Crane Festival dominates weekend activities

The Othello Sandhill Crane Festival begins today and continues through Sunday. If you have never participated in this annual event, now is the time.

The festival is tour and lecture rich. There will be tours of: Potholes Reservoir Boat Birding Tour, Lower Crab Creek Birding Tour, Columbia National Wildlife Refuge Tour, several Crane Viewing Tours, Puget Sound Energy Tour, Biking for Cranes Tour, Missoula Floods and the Channeled Scablands Tour to name a few.

Lectures include: Greater Sage-Grouse, Songs Birds Sing, Using Native Plants in The Garden (this lecture by Moses Lake's own Cynthia Calbick), Greater Sage-Grouse and Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse, Dragonflies of Columbia National Wildlife Refuge, Pollinators of the Native Shrub-Steppe, Ice Age Floods and the Channeled Scablands, Central Washington is Disneyland for Geologist, Birds of the Shrub-Steppe and many more.

This is a children-friendly event, with lots of activities on Saturday, such as origami, a variety of crafts, creative painting projects and much more. Mask making is also available. These events are free to children attending the Festival who are accompanied by a paying adult.

The migration game takes place all day Saturday. Take to the wing and migrate from your winter to summer home. Discover the trials and obstacles birds face on their long migration routes.

This activity, hosted by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, will be held in the cafeteria and is fun for all ages. Everyone is welcome.

Also all day Saturday local 4-H individuals and groups, third grade through high school youth, will perform public speaking presentations on resource and agriculture topics.

An add attraction is a visit of "The Abraham Lincoln," which is America's oldest operating railroad car. This vehicle will be on display on North Broadway from 5 to 8 p.m. today, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Begin your Saturday fun at the Othello Rotary Breakfast, served from 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Othello High School. On the menu will be pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, coffee and juice.

Folks, I'm telling ya, this is a great event for adults and youth. The festival website is: www.othellosandhillcranefestival.org.

Spring turkey hunting season opens in just 19 days, youth season opens a week from tomorrow

The 2015 spring turkey season is just a few weeks away. The general season is April 15 through May 31. Legal birds will be gobblers and turkeys with visible beards only. The Eastern Washington limit will be two turkeys with a few exceptions.

The youth season will take place on April 4 and 5. This season is open statewide and all other turkey hunting regulations apply to the youth season. This is a super opportunity for adults to introduce hunting to our youth. Begin planning now, so the opportunity doesn't slip away.

More on turkey season next week.

Multiple-season permits due by March 31

Deer and elk hunters have until March 31 to enter their name in a drawing for a 2015 multiple-season permit, which can greatly increase their opportunities for success in the field.

In mid-April, Fish and Wildlife will randomly draw names for 8,500 multiple-season deer permits and 1,000 multiple-season elk permits.

Winners of the drawing will be eligible to purchase a special tag allowing them to participate in archery, muzzleloader and modern firearm general hunting seasons for deer or elk in 2015. Winners who purchase the multiple-season elk tag by Aug. 31 can participate in general elk-hunting season in both eastern and western Washington.

Winners also may choose any weapon type when applying for a special permit to hunt deer or elk.