HollerPhenology

Earth Day and a drowned out March for Science in the holler

While I work up a post on what I saw in the holler this week, I want to acknowledge that today is Earth Day, and that, across the United States and around the world, thousands of people have shown up to March for Science.

I had planned my own march down the holler to celebrate, combining my (almost) daily holler walk to observe phenophases with contemplation of my role as a citizen scientist. But heavy rain -- 3.5 inches as of 11:30 am -- has so far put a damper on that. I opted to sit on the porch for awhile and listen for birds.

The only ones out in the downpour, however, were an eastern phoebe and a hooded warbler. So, I turned my inner witness toward my own thoughts, reflecting on my life-long connections to nature and (eventually) to formal study of nature through science.

One of my favorite #MarchForScience signs. Photo from a Facebook friend.

The theme that arose today centered on my experience of ways we can know the world. Science as we commonly, humanly understand it is certainly one of those. I find it enjoyable to explore, observe, and question nature with citizen scientist eyes.

Over time, I've discovered other ways of knowing. I've learned not so much to privilege one way over another as to flow between and across them, to integrate the experiences, to welcome awareness of multiple meanings and possiblities.

It's wondrous to me how, on so many holler walks, my citizen-scientist-self -- focused as it is on phenological details of another life -- allows my citizen-philosopher (or some other self) to surface, revealing something new, deepening my relationship with that other being and with the holler as our common home.

Here are some of the articles I've enjoyed reading this week on the #MarchForScience:

March for Science draws big crowds across U.S. (Reuters, April 22, 2017)

Historians say the March for Science is ‘pretty unprecedented’ (Chris Mooney-Washington Post, April 22, 2017)

We Stand for All Sacred Life on Earth (Joe Brewer, April 22, 2017)

How the March for Science Misunderstands Politics (Andrew Jewett in The Atlantic, April 21, 2017)

The March For Science May Be Flawed, But It's More Than Worthy Of Your Support (Kavin Senapathy - Forbes, April 14, 2017)

Showing Up to Shape the Science March (Megan Halpern, March 23, 2017)

word

Digging science: Citizens amplify knowledge about the natural world | Science Matters | David Suzuki Foundation

via www.davidsuzuki.org

Photo credit: Mount Rainier National Park via Flickr

For a number of years now I have identified myself (at least one aspect of my self!) as a citizen scientist. I had formal undergraduate training in science, with a major in Parks and Recreation Administration and a focus on Environmental Interpretation. My initial career intention was to work as a naturalist or something related. After a time I took a leap from nature outside into the study of nature inside the human psyche, which led to a career change as well.

My life-long interest in other species and natural systems (of which humans are a part) continued, though, as serious hobbies like bird watching, nature photography, and writing about my relationship with the world around me. Eventually I discovered the concept of citizen science and realized that my love of science couldn't be erased by a career change.

So, I really resonated with David Suzuki's article on citizen science this week:

We're on the cusp of a major revolution in the way we approach environmental science. In February, a water sample showed that the first trace amounts of ocean-borne radioactive contamination from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster reached North American shores. The sample wasn't taken from an oceanographic vessel. It was collected in a 20-litre sample bottle from the public dock in Ucluelet, B.C., by a class of Grade 5 and 6 girls participating in a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution project that connects concerned citizens from North American communities around the Pacific shores. A decade ago, this type of organizing and sample-taking by engaged citizens would have been inconceivable.

Check out the whole article at the Suzuki Foundation blog -- and if you are not already working as a citizen scientist, please consider doing so! The article has some good links to visit for ideas.

Or, you can become an observer with the USA-National Phenology Network/Nature's Notebook. Just this morning I got an email from USA-NPN about a new online course that will help you get started as an observer. This Nature's Notebook How To provides background information, instructional videos and interactive quizzes, and takes about 45 minutes to complete.

I think citizen science is really more fun than work, but the service to fellow humans, other species, and the whole planet can be priceless!

