I'll bring the skulls if you bring the skins! This is exactly what Dawn Dextraze, SCCD's Educator wrote to Kathleen Stowell of Lake Sunapee Protective Association (LSPA) as they were getting ready to share resources for a Mammals Skins & Skulls class last month. The skulls themselves were borrowed from Robin Tymula, a biology teacher at Stevens High School. The skins and skulls were used for multiple programs during the one week loan period. Newport Middle's Ecology Club used them to train for the wildlife identification section of the NH Envirothon competition. Every May, teams made up of 5-6 high school or middle school students travel to Concord to test their Natural Resources knowledge
Winter is a great time to observe the apartment complexes created by pileated woodpeckers in standing, dead trees, a.k.a. snags. These woodpeckers create rectangular holes as they are excavating for insects and they also create cavities to roost in overnight. However, they don't stay in the same cavity each night, because they might not be nearby, leaving some vacancies. Small resident songbirds such as tufted titmice, chicadees, kinglets, and nuthatches group together in mixed species flocks to find food during the winter months. They stay in these groups overnight in holes in dead trees, sometimes using the vacant woodpecker roosts. The small birds have such high metabolisms, they would
When I lived and worked in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, I often led hikers to rocky, ridgetops where many plants are dependent on wildfires to survive. These warm, dry forests are very different from the wet jungle of plants in the shaded valleys. There is even a pine tree that has sharp spikes spiraled around its serotinous cones to protect them until a natural fire heats them up and opens them, releasing their seeds. In Autumn, brilliant red and orange leaves light up these fire dependent forests, home to sourwood, blackgum, huckleberries and blueberries. During spring and summer months, I would keep my eyes open for uncommon wildflowers such as pink ladyslipper, birdfoot viole
Imagine if you went to school and learned how to brew hot chocolate, to safely build a campfire for warmth and actually got to cook your lunch over it? Not only are these survival skills that connect us to our ancesters, but they also help to build community among students and teachers. But don't just take my word for it, hear Jed Hart, special education teacher at Charlestown Middle school, tell the tale. One day in May last year, twenty-five seventh grade boys, five teachers, a bevy of gear, and a fire permit entered the Charlestown Nature Trail, known to the boys as Clay Brook. Prior to heading afield, the boys had been separated into tribes and were told that they would complete tasks to
