Spring stirs at Swaner with returning cranes, waking snakes, and a season of family events

Swaner Preserve and EcoCenter in Park City is pictured ahead of a busy spring season of exhibits, birding tours and Earth Month programming. Photo: Swaner Preserve and EcoCenter

PARK CITY, Utah — At Swaner Preserve and EcoCenter, spring announces itself in layers.

First come the sounds: the rattling calls of sandhill cranes overhead and the trills of Uinta ground squirrels popping up from the ground. Then the motion — migratory birds passing through, garter snakes reappearing in the Demonstration Garden, moose emerging near the wetlands as the landscape wakes from winter.

“Things are starting to come to life on the Preserve,” said Emma Lowe, Office Manager for Swaner Preserve and EcoCenter.

This year, the sandhill cranes returned in early March, slightly earlier than last year, Lowe said. Uinta ground squirrels — often called “pot guts” — have also emerged, adding their chatter for the brief few months they spend above ground before disappearing again into hibernation. Swallows are expected soon, a return Lowe described as “quite magical” when they gather and sweep through the sky near the EcoCenter.

Other wildlife is stirring too. Beavers, active year-round, are usually most visible in early morning or evening. Staff recently spotted mule deer near the Preserve, and deer continue to pass through regularly. Garter snakes have already been seen in and around the Demonstration Garden — sometimes slipping inside the EcoCenter to warm themselves on the heated floors before being relocated outside by staff.

As the Preserve greens up, Swaner is pairing that seasonal activity with a slate of public programming.

One of the center’s featured attractions is Life on the Edge, a traveling exhibit open through May 10 that explores extreme environments on Earth and what they may reveal about the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe. The interactive exhibit includes a rover visitors can code, a digital microscope for viewing microbial colonies, and a station where children can build creatures adapted to harsh conditions. It is open during Swaner’s public hours, Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A free admission day is scheduled for April 15, with a rocket design challenge for guests to participate in from noon to 2:30 p.m.

Alongside it is the Wetland Supermarket, a free in-house exhibit that invites younger children to imagine themselves as preserve animals gathering wetland resources. Using species-specific shopping lists for animals such as beavers and sandhill cranes, the exhibit offers a playful introduction to the Preserve’s ecosystem and will remain on display through June 7.

Out on the Preserve, spring programming continues with Avian Adventures birding tours on April 19 and May 3, both beginning at 7 a.m. The three-hour outings, led by an expert birder, typically reveal dozens of species, Lowe said.

Earth Month events will bring visitors onto the land in new ways. Swaner is partnering with Park City Film for a screening of Heart of a Lion, a documentary following a mountain lion family, followed by a Q&A with experts. From April 24 to 26, the EcoCenter will take part in the global City Nature Challenge, offering nature packs, self-guided hike-and-seek activities, and a recycled-material nature journaling project tied to observations uploaded through the iNaturalist app. Swaner is also organizing a Kimball Junction Earth Day trash clenup on April 25, with shift to volunteer, coffee, snacks, and prizes from local businesses.

Later in the season, Swaner will open registration on April 21 for early June wildflower hikes in partnership with Basin Recreation. More details and registration for Swaner’s events can be fund on their web calander.

Even in the smaller details, spring is showing itself. In the Demonstration Garden, water-wise native plants such as yarrow, common blanket flower, and Rocky Mountain penstemon are beginning to emerge. Across the Preserve, wetland vegetation is starting to brighten, offering the first signs of the greener months ahead.

At Swaner, the season arrives not all at once, but piece by piece — in birdsong, thawing ground, moving water, and the steady return of life to the wetlands.