critters!

I am teaching 8 sessions this week so its been fairly busy - here are some pictures of the more memorable creatures that we have come across while out catching things in the stream and frogs.

Giant Water Bug

An aquatic amphibian of some sorts

Fun bug camouflaging with the tree

Spider web with kids hunting herps in the background

bluebird in a nestbox!

Crazy Weather!

Went up to Duluth today to dive at the Great Lakes Aquarium. It was loads of fun (as always) but I did have to deal with some odd weather. This picture was taken as I left the city about 2:30 in the afternoon. Crazy fog rolled in as did a bunch of severe weather. Not fun to drive in at all. Things did get better as I got closer to Sandstone. I still managed to fit in my favorites so was a good outing with some interesting weather :)

Out of Eden

Since the weather isn’t great, I am having a lazy day. This morning I made myself a mug of coffee and then curled up in bed with a book and listened to the sounds of rain. Out of Eden by Alan Burdick looks into invasive species. From the brown tree snake to the zebra mussel, humans are responsible for transporting organisms faster and farther than they have been able to go in the past. Can we predict what impacts these species will have? 

Front and Back cover of the book!

The brown tree snake is blamed for the extinction of several birds in Guam. Today the focus is on preventing its spread to another chain of islands – Hawaii. It will most likely get there someday, either in a crate on a shipping vessel or stowed away on airplane. The probability is in the snakes favor. The million dollar question is; what will happen when it does? There have been several well studied systems where species have been introduced (intentionally and unintentionally) and we still are awful at figuring out how the ecosystem will change.

The first third of the book gave me the hebe jeebies because it was all about snakes. Big brown tree snakes. These snakes are nocturnal (so you rarely see them) and have been caught in cribs trying to eat infants hands. EWWW! Luckily, the book moved to other animals and the third of the book really interested me because the author followed aquatic biologists looking into the transport of little aquatic critters. The zebra mussel is a famous example in the Great Lakes of an introduced species. Across the worlds bays though there are hundreds.

Towards the end of the book, the author raises an interesting question. Does nature need to be pristine for humans to enjoy it? Do we care if the wild around us ends up being identical world wide? While I am not too big of a philosophical person, it certainly is interesting. Species are constantly on the move. Does it really matter if we have sped the process up? I think so. If I ever make it to Madagascar or go back to Australia, I would certainly be disappointed if I saw only the same animals that we have in the mid-west United States...

Sunshine and baby animals

It was another week that reminded me it was spring. We had a bunch of students come to the center, an outreach, a couple nice weather days and a number of phone calls about baby animals. And, this week was just a warm up for next week!
 

On Thursday, I presented 8 raptor programs to about 400 5th graders at Freshwater Fest in Pine City.

Orphaned gosling - unfortunately it didn't survive

Releasing a goldfinch with a first grader last week!

Twins vs Jays

On Sunday, I went to my third Minnesota Twins game. The Twins ended up loosing to the Toronto Blue Jays 3-11. Boo! Our original seats were in the shade which meant we were cold with the crazy winds. We moved to another part of the stadium so we could stand in sun. This meant I got my first wind/sun burn of the season.  Other than that it was loads of fun - I went with a group of people and got out of the Sandstone bubble. YAY!

Me and Amanda

The whole group of us!

more signs of spring!

This week was another busy week as the school year is winding up. We had a BUNCH of schools here this week and I taught pretty much every day. As a change of pace, we had some littles (1st and 2nd graders) on site in addition to the 5th graders. So cute!

Frog catching - spring peeper

type of stinkbug? we found on a hike

We also have had several rehab birds over the past week and even more calls about possible injured birds. Yet another sign that spring is here. We had a young woodcock come in that was bitten by a cat. I thought is was going to survive but I came back to check on it a couple hours after admitting it and found in bad shape. It didn't survive but it was adorable (see below). This is why all you should keep your cats inside - they kill birds :(

American woodcock

Spring Hike

Went for a walk in the woods today. Lots of vernal pools and little shoots of green popping up everywhere. Here are a few pictures I took:

Bloodroot

Wild Leek

Found the left overs of someones dinner

Water strider in a vernal pool!

Robins egg on the ground - broken :(

Silent Spring

Just finished Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. This is one of those books that I felt I had to read. It is a book that is often cited by current authors and Carson is credited for helping ban DDT. While DDT is mentioned alot, I didn't realize that the book really goes after the whole pesticide industry. Carson points out that many times, chemicals are sold to us as the "cure all." Unfortunetly more often than not, they are applied incorrectly, in doeses to high where residues run off and cause more problems than they actually solve. Best case scenario, a pest is thwarted for a couple generations. Worst case, we wipe out or cause severe problems for species (humans included) we never intended to harm.  DDT is banned in the US and many birds are now on the rebound - Peregrine Falcons and Bald Eagles have both been taken off the endangered species list.  It is however still used in other countries for controlling malaria. We are all connected and the chemicals we can devise can do good. If they are used as a last resort, sparingly and in the correct manner.

This book came out in 1962 and helped to start the environmental movement. The sad thing is that not a tremendous amount has changed in the nearly 40 years since its publication. We still douse our fields and homes in chemicals. Yes, we have many regulations today but it still makes me wonder. While what we use today may appear safe at first glance, what happens when it breaks down? When will we see the bigger picture? Nature may be providing us with an advance warning but will we be observant enough to notice?