Baltimore Woods Nature Center is excited to Partner with Matt Young’s Mindful Nature Expeditions to offer a series of outdoor excursions in 2024. 

This naturalist wellness class will combine observing nature with mindfulness, creating a practice that incorporates a heightened sense of awareness, both in ourselves and the environment around us. Labeling or identifying species is not the only focus, but instead, the intention is also to slow down and notice how to use nature, including birds, butterflies, trees, flowers, and more as our guide. This style of observation invites reciprocity, sit-spots and self-reflection, journaling and exploration, and an acknowledgment of our physical and emotional responses while we engage with the outdoors.

Matt Young will lead six outings throughout the year. Click on any single date in this list to register for any individual session.

• February 17, 2024 (8:30-10:30am) at Baltimore Woods: Wellness through feeder watching and finches are a guide.
• March 9, 2024 (8:30am-2:30pm) at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge: The magic of waterfowl migration and the sense of awe.
• May 11, 2024 (8:30-10:30am) SOLD OUT! at Pleasant Valley CNYLT Preserve: Breeding birds and opening yourself up to reading the land and listening to sound.
• May 25, 2024 (8:30am-2:30pm) Bear Swamp State Forest south end of Skaneateles Lake: Warblers and our amazing neotropical migrants from Central and South America.
• June 29, 2024 (8:30am-2:30pm) SOLD OUT! at Jam Pond (German, NY): Orchids, butterflies and bog walking in an outdoor playground.
• July 13, 2024 (8:30-10:30am) at Baltimore Woods and Pleasant Valley: The comfort of trees and the experiences we’ve shared together on our journey through the classes.

Details:

• Cost: $30 for each individual session. Space is limited.
• Ages 18 and up

Cancellation Policy:

Program registration fees are non-refundable except in cases of family/medical emergencies. Baltimore Woods Nature Center may cancel a program due to weather, low enrollment, or changes in New York State guidelines for COVID-19. In the event of a cancellation, pre-registrants will be notified by email or phone and any pre-payments will be refunded.

About Matt Young

Matt has worked in the social work field with special needs adolescents for more than 10 years (currently as care manager supervisor), and worked at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology across 15+ years where he did extensive field work for the Lab’s Cerulean and Golden-winged Warblers atlas projects, and was project lead on the Lab’s first Finch Irruptive Bird Survey for Bird Source in 1999. Matt was the Collections Management Leader/Audio Engineer at the Macaulay Library for 12 years where he edited sounds for several Merlin packs around the world in addition to being the lead audio engineer on guides, The Songs of the Warblers of North America, Audubon Society Voices of Hawaii’s Birds, and the Cornell Lab’s Guides to Bird Sounds: the North America Master and Essential Sets.He has been a tour guide leader for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours, written finch species accounts for breeding bird atlases and Birds of the World, and has published several papers about the Red Crossbill vocal complex and the Spiranthes orchid complex. He is currently working on Finches of North America with Lillian Stokes and is also the President and Founder of the Finch Research Network (FiRN), the Native Orchid Conservation Network (NOCN), and owner of Mindful Nature Expeditions.