Join us for the Exploring the San Lorenzo River tour on April 1 from 8:30 to 10:30.  This tour will be hosted by the Coastal Watershed Council and will be on the topic of fish in the river ecosystem. April Fools! This tour will be all about the arachnids that call the San Lorenzo River watershed home.

During the tour we will identify local spiders like black widows, orb weavers, house spiders and more. We will build webs for story telling and learn about the hunting, dancing and courtship patterns of spiders. We will learn about different spider strategies for web building and even build our own and test them out. This tour is open to all ages and we especially welcome youth interested in learning more about their watershed.The tour will be led by Brendan Bane and Saki Tamao.

Brendan is a freelance science communicator and recent graduate of the UC Santa Cruz Science Communication Program. His interest in biology blossomed when he first laid his eyes upon a giant, hairy tarantula. He later followed his passion to the cloud forests of Costa Rica, where he studied how tarantulas communicate their romantic intentions. (Basically, they twerk). Though he loved tromping through forests and spying on spiders in their roadside burrows, his greatest thrill did not come from the field or laboratory. Instead, he was happiest onstage, bringing audiences face to fang with spiders through visual storytelling. Now, through science reporting, he immerses readers in the lives of all flora and fauna, whether wondrous or weird.

Saki Tamao is the ArtSmart Manager and a teacher and performer with the Tandy Beal Company.

This tour will meet here on the Santa Cruz Riverwalk behind the Courthouse. To learn more contact River Scientist Alev Bilginsoy at abilginsoy@coastal-watershed.org. To sign up for the tour fill out the form below.

More on the tour series…