Adorable Porcupine!

Spike enjoying some apple while teaching

This winter has been super mild. A bummer if you want to get out skiing or snowshoeing but a really good thing if you happen to be training a porcupine. Porcupines hate when there it is snowy, rainy, too hot or too cold. In these situations, they tend to curl up and not move. With the lack of snow and reasonably warm weather, Spike has made lots of progress with his training in the past couple weeks. For example, I can give Spike his cue to go into his crate and he walks across his enclosure and goes in! He also has been doing much better with the rest of the staff and teaching on a more regular basis.

I think Spike is absolutely adorable so here are a few pictures of him (and me) from the past month.

Its hard to be photogenic while holding a wiggly porcupine

Spike exploring the main room of the barn

Spike teaching!

Mammals Class

Check it out!!!

Its been a big week for Spike the porcupine and me! On Monday, I learned how to pick him up and today, we taught our first class together!

I taught Minnesota Mammals where the students learn all about what makes mammals special. While they were out on a hike, I got Spike into his crate and brought him inside for his teaching debut. I let him walk around on table top while I talked awesome porcupine adaptations. He did AMAZING for his first time out - even ate in front of the students :) What a fantastic way end to the week!!

BAH!

Its that time of year again folks - the end of the school and the start of summer! This means that I have been crazy busy with teaching and trying to enjoy some of the splendid weather. I don't have any new pictures but over the course of the past week I have mumbled sentences I never thought would come out of my mouth.

My favorite example "We do not put our ticks on our friends." Yep, this was said right after I saw a student freak out about having a tick on his pants. Instead of brushing it off, he picks it off and sticks it on his friends back. That sure is as nice "friend." Tomorrow marks my last class of the school year, I'm going frog hunting with the students :)

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!

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!

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

Life Update

I realize that you are all probably wondering what happened to me since it has been so long since I last updated my blog. The truth is my life has been pretty busy and boring. Nothing extremely new and exciting to report but here is what I could come up with.

1. I watched a movie this week called Waiting for "Superman" which is about the education system in America. The system has not changed with the times and now we are falling behind other nations in math and science. Americans still lead the way in one category though - confidence. Americans always seem to think we are awesome despite evidence saying otherwise. Basically, a large factor in how well a child is educated in America is luck. That's right pure luck of what school you are assigned to go to. It is actually depressing to think about. This movie follows students who are trying to get a better education by entering a lottery for a charter school. Its an interesting movie that leaves you thinking.
2. We burned one of the prairies on site last week. I love watching burns.
3. I found a new game on my computer that has hooked me. Mahjong Titans.
4. I taught a bunch of classes the past week to many different age groups. Perhaps one of the most fun was teaching a group of 1-3 graders about birds. The questions and curiosity seemed never ending. Today, I crept up on a barred owl with a group. Very exciting - especially since it managed to get them quiet for a good 5 minutes.
5. Because of their age, we taught 1.5 hour classes rather than the usual 3. I remember a time when I thought teaching for an hour was a long time. Now I feel like even 3 hours is sometimes too short.
6. On Netflix,  you can watch movies instantly on your computer. I have recently became addicted to Pawn Stars and Ally McBeal.
7. I know way more about raptor eyes than I ever thought I would. Fun fact #1: A bald eagle has larger eyes than an adult human. For comparison, a human weighs roughly 20 times more. Fun Fact #2: An American kestrel can see a 2mm insect, 18 meters away. Crazy!
8.  I still get really excited when I see sandhill cranes fly overhead. Sometimes this happens while I am teaching and the kids look at me like I am crazy. There may be some truth there.

Wolves

This past week was pretty relaxing. Most of the staff was back. YAY! I only taught one class and it was to a group of high schools. I taught "Wolves of the North Woods" which is a class all about wolves.

The "researchers" in search of the "wolf pack"

The best part of the class (for me and the students) is when we go out and do radio telemetry. This is basically a giant game of hide-and-seek. The class is split into 2 and one group hides with the transmitter - they are the wolf pack. The second group act like researchers and need to find the pack. As a bonus, we had gotten a bunch of snow earlier in the week. This made walking through the woods absolutely gorgeous!

