired UT lecturer in Nutritional Sciences whose passion is birds. She is an active member of the Travis Audubon Society where she is the co-chair of the Speaker’s Bureau and Program Committee, and a member of the Education Committee. She teaches beginning backyard birding classes and gives talks about Central Texas birds and gardening for birds to garden clubs, neighborhood associations, bird festivals and libraries. Jane teaches a Birds of Central Texas class for the local non-profit Lifetime Learning Institute. She gardens for wildlife, has a Best of Texas Backyard Wildlife Habitat, and was fortunate to have a rare Mexican Violet-ear hummingbird visit her yard in 2008.

  Jane is a past president of the Native Plant Society of Texas, Austin chapter. Jane is also the field trip coordinator for the Texas Ornithological Society and leads field trips for Travis Audubon. She writes a monthly bird forecast blog post for a local TV station. She has been a Capital Area Master Naturalist since 2001.

Joe Lapp, aka Spider Joe

• “Spider Joe” lives a dual life as an arachno-naturalist and a software architect, studying spider taxonomy as part of a larger effort to help citizen scientists learn to identify spiders, and creating software technologies that hopefully will usher in a future in which everyone naturally contributes to the taxonomic understanding of the world.

How to Prepare

• Dress for the weather. We will be outside.
• Bring your own lunch.
• Be sure to bring:
  • Binoculars
  • Bird field guide if you’ve got it
  • A sack lunch!
  • Notebook
  • Pen/pencil
  • Reusable coffee mug/thermos
  • Reusable water bottle
• Curriculum Units to Read:
  • Unit 12: Ornithology

Outdoor Component Description

We will carpool and take a mid-morning drive around the Hornsby Bend ponds and hike the trails along the Colorado River. Trainees should come dressed for the weather; long pants, closed-toe shoes, warm clothing, hat and water are recommended. Bring a bird and/or spider field guide if you have it and binoculars. A small backpack or vest with pockets is recommended to store any gear you bring along.