Pollinator Walk

Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens honors the impact of National Pollinator Month each June by highlighting the essential role pollinators play in supporting biodiversity, healthy ecosystems, and nearly one out of every three bites of food we eat. Join us for a guided field walk with renowned biodiversity explorer and Naturalist Damon Tighe. Learn to spot and photograph pollinators around the gardens. Bring your cell phones and cameras, and learn the tricks for sneaking up on bees, flies, butterflies, and the occasional beetle, and which photos you need to get them identified. The walk will also focus on floral scents, as they can often help you understand what pollinators might be showing up to these plants. Whether you are a seasoned naturalist or simply curious about the buzzing world around you, this event offers a chance to slow down, observe closely, and connect with the small but mighty creatures keeping our gardens — and planet — thriving. Photo by MCBG Volunteer Mike Pociecha. EXTRA CREDIT Make the most of your Pollinator Walk experience by joining Damon Tighe for his Saturday afternoon talk, "Stinky Flowers and the Pollinators That Love Them," the day before (https://www.gardenbythesea.org/learn/pollinators-talk). Discover the surprising world of flies and other often-overlooked native pollinators, then bring that knowledge into the gardens during Sunday’s field walk as you learn to spot, photograph, and better understand the remarkable creatures keeping our ecosystems buzzing along. Tiny wings, enormous impact. ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR Damon Tighe grew up in Calaveras County, California and made his way to the Bay Area to attend Saint Mary's College in Moraga to student Biology and Chemistry. After stints as a teacher in Portland, Oregon, a filmmaker in Bozeman, Montana, he returned to the Bay Area to work on the Human Genome Project at the Joint Genome Institute and now works for Bio-Rad Laboratories helping teachers bring biotechnology and modern biology education into classrooms. He has fallen head over heals for fungi ever since running out of food on the John Muir Trail and wondering of the mushrooms "can I eat that?" He currently volunteers with the Fungal Diversity Survey helping to build a DNA sequence and voucher-based herbarium to understand California's diversity of mushrooms. WALK REGISTRATION Capacity is limited! Registration for this guided walk must be completed in advance online (https://www.gardenbythesea.org/learn/pollinator-walk) or at the MCBG Store. The registration fee is $36.00 per participant and covers your admission for the day. The discounted rate for current MCBG Members is $26.00 – sign in to access your discount. All fees are non-refundable unless the workshop has been canceled or rescheduled by the Gardens. Proceeds support our nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. Your participation in our workshops, walks, and events directly fuels our education programs, makes free school field trips possible, and helps people of all ages and backgrounds build meaningful connections with plants and the beauty of the natural world. Thanks from the MCBG Team and all who enjoy this garden by the sea!