Author: Loree Burns

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Citizen Science in Central Mass

I’m participating in some pretty cool MassAudubon citizen science events in the coming months and hope you’ll consider joining me:

Citizen Science Sampler
Broad Meadow Brook Wildlife Sanctuary
414 Massasoit Road, Worcester, MA
508-753-6087
Saturday, May 19, 1-3pm

In this free event, participants will learn about four important citizen science projects ongoing at Broad Meadow Brook (Monarch Larval Monitoring Project, Oriole Project, and Lost Ladybug Project and a Red-backed Salamander study). After a brief introduction to each, we’ll head out into the field to try our hand at the various projects. I’ll be on hand to talk about Lost Ladybug Project (see below) and to talk about my new book, Citizen Scientists: Be a Part of Scientific Discovery from Your Own Backyard.

Hunting for Lost Ladybugs
Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary
113 Goodnow Road, Princeton, MA
978-464-2712
Saturday, May 26, 1-3pm
Friday, June 22, 10am-12noon
Saturday, July 28, 10am-12noon
Saturday, August 25, 10am-12noon

Scientists at The Lost Ladybug Project are searching for rare native ladybug species, and you can help find them. Spend the morning with my daughter and I brushing up on ladybug biology, learning to identify common and rare species, and documenting ladybugs here at Wachusett Meadow … then go home and survey the ladybugs living in your backyard. Bring sharp eyes and a digital camera, if you have one. Please dress for meadow hiking, and remember that it’s tick season!

Please note: Registration is required for this event, and fees apply. See this link for details.

Edited on to add: The June ladybugging date has changed from Saturday, June 23 to Friday, June22. I’ve inserted the change above. Hope to see you there!

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A Quiet Wednesday

© Loree Griffin Burns

This is my first spring living in a house that has stood for 205 springs. And while the majority of the days I have lived here so far have been spent rushing from one settling-in activity to another, today I’m working quietly in my office, breaking every now and then to wonder about the people who may have worked quietly in this space before me. Did they love rainy days, squirreled up here above the yard, working in the warm glow of a lamp? Did they gaze out over the back yard and dream of summer vegetables? Spy on a robin’s nest tucked under that perfect old front eave?

I wonder how many baby robins have hatched outside this old window …

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USA Science & Engineering Festival

Later this month, science fans from around the country will descend on the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC, for a celebration of all things science. The second USA Science & Engineering Festival is a free two-day event boasting thousands of hands-on activities, exhibits, and presentations. I’ll be speaking on the Family stage Saturday, April 28 at 4:25pm, and signing books at the Signing Stage at 5:30pm on the same day. (Woot! Woot!) Come on by and say hello!

Find details about the festival, featured activities, the book fair, and all the featured authors on the official festival website.

SCIENCE ROCKS!

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My New Vinyl

That right there is a 33 ½ rpm vinyl phonograph record called Sound of Insects. It includes tracks like “Viceroy Butterfly Walking” and “Mud-dauber Wasp in Flight.” It is by far the most incredibly perfect gift I have ever received.

I got it from the Tech Old Timers, a group of retired former students, faculty, and staff at my almer mater, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). The Old Timers gather once a month on campus to socialize and explore new ideas through invited speakers. Yesterday, their new idea was citizen science, and their invited speaker was me.

I can’t even tell you how wonderful the morning was. It included conversations with old friends (Dean Trask! Professor Bleumel!), the making of new ones, the sharing of passions, and a reminder of just how long and deep and interesting and interested my WPI family is. At the end of the morning, the Old Timers gave me this album, and I am still—a day later—stunned at its aptness. I have no doubt that once I find a record player, the sounds captured in the album’s grooves will bring me joy; I’m a true insect geek. But it will also remind me, each and every time I play it, of the way learning transcends discipline and gender and time and age.

In fact, I can’t quite shake the feeling that I’ll be bringing this record back to WPI one day. Perhaps when I’m an Old Timer myself. I’ll drag along whatever beaten up old record player I eventually find, and I will tell my new Old Timer buddies about the day, back in the spring of 2012, when I hung out with the old Old Timers. I’ll recall the connections, share again the same funny stories I heard yesterday. Maybe I’ll know a little something more about beetles by then, and I’ll tell what I know. Eventually I’ll drop a needle onto Sounds of Insects and play a few tracks. “Japanese Beetle on a Ruse,” or maybe “Cicada Warmup and Flight.”

