The Wildling Art Museum announced the continuation of its popular series of outdoor studies with the Winter, 2006, course entitled “The Natural History of the Santa Ynez Region.” This seven week field course met every Tuesday morning, 8:30-10:30, beginning January 10, and was an expanded version of the birding class that has been offered in past years.

While still including a strong grounding in introductory and advanced birding, the winter course investigated many other aspects of the unique natural history of our area. As in past series, the instructor was the well-known local expert, Dr. Fred Emerson. Winter in the Santa Ynez Valley is a wonderful time to study natural history. Instead of a period of quiet dormancy, the winter landscape experiences a miraculous transformation. Flowers bloom, berries appear, and fields turn green again. Winter visitors and year-round residents among the bird and insect communities fill the skies, nest in the trees, and float on the ponds newly created by the winter rains. A winter nature walk in our area, with a gifted naturalist as guide, is an essential experience for those wishing to truly appreciate the great biological diversity of the region. Our area abounds in subjects of interest to the naturalist, and Dr. Fred Emerson’s broad educational background and long study of our area's natural history make him a great source of information and inspiration for his students. “Natural History of the Santa Ynez Region.” featured visits to different sites each week, and the locations were selected to best represent the shifting subjects of each meeting.