It’s raining here, and 39F … perfect conditions for a Big Night migration. The kids and I ventured out to make sure this wood frog—and sixteen of his pals—made it safely across our street. We counted four casualties as we worked, and I’m sure there will be more by morning. But from the edge of the safe side of the road, staring off into the dark woods at a vernal pool we couldn’t see, we were treated to a chorus of wood frogs celebrating spring. It was pretty spectacular.
We’ll surely be sleepy in the morning. But who cares?!?!
This is my favorite photograph from this weekend. It tells an interesting story, but only if I fill in some blanks …
The hand belongs to my Number Three Field Assistant. As you can see, she is young (small, pudgy fingers) and not-so-totally tomboy (dirty fingernails sporting cherry red polish).
The tool, an old-school wooden collapsible yardstick, belongs to my Number Two Field Assistant. (He found it at the Recycle Resource Center—where you bring your junk hoping it will, indeed, become someone else’s treasure—and asked “Why the heck would someone throw this away?” It’s been one of his treasures ever since.)
The holes were found in a dead-but-standing pine tree stump … and they looked suspicious to us. We live in central Massachusetts, where people have become acutely sensitive to holes in trees, especially perfectly-round holes with a half-inch in diameter. Why? Because such holes are the tell-tale sign of an Asian Longhorned Beetle infestation. If you don’t live around here—or in one of the other five places in North America where this dreaded beetle has taken hold—let me just tell you that they are Bad News. You don’t want to find them in the trees on your property.
So, we collected some data. We recorded the size of the holes with the ruler and on film, and we inserted a pencil to measure their depths and angles. We scoured the surrounding area for similar holes in other trees and anything else that seemed relevant. Then we came home and did some research. We checked out the US Department of Agriculture’s ALB website, and this helpful Beetlebuster website. We also consulted a slew of handouts collected at recent community meetings about the beetle and plans to eradicate it.
The good news: although our holes were the right size and shape, they were in the wrong sort of tree. Asian Longhorned beetles prefer hardwood trees; this stump was a soft pine.
The bad news: the beetles have been found in other places in our town, and eradicating them is not going to be easy.
The news that keeps us going: something made those holes. We want to know what!
And this: the ALB story is pulling at me. I’ve been following it for a while. I feel a book taking shape.
Oh, my. How did it get to be Friday? I’ve had my head focused on other things, I guess. Like water in the basement (uggh) and butterflies in the yard (a mourning cloak, I think!). I’m stopping in to share a few quick notes of interest for teachers using TRACKING TRASH in the classroom.
The Algalita Marine Research Foundation (AMRF), founded by Captain Charles Moore (star of TRACKING TRASH) is gearing up for a new ocean research voyage, this time to the Indian Ocean. Teachers and students are invited to tag along virtually via the Ship-to-Shore program. Here’s a blurb from the AMRF newsletter:
This week AMRF’S Anna Cummins And Dr. Marcus Eriksen will embark on a voyage from Perth, Australia to Port Louis, Mauritius aboard the 250ft Clipper, Stad Amsterdam, crossing the Indian Ocean. They will be joining the “Beagle Project”, re-tracing the path of Charles Darwin famous voyage 178 years ago. Anna and Marcus will collect samples along the way to investigate change in the state of the ocean since Darwin’s voyage.
You and your students are invited to join the expedition online through the Ship-2-Shore Education Program. The research crew will be sending images, videos and descriptions of their experiences while they are at sea conducting research. Students will be able to communicate with the crew by sending questions and comments through the Internet. This opportunity to participate will be during the voyage from:
Indian Ocean: Australia to Mauritius (Mar. 16 – Apr. 4, 2010)
If you are not a student or a teacher we invite you to follow the voyage through our public blog which can be located through our home page at http://algalita.org/
If you are a student or a teacher, the Ship-2-Shore Education Program is free and signing up is easy. Simply send an email to [email protected] and include:
1. Name and location of school
2. # of students participating
3. Grade level
When we receive your registration we will send you more information about this voyage. For more general information about the program please visit Ship-2-Shore Education Program.
In related news, Captain Moore appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman on Monday night. Did anyone catch it? Here’s a clip from the AMRF website. Moore has now sparred with Colbert and chatted with Letterman; I wonder what Leno is waiting for?