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My NSTA 2012 Deets

This week I’m putting the finishing touches on a presentation for the National Science Teachers Association annual conference, and preparing for a panel presentation too. If you’re planning to join the festivities in Indianapolis, I’d love to see you at one or both events. Here are the details:

How Can I Help? Empowering Students with Citizen Science
Thursday, March 29, 2012
3:30-4:30pm
Westin Indianapolis, Capitol II

As a scientist, a writer, and a mother, Dr. Loree Griffin Burns is committed to providing children with accurate, age-appropriate information about real world events. Drawing on her experiences researching and writing about environmental issues from ocean pollution to the collapse of honey bee populations, Burns proposes a formula for sharing these stories without scaring students: give them something meaningful they can do to help. From tallying beach debris (International Coastal Cleanup) and monitoring native bee populations (Great Sunflower Project) to tagging monarch butterflies (Monarch Watch) and hunting ladybugs (Lost Ladybug Project), Burns has practiced citizen science in her own backyard, coordinated events in her community, introduced projects into schools, and observed events from Central Park to central Mexico. In this workshop, she’ll recommend a variety of nationally organized and freely available citizen science projects, pairing them with trade books to help teachers promote both inquiry and literacy in their science classrooms.

Integrating Science and Literacy: A Journey, Not a Destination
Friday, March 30, 2012
8:00-11:00am
JW Marriott Indianapolis, White River Ballroom D

This session offers teachers and administrators an opportunity to learn from authors how to integrate their award-winning trade books into science instruction. Participants can get up close and personal with these acclaimed authors:

Loree Griffin Burns
April Pulley Sayre
Peggy Thomas
Pamela S. Turner
Sallie Wolf
Wendy Saul

Other presenters are educators who have served or chaired the NSTA/CBC Outstanding Trade Book Committee. Opportunities will be available to work in small groups with the authors and vetted activities will be shared.

Edited to Add:
In addition to the two presentations described above, I’ll be signing copies of Tracking Trash and The Hive Detectives at the NSTA conference in Indianapolis next week. Here are the details:

Friday, March 30
1-2pm
Indiana Convention Center
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Booth #1467

And get this: the fine folks at HMH are giving the books away, while supplies last. Come on over and get one; I’ll be happy to sign it for you!

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Snow? On Launch Day?!

Hello friends,

Ellen and I will be launching Citizen Scientists at the Harvard Public Library today at 1:30pm, as planned. The impending snowstorm, however, has forced us to postpone tonight’s launch event at the Beaman Memorial Library in West Boyslton. That event will now take place next Thursday, March 8 at 6pm.

Signing events in central Massachusetts over the next week are summarized below:

Wednesday, February 29, 2012, 1:30pm
Harvard Public Library
4 Pond Road
Harvard, MA

Saturday, March 3, 2012, 10am-12noon
Tatnuck Bookseller
Route 9 & Lyman Street
Westborough, MA

Thursday, March 8, 2012, 6pm-8pm
Beaman Memorial Public Library
8 Newton Street
West Boylston, MA

Enjoy the snow!

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Leap Day/Launch Week

Ellen Harasimowicz and I will be celebrating the release of Citizen Scientists with three public book signing events this week, two of which fall on Leap Day. If you’re in the neighborhood, drop in and say “Ribbit!” You might inspire me to do my American toad impersonation …

Wednesday, February 29, 2012, 1:30pm
Harvard Public Library
4 Pond Road
Harvard, MA

Wednesday, February 29, 2012, 6pm-8pm
Beaman Memorial Public Library
8 Newton Street
West Boylston, MA

Saturday, March 3, 2012, 10am-12noon
Tatnuck Bookseller
Route 9 & Lyman Street
Westborough, MA

All three events will feature a short presentation, a reading, and a booksigning. Hope to see you there!

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2012 Great Backyard Bird Count

© Benjamin Griffin Burns


This year’s Burns family Great Backyard Bird Count event was not the usual well-planned affair. Scheduling conflicts kept me from holding the after school birding program I’ve run for the past four years, so there was not the usual gaggle of children to invite. And I’ve only hung a single feeder since our move, making it unlikely that many of our usual feathered visitors would show up either. I decided a small count, just me and my kids, was the best approach for this year.

But then a reporter from our local daily newspaper called and said she’d like to do an article on backyard birdwatching and my new book. She wanted to schedule an interview for Saturday afternoon, smack-dot in the middle of Great Backyard Bird Count weekend. When I mentioned this, she asked if she could bring along a photographer and collect images of me and the kids counting.

Uh. Okay.

But that seemed sort of crazy. So many of our former bird counters are local kids, friends and neighbors we’ve known forever. The sort of people I could call last minute and say, “Please, please, please come over to my house on Saturday and help us count birds. There will be a reporter. And a photographer. And you guys are much cuter than I am!”

In the end, eight of us counted birds, talked to the reporter, and tried hard to pretend the man with the camera trained on us wasn’t there. It was a fun afternoon that will surely lead to a nice article. As a bonus, we recorded eight species of birds:

Sharp-shinned hawk (a life bird for almost everyone in the group)
Black-capped chicadee
Dark-eyed junco
Downy woodpecker
White-breasted nuthatch
Tufted titmouse
Northern cardinal
Eastern blue bird

And as a bonus-bonus, five more species, recorded over the remainder of the weekend:

American robin (28 of them!)
Blue jay
Red-tailed hawk
Mourning dove
American crow

I’ll append a link to the article as soon as it runs. In the meanwhile, tell me: did you count birds this weekend? What did you see?

Edited 5/17/2012 to add: Here’s the T&G article!