Related articles

Citizen Science - What citizens contribute to research

Nature Canada - Spring call goes out to Canadians to record nature in their own backyards

In my house in the holler today: Herald Moth

I woke up this morning to find this amazing moth under the handle of a spoon:

Herald Moth (Scoliopteryx libatrix) on 22 May 2012 [Photo credit: Cathie Bird]

Herald moth adults often overwinter in cool, dark places such as caves or barns (or cabins with lowered thermostats in a holler?), and emerge from March to June. I'm wondering if this one spent the winter with me or came in with the dogs through the pet door. One of its main food plants is the poplar, of which I have several near the house.

And here are two short videos I got yesterday of an eastern phoebe hunting bugs around the porch. I'm guessing this is one of the young porchlight phoebes:

 

 

 

 

I also got a short video of what I think was a yellow-throated warbler who came to do some bugging after the phoebe left. Unfortunately it was not a sharp image so I decided not to process it for YouTube.

I found an interesting article at Planet Earth Online about the Seychelles warbler. Research on a population of these warblers on Cousin Island shows that chicks of this species living in island environments may have extra help from relatives other than their parents:

Brouwer and her colleagues considered two possible reasons why helpers are so beneficial right through life. It may be that the chicks get more food, and therefore have a greater body mass when they fly the nest. As heavier chicks have a better chance of survival, the additional food may have a long-lasting benefit.

Alternatively, by bringing more food to the growing chicks, chicks may not have to forage as much. The reduction in foraging effort required by the chicks keeps them safe from damage to their cells, which could cause later diseases. Further research is needed to test these ideas, so research is continuing in the Seychelles.

The research paper can also be downloaded free at PLoS One:

Helpers at the Nest Improve Late-Life Offspring Performance: Evidence from a Long-Term Study and a Cross-Foster Experiment

ClimateWatch introduces Aussies to phenology

The ClimateWatch program in Australia was developed by Earthwatch with the Bureau of Meteorology and The University of Melbourne to understand how changes in temperature and rainfall are affecting Australia's plants and animals. This is the first project of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. Any  Australian citizen can go online to record data they collect on a number of indicator species.

Like data collected by USA-NPN observers, the Australians' data will help scientists monitor climate change and develop a scientific response to it.

A jacaranda tree in Wooroolin, Australia [Source: Rossrs at Wikipedia]

I first learned about the ClimateWatch project in Climate story emerges from purple haze, an article about a ClimateWatch trail at the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney. The "purple haze" describes a flowering tree that is native to South America, but can be found in many Australian parks, gardens and neighborhoods:

LOVE them or loathe them, jacarandas, with their brilliant purple petals, have an important story to reveal about the effects of climate change.

The familiar Sydney trees are part of a new ''citizen scientist'' project in which visitors to the Royal Botanic Gardens can observe a selection of plants and animals and record information such as whether they are in bloom, nesting, or flying about.

Andy Donnelly, science director of Earthwatch, says it was important to include non-natives such as the jacaranda on the list so they could compare what's happening to the species in Australia with other parts of the world.

A jacaranda in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina [Source: Beatrice Murch, Wikipedia]

 

There are a number of trails in Australia where citizens can observe species and record data, but they can also enter observations they make anywhere in Australia for the species listed.

 

New Reserve in Peru Protects Birds, New Plant and Frog Species

Interesting article about a new nature reserve in central Peru that has been established by the American Bird Conservancy and the Peruvian conservation group. The San Marcos Private Conservation Area (PCA) protects more than 2,400 acres of high-altitude cloud forests:

Powerful Woodpecker [Photo credit: Kevin Heffernan]

Five new plant species and two new frog species have been discovered within the new reserve, which also supports birds like the Fire-throated Metaltail, Powerful Woodpecker and Brown-flanked Tanager.  Only thirty percent of the forest has been surveyed, however, and it is possible that the endemic and endangered Golden-backed Mountain-Tanager may also occur here. The new reserve protects watersheds important to San Marcos, as well as to the city of Huánuco and 11,800-acre Tingo Maria National Park further downstream.

via www.abcbirds.org