SHORELINES

17 a p c s hor e l i n e s.c om | 2015 Vol :4 to disappoint our fans so we stand there hoping everything goes according to plan." As for the eagle itself, the crowd is only a mild distraction thanks to his focus on the food, the months of routine practice, and children. The latter are the students in some 300 classrooms where Hudson presents educational programs with Auburn's cast of 27 nonreleasable raptors, a traveling show of hawks, owls, falcons, vultures and the Auburn eagles. "We do sessions on our 'wild neighbors,' tailoring each visit to the kids' grade level. Just imagine the noise from 500 elementary school students when we walk in. Those students help keep the birds desensitized to noise and to the clapping, photographs and crowd sounds of a game day." While the desensitizing is convenient, the classroom visits – on behalf of both the Raptor Center and Russell Lands – are so much more. They channel Hudson's passion for her life's calling, providing her a way to reach the next generation. In the schools and in themed programs at her Naturalist Cabin at Russell Crossroads, Hudson guides but doesn't preach. "I want each child to be inquisitive and predictive of what we might find," she explains. "I'm teaching kids to keep their eyes open and be aware that there are entire dramas being lived out right under our feet by creatures lower on the food chain than us. I realize that not every child is going to fall in love with a snail, but the skills they learn here can echo above and beyond class instruction. It's just awareness." Parents and teachers learn awareness, too. Especially the one teacher who quietly whispered a question into Hudson's ear. "She asked me what time in the morning I needed to get up to spread all those things around Russell Forest," the naturalist says with a smile. "I explained that I was finding creatures and the 'surprises' at the same time she was, that I hadn't put anything out like an Easter egg hunt. It was obvious she'd never been on a nature walk as a child with someone like me." These days it's easy to take the walk with Hudson. Families sign up for the guided tours or drop into the Naturalist Cabin programs; mothers schedule Hudson for birthday parties (perhaps a meet-and-greet with a crow, a hawk and maybe a few frogs). The Raptor Center presentations travel mostly to schools, Boy Scout troops and Auburn clubs. Hudson is admittedly high energy. "I'm pretty much always going and doing," she says. And subtly driving home her innermost beliefs about wildlife conservation. "If we can turn on a light and get people engaged in the natural world, they will learn to care about it and conserve it. You're just not going to care and protect anything you don't know about or understand. "If there's someone out there who hasn't experienced nature and had it stir up inside them, I invite them to come walk with me." To schedule that walk – or any other naturalist activity at Russell Forest – contact Hudson at naturalist@russelllands.com or 256-496-2710. – CAROL ANNE ROBERTS Funding for the Birds Alabama Power touches all aspects of Marianne Hudson's world, both at Lake Martin/Russell Lands on Lake Martin and Auburn's Southeastern Raptor Center. The SRC will receive $100,000 annually for two years to support educational initiatives. The center's programs include rehabilitation of injured, ill or orphaned birds as well as the educational programs, which fall under Hudson's job description.

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