Author: Loree Burns

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‘Tis the (bird census) season …

© Loree Griffin Burns
© Loree Griffin Burns

Yesterday’s post reminded me to remind YOU that some excellent bird-related citizen science opportunities are just ’round the corner …

These are great opportunities to get outside, show off your birding skills, and do a small something to help monitor the birds in your neighborhood.  Both projects are simple, fun and–I warn you!–addicting. My kids and I have participated in one or the other since 2008, and we’ve had some extraordinary moments. (Last year’s sharp-shinned hawk comes to mind.)

All the information you need to get started can be found at the websites linked above. Check them out and see if a bird count is something you can fit into the family calendar. If so, fill up your feeders, dust off your ‘nocs, and invite the neighbors. Happy Counting!

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In My Kitchen

BirdWatching
© Loree Griffin Burns

This weekend I watched my four-year-old nephew catch the birding bug. He was over for the day, and on one of his trips through the kitchen, he caught me with binoculars checking out a bird on the feeders outside. He asked what I was doing and Presto! … he’s a birder. In about twenty minutes time he spotted eight species of birds. His reaction was fun to witness; I can’t think of anything more satisfying than a four-year-old leaping up and down in your kitchen and shouting, “There’s another one! Auntie Loree, look! I see another bird! What is it?”

(I think this guy needs his first birding field guide, don’t you? I’m going to put this one under the tree for him this year.)

Happy Monday, friends. May your week be filled with new birds … and a curious four-year-old or two.

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Brookwood School

Brookwood
© Loree Griffin Burns

Check it out.

That right there is the FeederWatch station of the Pre-K students at Brookwood School in Manchester, Massachusetts. It has everything the students need to monitor the feeder bird populations on their school grounds: stools for comfortable viewing, windows looking out over the school bird feeders, a basket for storing clipboards, data sheets, and pencils, and photos of birds to help remind watchers what they are seeing. There is even a sign–its posted on the easel at the left of the photo–warning passersby: “Shhhhhhhh! Bird Watchers at Work!” I was lucky enough to have a personal tour of this research station, and was mighty impressed with the citizen scientists who work there. Thank you Brookwood Pre-K students!

Thank you also to the Brookwood kindergartners, who shared their MonarchWatch experiences with me, the first graders, who told me about their tulip work for Journey North, and the second graders, who taught me about chicken care, introduced me to Cynthia and Mabel … and even gifted me a couple of fresh eggs.

Hooray for student scientists and the schools that inspire them!

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Wednesday Wild: Winter Moths

© Loree Griffin Burns
© Loree Griffin Burns

I’ve been noticing gray-white moths like the one in this photo on the side of my house for weeks now.  And I have been meaning to pore over my field guides in search of an ID for just as long. But you know how that goes: so many insects, so little time. What luck, then, that the good people at MassAudubon tweeted this link yesterday. Winter moths. Of course.

Maybe I need to spend more time on Twitter?

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Wednesday Wild: The Very Hungry Porcupine

© Loree Griffin Burns

I hiked through my local MassAudubon Sanctuary this week and came across this guy snacking in the middle of a trail. I took some pictures, sure he’d take off as soon as he heard the shutter click. When he didn’t, I moved in closer, shooting all the while.

Nibble. Nibble. Nibble.

“Hello?”

Nibble. Nibble. Nibble.

“Are you deaf?”

Nibble. Nibble. Nibble.

What choice was there? I took the long way back to the car.

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Cool Buzz!

© Catherine Griffin Burns

“Put on your veil, grab your hive tool, and light up your smoker … we’re going into a beehive.”

When I wrote those words to open THE HIVE DETECTIVES, I never, ever, ever thought I would say them out loud in my own backyard. But on Tuesday, with my daughter and her camera nearby, I did just that. And guess who was there to hear them?

Mary Duane!

Mary is the beekeeper who helped me introduce honey bees and hives and honey-making to readers in THE HIVE DETECTIVES. How fitting that she be the one to help me through my first hive inspection, patiently reminding me how to keep my smoker lit, how to use my hive tool properly, and how to stay calm when a honey bee landed on my veil. (I honestly couldn’t tell if it was on the outside or the inside.)

Oh, the places a book will bring you!

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Messages in Bottles

© Betty Jenewin

You can’t write about flotsam and jetsam without coming across a message in a bottle or two. When I was researching Tracking Trash, I came across quite a few, including the one pictured here. It was collected by beachcomber John Anderson near his Forks, Washington home and like all bottle messages, it has stories to tell. There are the personal stories, of course: who launched the bottle and why? who found the bottle and how? And then there are the stories of its oceanic movement: how far did the bottle drift between its launch and its discovery?

The possibilities in these stories thrill me.

Which is why I was so intrigued by news of a new ‘oldest message in a bottle’, as verified by the Guinness Book of World Records. There are ninety-eight years of stories in that bottle, launched in the North Sea on June 10, 1914 and found by a skipper in Scotland earlier this year. Here’s a bit of  its personal story, and here’s a look at some of the science.

Cool stuff, no?

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Wednesday Wild: Garter Snake

© Loree Griffin Burns

There was an eighteen-inch Eastern garter snake hanging out in my yard over the weekend, bringing the total number of snake species recorded here at the new Burns homestead to two. (Remember this guy?)

In other news, there is a Great horned owl hanging out somewhere nearby. I’ve heard him two out of the last three nights.  Sorta makes a girl want to head outside and look for pellets …

Have a wild day!

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Wednesday Wild: Sea Urchin

© Gerry Burns

 

Another wild photo from our trip to Acadia in July. And, yes, I realize it is not Wednesday. But yesterday was filled with First Day of School and Back to Work craziness, and I forgot.

Happy Thursday!