Who we are ~ What we do
Nature in Novato is a project of Wild Birds Unlimited of Marin, a locally-owned shop dedicated to the appreciation of birds and nature around our homes and neighborhoods. In past years, we led the occasional walk, gave the occasional presentation, and talked with myriad visitors about local nature. In 2018, co-owner Jack Gedney decided to expand the educational branch of these labors into its own freestanding tree called Nature in Novato, a home for diverse writings on nature in Novato and Northeast Marin County and a platform for our free guided walks and in-store seminars.
If you’d like to support Nature in Novato, come visit our store at Novato’s Vintage Oaks shopping center or our online store here.
Get more
The ideal reaction to our labors here is simple: that you will go outside, look and listen, and discover new riches here in your own home territory. But if you want more guidance and inspiration from us beyond exploring the content on this site, here are some ideas:
Subscribe: The first and easiest step you can take right now to keep yourself exploring is to subscribe to updates from Nature in Novato. We typically post a few new articles a month (our all-time monthly record is six); if you subscribe you will get a notification when there is a new post, thereby giving yourself steady but not overwhelming reminders of what there is to be seen out there. Subscribing is also the best way to get priority notice of our upcoming events…
Attend an event: Each month, we host a few public guided walks in Novato and San Rafael and a seminar or two at Wild Birds Unlimited. All events are free, but registration is capped so that they don’t devolve into overcrowded unhelpful chaos. We post events as we schedule them throughout the month, send a summary of upcoming walks ‘n’ talks towards the end of each calendar month to Nature in Novato subscribers, and then announce any remaining vacancies in the Wild Birds Unlimited newsletter at the beginning of the next month, at which point they immediately fill up. So if you are finding that all of our free events are “sold out,” I would suggest you either 1) check our events page religiously every few days, or 2) subscribe to the blog as described above, which will include a once-a-month summary of upcoming events before they go out to the big bird store crowd.
You can also see our listing of other local nature events from other organizations here; or check the calendars of Marin Open Space and Marin Audubon for more guided walks throughout the county.
Visit the store: Do you want to talk to a real live human being about local nature? Would you like guidance on localizing your nature experience even more – into your own backyard? Or do you feel a pressing need to support Nature in Novato with all the resources your wallet can muster? Then visit our corporeal manifestation seven days a week at Wild Birds Unlimited at Vintage Oaks. We sell birdfeeding supplies, nature books and gifts, and binoculars – it’s the birdseed biz that keeps the blog servers running and the walk-leaders walking.
Give more
If you’d like to get involved in supporting nature locally, there are several groups who will welcome your help.
For satisfyingly hands-on work in habitat restoration in the Novato area, see Marin Parks, Marin Audubon, and the Hamilton Wetlands. The Olompali People seeks volunteers for various project in Olompali State Historic Park.
Birdwatchers can contribute to eBird and participate in the Cheep Thrills Christmas Bird Count every December. All-round amateur naturalists can submit sightings to iNaturalist.
For climate action and general sustainability on the local level:
- Household: To reduce your home footprint, check out these local resources on Energy Efficiency, Solar, and Electric Vehicles; sign up for Deep Green or Novato-produced Local Sol; or join a community-based climate action team through Resilient Neighborhoods.
- Business: If you own, patronize, or otherwise have an in with a local business, encourage them to become a Deep Green Champion, get a low cost upgrade to efficient LED lights through SmartLights, or become a certified Green Business. Support your local green businesses, including both the formally recognized and the intrinsically green, such as bike shops, used book stores, libraries, and, ahem, birdwatching stores.
- Community: City of Novato’s Sustainability Page and Sustainable Novato
- Activist: 350 Marin, Marin Chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby