The View From My Wheelchair

85 degrees in Central Minnesota today. Gorgeous.

The frogs were singing today. I heard at least 3 different species. Every Spring the return of the Red-winged Blackbirds, the frogs, and their glorious Spring Symphony are healing music to my ears.

A little further down the trail this was waiting for me, a Snapping Turtle. Notice how thrilled my dog was. LOL

I saw a pair of Mergansers within the safety of the refuge fence. I borrowed this photo from the internet.

The Turkey Vultures and Pelicans were in abundance as well.

The turtles are back on their favorite sunning log. (I took this last summer.)

The American Coots were enjoying the river as well. (Image borrowed from internet.)

It was a fun day!

The Real First Day Of Spring

Finally, the first warm day of spring!

I spent the afternoon down by the Crow River today. What a difference a week makes: we went from a foot and a half of snow, to temperatures in the low 60s. There were a lot of people out today with smiles of relief on their faces. I chatted with a young lady named Lily who was out with her friends picking up garbage along the river in honor of Earth Day. I enjoyed chatting with her. I ran into a couple of my river rat friends, folks I have gotten to know while enjoying the trails. Everybody was saying Happy Spring and yelling, "We made it through another one!" I caught myself with a silly grin on my face all day as well.

The blizzard had a big impact on migrating birds around here. There was a report of dead Robins around the birdfeeder in someone's backyard, and there was a large killing of Coots on a highway next to a lake during the blizzard as well. The ice isn't out yet and the lake bottoms are a primary source of food for Coots. It wasn't horribly cold, but many habitats weren't ready to host migrating birds so they couldn't feed.

Down by the river today the sounds of the birds were like a symphony, and a balm to my winter weary heart. Two days before the snowstorm I spotted Red-winged Blackbirds, Pelicans, and a Sandhill Crane. I saw all but the Crane today; I hope it made it through the blizzard. I also noticed that the Gulls are back. I saw them standing out on the ice, which is not completely out yet. I also heard an assorted number of "song sparrows", for lack of knowing their exact names yet, and I heard Goldfinches.

At one point, I heard a noise that sounded like kids playing down in the brush next to the river, but I soon realized it was actually the ice-out moving  against the low hanging branches. The water is almost at flooding stage, so low-lying branches that would normally be out of the water, were dipping their small branches into the water. There was a lot of LOUD popping and cracking. Right in front of me,  a tree that was already rotting and leaning forward, but whose roots and trunk were still firmly in the ground 3 to 4 feet from shore, was literally pushed by the ice until it ended up at a 90° angle from the trunk. An 18 to 20 inch diameter tree that was perpendicular to the shoreline became parallel  to the shoreline. The ice literally twisted the tree from its trunk roots right in front of me.  Although it wasn't a large amount of ice, boy did it have power!  I'd always heard about ice-outs, the noise, potential for damage, and I have seen amazing video of such events (search: ice tsunami Millacs Lake, May 11, 2013), but to be present for one, no matter how small, was thrilling! I'm definitely going to have to work on my skills for taking videos.

It is good to have Spring back.

I Did It!

A Wonderful Snowy Owl Video

https://www.facebook.com/nprskunkbear/videos/327486814323125/

Update On Class, Citizen Scientists, First Sightings

Well, I have one field trip and one class left before I graduate as a Minnesota Master Naturalist. With everything that I've learned these last 10 weeks, I feel like I haven't even begun to touch on all I would like to learn and know. I guess that's the whole idea, to encourage curiosity and pass it on to others.

In lieu of a final exam, we have to present what's called a Capstone Project. It's a way to transition us from learning to teaching. I have joined with another gal in my class. She was invited to develop the curriculum for a 4H day camp happening the end of July. I will be helping her. Our topic is trees. Our theme (at this early point in planning) is ecology, and the part trees play in the world's ecosystems. Our audience is Kindergarten through Fifth Grade. That's a pretty broad spectrum of attention spans, I know. In the end, we hope to make them more aware of their surroundings,  spark curiosity, instill a lifelong passion for learning more about the world around them, while fostering awareness of the power they have to make change. The capstone will essentially be an outline of our intentions and what preparations we've already made. I think the presentation, and the day camp, will be great fun!
                                                         
                                                               ++++++++++++++

I joined an organization called iNaturalist. It's an organization where Citizens Scientists and Academics Scientists join together to identify organisms in Nature. I tried out my phone camera today and it's no good for what I need. I need to be able to take up-close photos, and because of the wheelchair I can't always gain access, so I need a telephoto lens. I dug out my digital camera and am dusting it off and charging the battery. I will give it a try tomorrow and see if it works any better. I'm not even sure I can hold it up anymore, but I'm in the process of remedying that.

Did you know there was such a thing as Citizens Scientists? With technology the way it is these days, Academic Scientists are taking advantage of regular everyday citizens to help them with their research. Take iNaturalist as just one example. You take photographs, attempt to identify it yourself, or at least get the basic grouping that the object of your photograph is in, and then they help you identify it, all the while using that data for their own research. This way academic scientists can have thousands of people assisting their fieldwork. Academics get the data, and we learn more from their knowledge. It's a symbiotic relationship, and one I'm looking forward to being a part of. As a Citizen Scientist, you can help independently, or be a part in assisting with group projects as well. Some examples are:

• Audubon Christmas Bird Count --www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/getinvolved.htmi, if you love birds; 
• Minnesota Frog and Toad Calling Survey; North American Butterfly Counts--www.naba.org/counts.html; 
• Journey North "engages students in a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change". for K-12 and the general public as well -- www.learner.org/jnorth/ 
• Lake Level Minnesota is a program for volunteers and cooperative organizations to collect and report lake levels throughout the state -- mndnr.gov/volunteering/lakelevelmn.html

(Minnesota Master Naturalist Curriculum Textbook, copyright 2011. Regents of the University of Minnesota . All Rights Reserved. Second printing: October 2011.)
 
There are so many opportunities available, in every state. Please feel free to leave me a message if you're interested in more information.

                                                              +++++++++++++++++

I was able to get down by the river today. It finally got warm enough. I spooked up what I thought was a Grey Heron, but when I got back to look at my bird book, I'm fairly certain I saw a Sandhill Crane. If it was, it was a first time siting for me.

I also heard a solitary Redwing Blackbird for the first time this season. I saw a flock of white pelicans, as well, soaring in the sky.

I'm looking forward to see what kind of adventures will evolve the summer, especially with all these new tools I have at my disposal. Stay tuned, it could be fun!