Citizen Science Investigators
“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” – William Shakespeare
Museum Ornithologist, John Gerwin, with several CSI Spring 2012 participants, taking a bird out of a net prior to banding the bird.
Citizen Science projects are vast, in a variety of fields and topics and enlist the help of the public with collecting large quantities of data across many habitats and over long spans of time — if you’re a citizen and you want to help study birds, bugs, or even frogs, you can probably find a project and quickly learn how to get involved in helping scientists.
Museum Ornithologist Brian O’Shea and some CSI Spring 2012 participants learning to use binoculars.
Of all our group was able to learn, experience, and accomplish, there were some definite highlights: spotting a bald eagle flying overhead while learning how to use binoculars, having a juvenile great horned owl fly closely over our heads while walking at Prairie Ridge, and even catching a male kingbird in our banding nets! But to our educators, getting to truly impact others by showing them a little bit of the magic we feel everyday we work with and in nature is the best highlight of all.
Museum Ornithologist John Gerwin, explaining the intricacies of a Mourning Dove to CSI Spring 2012 participants.
Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (University of Minnesota) http://www.mlmp.org/
Monarch Watch (University of Kansas) http://www.monarchwatch.org/
Monarch Health (University of Georgia) http://www.monarchparasites.org/
NestWatch (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) http://watch.birds.cornell.edu/nest/home/index
Spring in the Mountains Educator Trek
“I am not a teacher but an awakener.” ~Robert Frost
There is so much in the natural world to awaken curiosity. There are scientific questions to be answered, there are amazing organisms to marvel at, there is peace to be found. This weekend, 16 educators took time to immerse themselves in the ecology of the Smoky Mountains to reawaken their curiosity, and to bring new eyes and new ideas back to the students they teach every day.
All of our field work on Saturday took place at the Appalachian Highlands Learning Center at Purchase Knob.
Erin skipped the sifter box and looked under the leaf litter for small invertebrates to collect with her aspirator.
Driving up the mountain to the Appalachian Highlands Learning Center (AHLC) was like driving back in time. Though trees are almost fully leafed out and it feels like summer in the Piedmont, on the high peaks of the Smoky Mountains it’s still spring! One focus of the ongoing citizen science projects at the AHLC is observation of phenology – the study of the changing of the seasons. As global climate changes, it’s important to understand its effects on the plants and animals of an ecosystem. For instance, if a migratory bird eat a species of caterpillar, and that caterpillar eats the newly emerging leaves of a particular tree species, the timing of the leafing out of the tree, the hatching of the caterpillar, and the arrival of the migratory bird are all interdependent. A change in one can greatly affect the other two. Our group collected phenology data to add to a large data set being collected by students and teachers at the AHLC site. We observed the phenological phases of 20 trees that are being monitored, we collected data on bird species we observed or heard, and we collected data on leaf litter invertebrates present in the soil. Each group collecting data follows specific protocols to maintain the quality of the study. Citizen science projects like these are a great way to become involved in the scientific process.
The beautiful red Vasey’s Trillium was in bloom along the trail we hiked to the salamander collection site.
The group also took time to slow down and observe and reflect on the beautiful surroundings. We spent time recording observations and writing creatively about wildflowers and learned to identify some of the common species. As we walked a stream-side trail in Cataloochee Valley, we slowed down to find all sorts of interesting things along the way – from a spider carrying her egg case to a 90 foot Carolina Silverbell tree that was shedding its blossoms. It was amazing to see the variety of things we found on one short stretch of trail when we took the time to slow down and look closely. And we took time to share a few quotes and reflect on the importance of connecting with nature.
This female wolf spider was carrying around her egg sac. When it hatches, the baby spiders will ride on her back for a time.
” You can see a lot by just looking.” ~Yogi Berra
Shad in the Classroom Release!
For a couple of weeks now classrooms across North Carolina have been participating in the Shad in the Classroom program. Students and teachers work together to raise American Shad from eggs to releasable fry. American Shad are an anadromous fish species that swim up North Carolina’s rivers to reproduce. The efforts of this program are in conjunction with restorations efforts led by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Today, students from East Wake Middle School in Wake County and Chestnut Grove Middle School in Stokes County are releasing their fry in the Neuse River Basin!
Biologists from NCWRC did a demonstration for the East Wake students with an electro-fishing boat. This is the type of boat they use to collect the fish that are brought to the hatchery to spawn.
Students from Chestnut Grove released their shad into the Eno River, which flows into the Neuse.
Where Swans Fly and Bears Walk Educator Trek
Sunrise At Pungo Lake
Today, a group of educators took time away from home in order to work on their appreciation of nature, and in turn, better foster an appreciation of nature in their students. We spent a long day at Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge near Plymouth, NC. Pocosin Lakes is the wintering grounds for thousands of tundra swans and snow geese, and home to a dense population of black bears. Our goal was to stand under a sky filled with swans and walk in the tracks of bears.
Snow Geese flying overhead at sunrise
Our day began and ended with the spectacle of snow geese. They tend to spend the night on Pungo Lake, but disperse just after sunrise to feed in the agricultural fields on the refuge and beyond. We pulled up to the fields at the south end of the refuge just as the 60,000 snow geese flew in. It’s hard to describe the sight and sound of that many birds – someone compared it to the noise of the city, but with a more musical quality. They swirl around the fields looking for a propitious site to land and finally settle down to feed. At the end of a full day, we rushed to the south side of the lake to watch the swans and geese fly in for the night, passing in front of the almost-full moon.
