CLC plans Earth Day activities
Judd Brink, a 34-year-old entrepreneur in his third year with his business MN Backyard Birds, will be a featured speaker Wednesday at Central Lakes College Earth Day activities.
Brink built his business on his 22 years of bird watching.
At Earth Day on the Central Lakes College campus from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Brink will talk about his birding services. He guides adults to sightings the casual observer may rarely discover.
"I just taught myself," Brink said, recalling his teenage years as an observer from the family's backyard. In the winter, he watched along a river bank from a shed equipped with a heater and Plexiglas window. "Mom even brought me hot chocolate, so I spent after-school hours out there."
Judd Brink of Brainerd turned his bird-watching passion into a business. He sells and services recycled bird feeders. He will have examples of his feeders at the Earth Day event Wednesday at Central Lakes College in Brainerd. A display also is located at Northland Arboretum, which is co-hosting Earth Day events.
He logged hours of viewing in journals now stacked in the naturalist's archives along with books such as the Peterson guides and Carroll Henderson's "Landscaping for Wildlife."
Earth Day agenda at Central Lakes College
Central Lakes College Earth Day agenda includes displays, activities, games and food. Activities are planned from 10 a.m. to about 3 p.m. Buses will have a regular time schedule between CLC and the Northland Arboretum from 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
• 10 a.m.- 1 p.m., Law Enforcement Cook Out - $5.
• Noon-1:30 p.m., Games and Activity Time for Little Ones in the Circle Cube by the cafeteria - activities will be led by environmental studies, natural resources, horticulture and law enforcement students.
• Noon, Food Web Game, environmental studies.
• 12:30 p.m. How many Bears Live in the Woods - NR students.
• 1 p.m. Aquatic Food Web - Limnology students.
• 2:30-2:45 p.m. Earth Day prize drawing.
• 3-4 p.m. activities winding down.
Brink's education includes a two-year degree from the natural resources program at Central Lakes College and a bachelor's degree from Northland College in Ashland, Wis., one of the foremost private environmental institutions and home to the Sigurd Olson Institute.
He also was inspired by a neighbor, the late Walter Breckenridge, a wildlife artist. Breckenridge made a name for himself as curator at the Bell Museum of Natural History and for his dioramas enriched by the birder's vision.
"He was a mentor," Brink said.
Brink spent his teenage summers working as a naturalist at suburban nature centers near his Brooklyn Park home. For about 18 months after college, he learned the business side of a retail bird store developing product knowledge and customer service skills. Then he worked five years for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey.
Aside from leading tours six days a week, Brink enjoyed a stretch of time that really connected him with scientific bird watching. He signed on for a endangered species recovery project to find and observe the rare songbird, the Kirtland warbler.
After realizing the dream job for him may not be that of a wildlife biologist, he developed his own business.