Out & About

OUTSPEAK

Following Muir’s lead

Search the roots of the social movement we call environmentalism in a free Get Lit presentation “On John Muir’s Trail: Nature in an Age of Liberal Principles” by historian Donald Worster, 7:30 p.m., Wednesday in the Spokane Community College Lair-Student Center.

OUTFIELD

Expert questions ivory-billed sighting

Woodpecker authority Martin Collinson of Aberdeen University in Scotland has set the bird world buzzing by reanalyzing frame-by-frame the 2004 video proof that an ivory-billed woodpecker was living in an Arkansas swamp.

The last confirmed ivory-billed sighting in North America was in 1944. Researchers believed the species was extinct, and Collinson says they shouldn’t change their minds.

The bird in the film is a pileated woodpecker, he advised, noting the bird had a wing flap consistent with the rate of the pileated woodpecker and it had black trailing wing edges, not the white wing edges of an ivory-billed.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology scientists remain convinced that the bird is an ivory-billed. They plan to publish a rebuttal.

OUTBLOSSOM

Distasteful to deer

Observed in the Mount Spokane foothills last weekend: Deer will eat most domestic plants that are sprouting and blooming this time of year, except daffodils.

OUTBIRD

Learn their songs

What: Spring Symphony, a free introduction to the songs and calls of local birds.

Who: By Kris Buchler, Coeur d’Alene Audubon Society.

When: Monday, 7 p.m.

Where: First Presbyterian Church, 521 E. Lakeside, Coeur d’Alene.

OUTFLOAT

Get a splash of basic water safety

A free overview of water safety for anyone who recreates near lakes or streams will be presented Wednesday, 7 p.m., at Mountain Gear, 2002 N. Division.

Learn how to read water, avoid danger, react to a water emergency, choose the proper lifejacket and the proper craft for paddling.

Also get information on waterways and laws for this region.

Info: (509) 242-4537.

OUTLOOK

Best fishing times

Lunar tables from the U.S. Naval Observatory. Be fishing at least one hour before and one hour after peak times. Applies to all time zones. (* indicates best days.)

Through April 22

* Today: 11:30 a.m., 11:55 p.m.

Monday: 12:20 p.m., 12:50 a.m.

Tuesday: 1:15 p.m., 1:45 a.m.

Wednesday: 2:15 p.m., 2:45 a.m.

Thursday: 3:15 p.m., 3:45 a.m.

Friday: 4:15 p.m. —

Saturday: 5:20 p.m., 5:50 a.m.

* Next Sunday: 6:20 p.m., 6:45 a.m.

See the Hunting-Fishing Report

every Friday in Sports