Birds Of Liberty Lake Are His Passion
Anytime he’s near the water, Liberty Lake resident Glen Volyn is listening, always watching as birds dance by.
Volyn, a 36-year-old family practitioner, has spent the past 20 years studying and painting the birds that flutter around the lake. Two years ago, the hobby inspired Volyn to build his own kayak to paddle closer to the birds.
A lifelong Liberty Lake resident, less the eleven years he spent in college and medical school, Volyn has become quite the neighborhood artist and expert on fowl.
“He has developed a whole catalog of aquatic life around the lake,” said neighbor Tom Markson. “He can do anything. He’s just an extraordinary person.”
Volyn’s passion for birds began in high school. He paddled around Liberty Lake in a canoe his father bought, studied field guides and quickly learned to identify birds by their distinctive markings.
“That started it all off,” said Volyn’s father, Jerry.
A marsh on the south end of the lake soon became Volyn’s favorite spot to bird watch. Gliding along on the lake, Volyn quietly admired the birds’ graceful flights, and the way they dodged effortlessly in and out of the trees.
Those peaceful moments molded Volyn’s sketches. Watercolors now add a bird’s distinctive markings to many of Volyn’s drawings.
Several of Volyn’s works are displayed on the walls of his office and home. Many of the prints in his office are for sale, and include a brief explanation of the bird and inspiration for the painting.
“I always wanted to be a bird artist all the way through college,” Volyn said.
As a teenager, Volyn’s love for birds often sent him exploring the woods behind his parent’s house on the south end of Liberty Lake. He spent hours tracking birds, staking out favorite nests among the tall pines.
“When I was a kid, when I wasn’t kayaking, I’d hike up here toward Mica Peak,” said Volyn, the father of a 6-year-old daughter and 14-month-old son. “I spent a lot of time up in these hills.”
Volyn occasionally returns to the trails he blazed growing up, but has since learned he doesn’t have to climb far to find a wide variety of birds.
A gravel road that overlooks Volyn’s favorite marsh provides a platform for his spotting scope and a perch to keep an eye on the trees and the lake. The combination of trees and water make the area a popular nesting spot for the birds.
“The marsh is a warehouse of birds,” Volyn said.
On a recent hike down a rocky trail to the marsh, Volyn stopped every couple of steps. A grosbeak belted out its song from a lofty roost catching Volyn’s attention. The bird was well hidden, so off Volyn went again.
A couple more steps. He stopped. A violet-green swallow darted across the trail. More singing.
“Where is that crazy grosbeak? He’s not very far away,” Volyn said.
A few more steps. Another bird screamed across the trail, dodging up then down to avoid brush and trees.
“There’s a cedar waxwing,” Volyn called to his visitors. “See the yellow stripe in the tail? That’s how you can tell. He’s hawking for an insect.”
And on he went, emersed in the outdoors.
“He’ll talk your ear off,” said Volyn’s wife, Kim. “He loves to talk about the lake.”
Volyn’s family cannot match his enthusiasm for birds, but even if they won’t admit it, they are becoming quite good at bird watching, he said.
“I think everybody around me learns the birds whether they want to or not,” Volyn said.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 photos