In 1891, a man named Henry L. Warner bequeathed $10,000 to his hometown, Harvard, Massachusetts. His hope was that the funds be used to initiate an educational lecture series to keep residents informed of happenings in “scientific, literary, biographical, historic, patriotic, national, educational and moral” spheres. Tomorrow night, Ellen and I will be at the Harvard Public Library to give our very first presentation on THE HIVE DETECTIVES as part of the free lecture series established in Warner’s name. If you live in the area, we’d love to see you there!
To Bee or Not to Bee
A Warner Free Lecture
Friday, March 12, 8pm Harvard Public Library
4 Pond Road
Harvard, MA
978-456-4114
Why on earth have I illustrated this post with a photo of my cell phone in a bee hive? Well, that photo is in THE HIVE DETECTIVES. (You’ll have to read the book to see why.) And also because I will have that very phone on the podium with me tomorrow night in Harvard, set to vibrate of course, in order that my friend Kris can reach me and let me know if the temperatures after dark stay warm enough to launch Big Night.
What’s Big Night?
Well, around these parts, Big Night is usually the first warm and rainy night of the season. These sure signs of spring can induce hundreds and hundreds of spotted salamanders (and other amphibians) to migrate to their seasonal breeding pools. It is going to pour tomorrow night, and if temperatures stay warm enough, the salamanders will move. In other words, if that phone on the podium starts to vibrate, then yours truly will be doing some late-night salamander watching after the lecture!
* The quote above is from Henry S. Nourse’s HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF HARVARD MASSACHUSETTS, 1732-1893.
** My friend Sarah Lamstein has a brand new book on the salamander migration. You can learn more about BIG NIGHT (the book!) at Sarah’s website.
Edited to Add: The fabulous Jeannine Atkins posted a review of BIG NIGHT, by Sarah Lamstein, right here. Enjoy!
Edited Further to Add: Sarah Lamstein tells me that all things Big Night are monitored over at the Vernal Pool Association website. Check it out!
I can’t even bear to mention what project I am working on this week, because I have worked on it for years, because I have mentioned it two-hundred-and-forty-two times before and, most importantly, because it is still not done.
Big. Fat. Sigh.
Rather than dwell on all that negativity, I’ve decided to share some writerly inspiration. These particular links of motivation spoke to me because of the very project I did NOT just mention …
First, an article from the October 2009 issue of BookLinks (Talking with Jonah Winter by Sonja Cole), in which one can learn how to write a picture book biography … or, at least, how Jonah Winter writes a picture book biography. In answer to the question “What is your process for researching and writing your books?” we get a sense of Winter’s sense of humor (“I read a bunch of books, sometimes do online research, then just haul off and write the darn things.”) and, more importantly, his simple, powerful approach to the form. Do check it out.
Next up, an interview of author M.T. Anderson over at Cynsations. His answer to the question “What have you learned from writing in a variety of formats?” delves deep into the heart of what makes a picture book biography sing. Great stuff.
Finally, some good, old-fashioned writing classes. Well, not exactly old-fashioned, because they’re all offered online—but they are very, very good. I know because I took one myself back in 2004. It was called Write a Successful Book Proposal, and my homework became the book TRACKING TRASH. ( I kid you not!.) Patricia Fry is a knowledgeable and inspiring teacher; I highly recommend her online writing courses.
That’s a crocus image from last year, but I think this year’s crop will be poking through the snow pack in my front yard any day now …
Four weeks until the softcover edition of TRACKING TRASH is released!
I’m happy that my first literary baby will soon be available in a lower-priced, easy-to-tote-to-the-beach version. (Hey, someone might do it!) To celebrate, I’m going to link back to a series of blog posts I wrote in 2007, when the hardcover edition was first published: The Stories Behind TRACKING TRASH
Eight weeks until THE HIVE DETECTIVES is officially released!
To celebrate, the lovely and talented Kathy Erskine invited me over to her blog. You can read our interview (and see some bee guts!) here. Thank you, Kathy!
I’m just about done processing the piles of notes and ideas that I brought back from Costa Rica last month. I’ve shared highlights from the beginning of the trip here, and my sense of balance won’t let me move on until I’ve shared a bit from the end, too.
