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!

A Raptor Weekend

Last weekend, was filled with raptors!

On Friday, the wildlife staff took a field trip down to the University of Minnesota for a lecture on Apex Predators but on by The Raptor Center. There were 2 speakers: Mark Martell who spoke about recent tracking research on birds of prey and Dave Mech who spoke about his wolf research. Each speaker taught me a thing or two that I can use when I teach. Both were really interesting but I preferred Mark Martell's program a bit more. It was fascinating to hear about data that had just been received in the past month and what it means for the species as a whole.

View from the observation deck at the National Eagle Center

On Saturday, my parents met me in the cities. After a fantastic Panera stop, we headed down to the National Eagle Center. I think working with raptors and in the education field has jaded me a bit when it comes to visiting other centers. I did enjoy looking at some of the education displays; in particular one where visitors could lift a replica eagle. My favorite thing was looking through the scope for eagles - and actually finding several perched in trees!
It was really nice to get off site for a bit, hangout with the family and learn a few things!!