Here and There

Another busy week. It started with a long weekend and a trip to the Great Lakes Aquarium in Duluth. Then, it got hectic when I was liaison for the school group on site. At one point I was talked into judging a "30 seconds of Fame" talent show. Jess and I took the opportunity to use the costume bins.

The center also had a juvenile bald eagle in for rehab. We had received several phone calls about an injured bald eagle in the area. Since it was local, we actually went out and rescued it. Based on its lack of physical injuries and people seeing it feeding on a gut pile, we suspect lead poisoning. A small amount of lead is enough to start having negative impacts on the birds nervous system. Unfortunately, we see a spike of birds in with possible lead poisoning each year in November and December, when hunting season gets underway. If you are interested in more information you can go toThe Raptor Center.

I rounded out the week by going to the new Harry Potter movie. Its good but frustrating and very dark. Now I only have to wait to next summer to see how they are going to play out the remainder of the final book.

Feels like Fall

Over the course of the past week, I have taught and observed a bunch of classes to school groups on site. Many of our classes have hikes in them. Here are a few of the pictures I took while out and about!

Garter Snake

Beautiful Fall colors

More fall colors

Leaves

One of my finer moments this week teaching wasn't documented with a photo. I sat in bird poo right before my raptor program last evening and had to teach with a nice circle of poop on my butt. The only good thing about this was it was a clear mute so nobody but me knew. I think this really speaks about the rough week I am having though!

Week in Review

To say the past week has been hectic may be an understatement. We had the first week of summer camp and a school group on top of the normal barn stuff.  When all was said and done, I put in over 100 hours this pay period (and managed to lose my voice temporarily)!

While I won't bore you with the day to day stuff here are a few photos from the week:

Danny and I getting dressed up for a class!

Northern Flicker that came in for rehab (it was found to

have a broken wing).

Red fox that was seen numerous times around the dining

hall by the kids!

Monarch Caterpillar

All in all it was a fun but exhausting week. I am in the middle of working 14 days straight so 6 down and 8 to go. And with that, its back to work for day 7. I am off to an outreach at Chippewa National Forest!

Ojibwe Hike

Today I taught a group of elementary school students a class called Ojibwe Hike. Basically, its a class where we talk a bit about the Ojibwe history and then go out and identify plants that they used. Its lots of fun when the students get into the class.

The students picking raspberries

Our yummy afternoon treat!

One girl had learned alot of Ojibwe words in school, so she was actually teaching me words for a bunch of different animals while we were out hiking. Along the way we found a bunch of raspberries so the group stopped for a snack!! All in all, a nice way to spend a summer afternoon.

creepy crawlies

Today was a day filled with all sorts of creepy crawly (and pretty) critters. During lunch, the kids found an AWESOME luna moth!!

This afternoon, I observed a class where kids learn about reptiles and amphibians. After some time in the classroom, its off on a herp hunt....here's just one of the frogs they found, a spring peeper.

While they were exploring, I found a few more creepy crawlies of the insect variety.

Unknown species but it sure looks cool with its black spots and yellowy body!

A spider in its web!

Catbirds and other kiddies

This week, seemed like the longest week ever and I only worked for 4 days!! I did barn stuff on Monday which was rather relaxing. On Wednesday, a school group came in. I taught the ended up teaching same group for 3 of the 4 classes they had - the catbirds. This group group was a hoot but completely exhausting. Within a few hours of arriving at Audubon, they had come up with a group chant (tweet, tweet, meow, meow). As challenging as they were to teach, I must say they made me laugh ALOT so I can't complain too much.

On our Ojibwa Hike, one of the kids found the mushroom pictured about. It was super pretty and looks kind of like a flower. One of the other interns ended up harvesting it....apparently it tastes like chicken.

