Lindsay Wildlife Museum, First Avenue, Walnut Creek
Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, June 1, 2011
At the nonprofit Lindsay Wildlife Museum, visitors admire hawks and owls, watch a gray fox romp in its dwelling and peer into the tank of a western pond turtle. Here, these and other native California wildlife, unable to return to the wild, help visitors learn about, appreciate and respect the creatures living among us.
1. Lindsay Wildlife Museum
1931 First Ave.: The origins of this pioneering wildlife hospital, natural history and environmental educational center date to the 1950s, when Alexander Lindsay taught kids about nature and founded the Diablo Junior Museum Association. Today 100,000 people visit each year. (925) 935-1978. www.wildlife-museum.org.
A boy gingerly approaches the owls, on perches inside the first of two rows of protected stations. Looking upward, he spies a barred owl, with its beautifully patterned feathers; a great horned owl, with its huge golden eyes; and a barn owl, with its heart-shaped face and finely detailed feathers.
3. Eagles and hawks
The resident birds of prey include a golden eagle, a bald eagle, a red-shouldered hawk and a Swainson's hawk. As with the other animals, you get to observe them and read their personal history, posted nearby. Each year, Lindsay's wildlife hospital treats more than 5,000 injured and orphaned wild animals.
4. Mammals and reptiles
Among the mammals is a young gray fox from Humboldt County discovered at just a few weeks old. Reptiles include a common garter snake, bearing scars from cuts from becoming entangled in garden netting. Following surgery and a long recovery at Lindsay's wildlife hospital, the snake's injuries deemed him nonreleasable.
5. Daily activities
On a recent afternoon, elementary school children on a field trip waited quietly for the arrival of Topaz the golden eagle during Raptors!, when keepers give a talk on a resident eagle, owl or hawk. It's one of several daily activities at the museum.
6. Lower level gallery
While taking the flight of stairs to the museum's lower level, you'll pass a massive rock exhibiting a taxidermy mountain lion, a buck and a coyote, with a turkey vulture flying overhead. Downstairs, the current art exhibit, "The Beauty of Mount Diablo," features this mountain from varying perspectives.
Free parking in lots on the east and west sides of the Lindsay Wildlife Museum and street parking on Buena Vista Avenue.
Public transit: Weekdays, take BART to Walnut Creek. Take the County Connection Route 7 to Buena Vista and First avenues. On weekends, take BART to Pleasant Hill and take a cab or walk approximately 1.2 miles to the museum by exiting onto Oak Road toward Treat Boulevard. Turn right onto Treat Boulevard, which becomes Geary Road, turn left onto Buena Vista Avenue and turn right onto First Avenue.
By car from S.F.: Take Interstate 580 east toward Hayward/Stockton and merge onto Highway 24 east. Merge onto Interstate 680 north; exit at Treat Boulevard, toward Geary Road, and turn left. Turn left onto Buena Vista Avenue and turn right onto First Avenue.
GOOD TO KNOW
Hours: Noon-5 p.m. Wed.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat.-Sun. (summer hours start June 15). Free-$7.
- Stephanie Wright Hession, firstname.lastname@example.org