So … after four days on a butterfly farm in Guanacaste, my traveling companions and I set out for San Jose, where we would help collect, sort, package, and ship butterfly pupae from farms around Costa Rica. We took the long way in to the capital, though, in order to see more of the country. I was happiest here:
That’s the volcano called Arenal, and I thoroughly enjoyed admiring it from the warm hot pools at its base. Thoroughly. I could have soaked there for days. Sadly, Ellen and Lea are CRAZY, and insisted that we dry off and go do this instead:
Oh, the stories I could tell! The pictures I could show! Zipling was absolutely the craziest thing I have ever done, and I struggled through every single moment of our eight zip descent. But I did it. And I think I remember a moment or two of pure exhilaration. (Okay, maybe it was only a few seconds. But I will remember them always.)
Once we were safely back in San Jose, I got to do things more my speed, like play with piles of pupae. Check it out:
On the top is a widget of books I’ve read and blogged about recently, and on the bottom is a button that brings you to my new goodreads profile page. I’ve posted a few paragraphs from the first chapter of THE HIVE DETECTIVES there, in case you need a little something to read. 😉
“It is vital that we understand how and where bees are declining in order to start to help them. Having healthy pollinators is important for both natural systems and our food supply.”
Dr. Gretchen LeBuhn, a professor at San Francisco State University, is the wise woman behind these words. She is also the creative mastermind behind The Great Sunflower Project, a simple and powerful initiative to get men, women and children outside helping our bees.
3. When the time is right where you live, plant your seeds.
4. When your sunflowers bloom, watch them for fifteen minutes each week, recording how many bees that visit while you do.
5. Send your data to Dr. LeBuhn and her team.
In just two years, the Great Sunflower Project has recruited over 50 thousand participants, and the data they’ve collected is helping Dr. LeBuhn document bee pollination in the United States and develop strategies to protect and restore native bees where they are threatened.
Do I even need to tell you that I’m in?
And why not? I like to eat, and bees are a pretty crucial part of food production. I’ve also written a book about honey bees; helping bees feels like a fine way to celebrate its upcoming release. As luck would have it, I’m in the process of writing a book about citizen science, too; GSP will be great field research (er, backyard research?) for me. Above all, what’s not to love about fifteen minutes of forced downtime –in my own yard—every week?!
So, what do you say? Wanna join me? (You can say no, of course. But I’ll undoubtedly be blogging about our Great Sunflower Project experience in the coming months. Your sort of in-by-association whether you like it or not!)
So, what does one do when living on a butterfly farm? Well, if your planning to write a book about the experience, you try to melt into the background and watch what’s going on around you, popping up here and again to ask questions; you try things out when given the chance, and you take lots and lots of notes. That’s how I spent most of my time in Costa Rica.
Behind me in the image above you can see one of the seven greenhouses on the farm. Each was populated with several butterfly species in either the egg, caterpillar or adult life stage. Farm workers pass through the greenhouses three times each day: once to collect pre-pupal caterpillars, once to train plants and pull weeds, and a last time to hunt for the nasty critters who like to eat caterpillars. You know, giant grasshoppers, snails, bullet ants, rodents … and poisonous snakes.
We actually came across this snake while scouring property around the farm for wild butterflies. We were told it was a fer-de-lance, arguably the deadliest snake on the planet, and we wouldn’t have gone near it if it weren’t for the fact that it had been sliced nearly in half by a machete. Yes, the locals sometimes carry machetes. In case they run into snakes. Alrighty then.
For a science geek like me, meandering around the farm was fascinating. (Deadly snakes notwithstanding.) The fact that I was traveling with another science geek, Museum of Science butterfly curator Lea Morgan, and a science geek-in-training, photographer Ellen Harasimowicz, made the adventures all the more memorable. Here are some shots Ellen took of Lea and I studying a fearsome greenhouse caterpillar. Sorta reminds you of a snake, doesn’t he?
There was a lot to love about life on the farm: unexpected adventures, tropical climate (in February!), sleeping inside mosquito netting, an open-air office overlooking orange and banana trees, and, of course, the butterflies. There were a couple things that would have lost their charm had I stayed much longer: the complete absence of hot water, the critters (a lizard! a bat!) that kept visiting my room, the frightening things that the intense humidity did to my hair. All in all, though, I’d go back in a heartbeat.
I’m still typing trip notes and will likely have one more post of Costa Rica goodies to share … including near death experiences in the rainforest canopy. Stay tuned!
