Sep. 26, 2008 A Nature Field Trip...Blanding's Turtles and Explora
On Wednesday, Ds12 and I traveled with my parents and five local high school students to a national park. It was a three hour drive, but well worth it.
We were greeted by two biologists. They took us to turtle nesting sites of the endangered Blanding's Turtle. These turtles are recognized as a species at risk and are protected at the park. On evenings in June the females lay their eggs in gravel/sand. The eggs incubate for 100 days with heat from the sun. Then in September they hatch and crawl up out of their nest.
We helped locate three baby turtles which had radio transmitters on their shells. They were so cute. They were about the size of a toonie ($2 coin in Canada).
Blanding's Turtles
After lunch we went on a hiking trail with an electronic tour guide called Explora. It is "GPS-triggered, location-based technology at Parks Canada sites." We were provided a GPS and a stylus and set off! The GPS would make a loon call whenever it wanted to notify us of info. Multimedia guide: movie, audio, pictures, quizes, info about geology, botany, biology and local history. Very cool. I got 10 out of 11 on the quizes:) |
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Jun. 2, 2008 Birding...Day Two
We spent Sunday afternoon exploring the beach. We found a few birds...
1. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata)
2. Black-throated Green Warbler
3. Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapilla)
We learned about SOOO many plants.
1. Goldenthread
2. Sasspirilla...rootbeer from the root..and not the Smurfs:-)
3. Star Flower (Trientalis borealis)
4. Alder
5. Violet
6. Rhodora (Rhododendron canadense)
7. Horsetail
8. Plantains
9. Wild Lily of the Valley
10.Wild Sweet Pea
11. Blue-Bead Lily...aka Clintonia (Clintonia borealis)
12. Bayberry
13. Twinflower
14. Foxberry
15. Lance-leaf Violet
16. Meadowsweet
17. Spirea
18. Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis)
19. Pyrola
20. Red Choke Berry
21. Sweet Gale
22. Bearberry...aka kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi)
23. Juniper
24. British Soldiers lichen
25. Three-tooth Cinqfoil
26. Sheep Laurel
27. Fly Honeysuckle
WOW!!! Nice photos at www.plantwatch.ca.
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Jun. 2, 2008 Birding...Day One
My mother took me birding this weekend. Dd10 came along. This is a list of what we found on Saturday, May 31st.
1...at a river...two Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
2... at an apple orchard...Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia)
3...at an old homestead...Yellow-throated Warbler (Dendroica dominica)
4...at a beach...Yellow Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), Willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus), Parula Warbler (Parula americana), Black-throated Green Warbler (Dendroica virens), and Bank Swallows (Riparia riparia); and we heard Common Raven (Corvus corax), American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) , and White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)
5...in a small village...Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) and Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
6...at an old fort...Willet, Black-bellied Plover (Squatarola squatarola), and Sharp-tailed Sparrow (Ammospiza caudacuta)
7...at a beach...Willet, Common Tern (Sterna hirundo), Sanderling (Crocethia alba), and Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) Piping Plovers are at risk. We had a guardian give us a tour of the beach. We had to say clear of the nesting area and watch with binoculars and a scope. One cute little guy ran out in front of dd10 and myself!! He shook his little red foot in the sand to get bugs/worms. They sure do run fast!!
8...at a lighthouse...Shearwater..I don't know which kind! |
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Jun. 2, 2008 Owl Prowl and Star Watch
After the meeting we went on an owl prowl. We waited until after dark and walked to a wooded hill. The birders called the Saw-whet. I could here an answer in the woods behind me!! Then they called the Barred Owl. The children thought the call sounded funny..but we couldn't laugh out loud! A Great-Horned Owl answered back, but he did not fly in close to us.
Larry Bogan showed us the constellations. Saturn is in Leo and Mars is off to the right of Leo. We saw a space station and some meteorites (falling stars). He pointed out many constellations. I remember the Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Caseopea, Gemini, Virgo, Northern Cross, Leo, Scorpio, Cancer,....
We had a good time and it was VERY educational! |
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Friday, May 30th, my mother took ds12, dd10, and me to our first Nature NS meeting. The special speaker was Dr. Sherman Boates, Manager of Wildlife Resources, NS Dept of Natural Resources. He spoke on "A Sense of Place: Biodiversity Treasures in Southwest NS." [www.gov.ns.ca/natr/wildlife/conserva/03-02-5.htm ]
There are eleven species of plants unique to southwest NS. They are at risk of becoming extinct.
1. Pink Tickseed (Coreopsis rosea)
2. Plymouth Gentain (Sabatia kennedyana)
3. Sweet Pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia)
4. Thread-leaved Sundew (Drosera filiformis)
5. Tubercled Spikerush (Eleocharis tuberculosa)
6. Water Pennywort (Hydrocotyle umbellata)
7. New Jersey Rush ( Juncus caesariensis)
8. Long's Bullrush (Scirpus longii)
9. Redroot (Lachnanthes caroliana)
10. Golden-crest (Lophiola aurea)
11. Bladderwort (Utricularia resupinata) [www.speciesatrisk.ca]
Dr. M. L. Fernald led an expedition to Ns in the 1920's. He was a botanist from Gray Herbarium at Harvard University. He named and classified many of the plant species in this area.
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