Not too far into the morning, we were rewarded with our first bear sighting. With a title like Swans and Bears for an educational program, there were high hopes from everyone that we would see a bear. At the first glimpse of a giant majestic black ball of fur, the bus erupted with cries of “BEAR BEAR BEAR!” If the sound of an oncoming bus wasn’t enough to startle the bear, I’m sure our shouts were heard. The juvenile bear began galloping off to try and find shelter. After feeling a bit of protection from a cluster of trees, the bear slowed and checked us out again. We could see its head poking out as we all strained to get a better look. After a short period of time the bear turned and sprinted off into a corn field. The pressure of trying to spot a bear on our trip had eased and a sense of peace and contentment swept over us for being able to share that short moment of excitement.
The middle of the day was filled with learning. Someone talked about reading about ‘pocosin’ habitat, and being required to teach about it, but not really knowing what it was, beyond the words describing it in a textbook. Today we experienced pocosin when we walked along a short section of a game trail among the thick gallberry, wax myrtle, and red bay. And we learned from Wendy, the refuge biologist, that pocosin habitat was once widespread in eastern North Carolina before it was ditched and drained for farming. Much of the Pocosin Lakes Refuge is set aside for this particular habitat and the creatures that call it home.
Black Bear tracks along road
Pocosin Lakes is the type of place that can reach down into your soul. It’s not the landscape itself – the agricultural fields that provide food for the waterfowl, the dwindling pocosin habitat filled with dense evergreen shrubs, the drainage canals that keep the roads drive-able and fields farmable. It’s what lies hidden just around the bend, or behind the vegetation, or in the woods. It’s the huge lines of snow geese undulating in the sky, then covering the ground like snow. It’s the gentle whistling of the swans and the whir of their wings as they fly overhead. It’s a dirt roadway, full of more tracks than you’ve ever seen before – hinting at the numerous bears, raccoons, foxes, and deer hiding just behind the river cane.
Junior Curator Winter Waterfowl Trip
Thirteen of the Museum’s Junior Curators spent the weekend exploring wildlife refuges in Eastern North Carolina. This area of the state is the wintering grounds for thousands of waterfowl including tundra swans, snow geese, and many species of ducks. It’s also home to the densest population of black bears in the continental United States. So it’s a great place to experience wildlife. We visited Pettigrew State Park, Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, and Lake Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge. As we’ve been traveling, we’ve been enjoying some Christmas music from my iPod, and the kids also wanted to be sure to mention their enjoyment of the Sesame Street Christmas version of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Rather than five gold rings, Bert sings “five argyle socks” in his particular, nasal voice. The leaders have been regaled with loud singing of this particular line many times now…
We finished the trip with a quiet time for journaling and reflection on one of the boardwalk trails. We all spread out and enjoyed a moment listening to the sounds of the refuge – the cry of a hawk, the whistling of the swans, the chipping of sparrows, the honking of geese, and the loud cracks of branches as Nick tramped through the woods. Everyone agreed it was good to take a moment to sit quietly away from man-made sounds and enjoy a wild place.
Lifelong Hike – Occoneechee Mountain
On October 5, Martha Fisk and I took a group of the “Lifelong Hikers” to Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area near Hillsborough, NC. It was a beautiful day for a hike with cool weather and a hint of fall color on the trees.
At 867 feet, Occoneechee Mountain is the highest point in Orange County, due in large part to its interesting geologic history. Millions of years ago, this area was part of a volcanically active island arc. Like in present day Yellowstone National Park, water seeping into the ground from rain and snowmelt was heated by the underlying magma chamber, rose to the surface, and formed thermal features like geysers, hot springs, mudpots, and fumeroles (steam vents). As the water traveled through the bedrock, it dissolved silica from the rocks, leaving behind rocks that had been hydrothermally altered to form kaolinite clay and sericite mica. At the surface, the silica was redeposited as sinter when the water cooled.
The mineral goethite gets its rainbow coloration from water bound up in its chemical structure.
Much later, when the island arc collided with another landmass, the rocks were deformed. The kaolinite was transformed into the mineral pyrophyllite, the sericite into sericite phyllite, and the siliceous sinter was transformed into quartz rock. Quartz is a very common mineral, so you might already know that it is quite hard and resistant to weathering. The quartz rock forms the spine of Occoneechee Mountain. Pyrophyllite is a very soft mineral – as soft as talc – and historically was mined in a quarry on the north side of Occoneechee Mountain.
A geologic highlight for the group was seeing the mineral goethite in the area of the old quarry. The rainbow coloration is caused by the water bound up in its chemical structure.
Occoneechee Mountain also hosts a diverse community of plants and animals. Some species found on its ridge and north slope are more commonly seen in the NC mountains, including galax, mountain laurel, and Catawba rhododendron. As our group hiked along the north side of the mountain, we noticed the slightly skunky smell of galax in the air – a smell that is reminiscent of hikes in the North Carolina mountains. The dark green leaves of galax grow close to the ground, but in spring and early summer their tall white flower stalks are impressive. Huge chestnut oaks dominate the plant community along the ridge of the mountain and provide acorns for hungry squirrels, deer, and turkeys. From our observations of large quantities of chestnut oak acorns on the ground, we suspect that this will be a very good mast year!
A final highlight was seeing a red-spotted purple butterfly egg and caterpillar in the picnic area as we were eating lunch!
The caterpillar of the red-spotted purple butterfly feeds on wild cherry trees.
Amazon Rainforest Workshop
Robert and James on the Canopy Walkway
From July 5—14, 2011, a group of travelers headed to the Amazon Rainforest in northern Peru to learn about this unique ecosystem, and to assist Dr. Meg Lowman with ongoing research on canopy insects and plants using the world’s longest canopy walkway. The group included Educators of Excellence alumni, community leaders and students who were selected through a competitive application process.
