Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
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Friday, July 27, 2012
Feel Better Soon TG
 |
| Thomas Thomas had a boating mishap yesterday. He's out of action for a few days and we hope he's feeling better real soon. |
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
American Eels
Tate, Ross, and Thomas went looking for creatures of interest in Folgers marsh. They found Eels exactly where the field guide said they'd find them.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Hells Bells!
Yesterday, our Jr Rangers went on a plant Id scavenger hunt. This plant, (Datura stramonium) is a member of the Nightshade family and is known by such common names as Jimsonweed, Thorn-apple, and the very colorful "Hells Bells". This plant is medicinal, it's toxins (which are significant) make this a plant that should be handled with care, and only by trained experts. This plant will be today's writing prompt.
The color of the day
Molly and Eliza went in search of plants that they might find interesting. Molly liked that this Yarrow was pink.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Jr Rangers on the beach
From left to right
Thomas, Gigi, Isobel, Julia, and Laura.
They worked hard to make FIELD Day a success,
finished off the day with a dip in the ocean.
FIELD Day!
This past Sunday the Conservation Foundation hosted a nature walk for members families. Anjali is wearing the latest fashion for Deer Fly control on top of her hat, a blue cup covered in Tangle Foot, a sticky substance that works just like fly paper. When we catch the flies, we feed them to our turtles and fish.
Molly!
Our newest Jr Ranger is Molly, she's seen here meeting Dr. Sarah. Molly jumped right in and helped with the FIELD Day here at the field station on Sunday. Both of these ladies are from Oklahoma, they have a lot to talk abouit.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Nantucket Boys and Girls Club take a nature walk
Anjali and Sonia take the Boys and Girls Club on a nature walk.
Camp Wildwood & Blue Crabs
You can tell this is a male Blue Crab, notice the marking on the middle of the carapace
(main portion of the shell)
If the marking looks like a lighthouse it's a male.
Jr Rangers Take Audubon Camp for a Nature Walk.
We always look forward to our yearly visit from Camp Wildwood.
New Jr Ranger - Ben G.
This is Ben, our newest Jr Ranger. Ben helped with Greenhead fly control measures.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Tunicate
The Jr Rangers work to keep our waters free of invasive species whenever possible. Pictured above is some Codium. Codium competes for the same habitat as Eel grass. The Codium in turn, has been invaded by a Tunicate, a good word and species to study. Our after lunch discussion today.
Acrostic Poems
After lunch our Jr Rangers take a half an hour or so to review our mornings work. Storytelling and songs, sometimes poetry are part of the process. Here are a few of the Acrostic poems that came out of yesterday's after lunch discussion.
Marsh
fiddler crab fiddles,fiddles around the marsh to dig,dig out a nice little home
in the sweet Marsh.
A Marsh
is where marsh fiddler crabs fiddle around and flies buzz,buzz,buzz.
Return
to their homes that are holes in the marsh, the marsh fiddler crabs hide from Godzilla
with plastic feet.
Salt
pan is the lowest point in the marsh, where flies lay their eggs and where
marsh fiddler crab waits for a snack.
High
in the sky the fiddler crab fiddles around, and falls down,down,down to be food
for flying monsters
Ben
FALCON
Flying high
An amazing bird
Landing gracefully
Caging them is wrong
On and on they go flying in circles
looking for pray
None should kill them
DOGS
Domesticated wolves
Outrageously cute
Got to get one
So adorable
Isobel
FIDDLER CRABS
Fiddling Fiddler crabs fiddle
together
Identify by big or small claws,
which snap prey
Digging their small but long holes
just to get moister so they can breath
Doodling in the sand, we step on them
Liking one and another is not why
they stick together, they together for a less chance of being eaten by
predators
Every day, more are getting born,
more are growing, and more are dying
Remembering them reminds us of
crabs, and crabs remind me of green crabs that we squish
Crazy as we know it, it only has enough
smarts to get by the day
Remaining in their holes, we cannot
find them
A crab is a crab, and all crabs have
something in common
Being out in their habitat they
like, but when captured easily die
Serving is their duty, and they know
it well. Fiddler crabs live on.
Anjali
CATBIRD
Catbird, catbird flying in
the sky
Another bird comes along
They are both happy together
Both of them are catbirds
I think they are beautiful together
Really cool together
Doing their thing
They are awesome
Sonia
Great sharks
Really big
Eats seals
An aggressive shark
To cool
White on its belly
High on the food chain
On the most aggressive shark list
To wet
Engage with sharks
Some sharks lay eggs
High in protein
Are cool
R predators
Kills animals
Orion
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Orion Goes Seining
On my first day as a Jr Ranger this year my mom drove me to the field station. Lenny met me
there. He showed me the fish in the fish tank. 5 minutes later a car showed up.
A family wanted to go seining. Lenny said , “Sure, we can!” So 5 minutes later
we were going to the marsh. When we got there we walked all the way down the deer path. We started seining. While I was
holding the net the other people saw a blue crab. When we pulled in the net we
saw what we had: fish, shrimp, and crabs. We brought them back to the lab. My
mom was waiting there. She drove me home.
Orion Dailey
Friday, July 6, 2012
Fiddler Crabs by Anjali
“Oww!!!” A male Fiddler crab just
pinched me. We were catching Fiddler crabs to make a Fiddler crab tank. We only
caught Sand Fiddler crabs, not Mud Fiddler crabs.
There is
a unique way of catching Fiddler crabs. If you were trying to catch a Fiddler
crab, and it fled into its hole, right where the tunnel goes left or right,
North or South, or just straight down, you put your hand in the sand and block
the tunnel. Then you push up and the Fiddler crab pops up and you get another
chance to chase it.
After we
caught the Fiddler crabs, we went for a little swim. I got dunked a couple of
times and then we started to head back. When we got back to the laboratory, we
pour both the sand and the Fiddler crabs into what used to be the tank of… DOOM!!!!!!!!! We caught about 20 Fiddler
crabs, out of a million and a half. That was pretty fun!!!
Thursday, July 5, 2012
First Blog Post - Eliza Dean
Eliza and Anjali on the beach
Today was my first day as a Junior Ranger, I learned so much about nature, like, deer flies hang around Juniper Trees and when a warm blooded animal walks past the Juniper Tree the deer flies attack! We went to the beach and looked at deer tracks and erosion. I learned that you can tell a male and female deer apart from their tracks! We also looked at dead man's fingers, a type of seaweed that takes over eel grass. Then we walked back and had lunch. After lunch we went to the Conservation Foundation and picked up badges and bags for us to keep. When we got back we had free swim time on the beach, I also got to hand feed the turtle. I had a really fun first day.
Eliza Dean
Seining on a sunny day
Lenny demonstrates seining to a group of visitors, one of our favorite activities here. No one is wearing a hat! Not a good idea when the sun is so bright and strong.
Orion on the camera
Tuesday it was Orion's turn to take photo's of our nature walk, I like this shot very much, good work Turtle Whisperer.
Jr Rangers Take Mackenzie for a nature walk
Last week our cracker jack staff of Jr. Rangers took a nature walk with Mackenzie (in the front with camera) and her mom. Little Mack liked it so much she brought her brother, her dad, and mom back to show them around the field station and show them what she learned.
Jr Rangers (back row) Tate, Eliza, Anjali, Orion, Sonia, and Ross.
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