May Mayhem

For those of you checking my blog on a daily basis, let me apologize. The month of May is crazy! I have posted a bunch of entries today (they had been half finished for awhile but I just got the time to finish them) so enjoy.

The past few weeks have been crazy. On the 8th, I had an outreach in Bloomington, MN at a wildlife refuge there. It was targeted at kids and getting them interesting in birding. It was alot of fun and the new visitor center is amazing. If you live in the cities, this place would be a good spot to spend the afternoon. On the 13th I did an outreach on my own with the birds. It was Freshwater Fest and put on for the local schools. Basically, the kids come to the fest and get to go around to the different stations all day. The day was long because it was 8 -25 minute programs for me and by the end of the day I couldn't even remember what I had said. Overall, it was great though because the kids were all excited and having a great time!

My days spent onsite are also a bit crazy. May seems to be the month that every school wants to come to the Audubon. On top of that, this is also the time of year that we recieve many phone calls in regaurds to wildlife. This past week, one of those phone calls resulted in us getting 5 northern saw-whet owlets. Their nesting cavity was cut down when the property owners were getting ready to install geothermal. They all looked well cared for and were transfered down to the raptor center that afternoon.

In addition to all my work stuff, I have been wrapping up my Hamline course work. I have finished four of my five classes and my last assignment is due on Friday!!

So much to do and not quite enough time to blog. Hopefully as stuff starts to wrap up, my blog updates will be down in a little more timely manner :)

Charter School Visits

I have spent the past three days visiting 3 of the charter schools that the Audubon Center sponsors. It was quite the road trip with lots of time in the van and lots of time observing different teaching methods.

The first school we went to was in Minnesota City. I did not get to observe the teaching styles here but did teach a lesson of raptors. I taught the first hour after lunch (I always hate teaching the first class after lunch because so many kids go into a food coma). This class was of 9th/10th graders and pretty much unresponsive to my raptor lesson. We got the chance to talk with the director of the school and watch a board meeting which was interesting to see.

We got up super early the next day and drove to our second school - La Crescent Montessori. At this school we only observed classes. It is a Montessori school - so there are no lessons in the traditional sense. Each child in the class works on different lessons so there is lot of hands on activities and no lecture. To an outsider it often looks messy. It is a interesting teaching style and have no idea how I feel about it.

That same evening we got back in the van and headed to our last school - Cannon River STEM School. We spent the evening at the school in the living room of the staff housing. The school is situated on the campus of a boarding school so it really has a campus feel to it. This school was my favorite. It has an emphasis on science and technology so the kids learn alot about nature and science through projects. All of the teachers had really good rapport with the students so it was a positive learning environment. I observed for most of the day and then helped teach the Kindergartners about owls.

Overall, I learned a lot about various teaching styles and have a better understanding of the schools that come visit the center. The trip was exhausting though and I am happy to back in my own room!

BUSY BUSY

The last week or so has been super busy with lots of teaching and various barn duties. Teaching wise, it was a stressful week. Not because of the students (most of who were really excited to be at Audubon) but because of what I was teaching. It was a lot of new lessons that I had never taught before. I also taught some high ropes which was great because I dont have to think alot anymore when I teach it :)


In the barn world, I am now offically checked off on handling all of the education birds. This is awesome because I got my last key AND do not have to wait around for people to birds out for me any more. Our Barred Owl was the last bird I had to be checked off on. She didnt make it easy - she sat out in the rain and evaded me for a bit. She then pooped on my ungloved hand for good measure. When I was finally done, I was damp and kinda gross.



The other barn related thing is I passed my rehab test YAY!! I finished the test around 1:45 pm on Tuesday. At about 2:45 pm the center got a call about an injured red tailed hawk so I got to jump in the car and do my first rehab animal.



Perhaps the most exciting thing from the past week was Amanda's Wedding. My cousin got married so I spent the weekend in Wausau. The wedding was beautiful and I got the chance to see a lot of family.


Well I best be off. I have to pack for my charter school visits. No rest for the weary.