Fishbugs and Snorkeling with the Scout Troop #5

Alex Benish leading the way!

A small pack from Boy Scout Troop #5 hauled their swimming trunks, snorkels and bug nets down to Big Wilson Creek in search of Southern Appalachain Brook Trout. Upon arriving we found a tea-colored tannin stained creek. Not to be deterred, the scouts geared up and entered the 62 degree water without hesitation. Although visibility was less than an arms length, the boys quickly found a pod of trout lurking in the rocks on the bottom of the big hole. The first snorkeling attempt resulted in success! We can't wait to get back when the water is crystal clear!

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Mid April (2015) BRDC Program Notes

In spite of our fickle weather, which is certainly typical, we have managed to increase outdoor activities married to our principles and mission. As well, we continue through Bird Sleuth, to provide teachers with curricula (and moral) support.

Starting on April 2nd, Grayson County High School’s ‘’Team Birds’’ made another visit to Matthews State Forest with the one and only requirement to search out by sight and sound any and all birds and record their findings. We had Chassney Hodge, our intern from Galax, Sarah Osborne and her intern-in-training son, Jack, and Carol Broderson as guides…along with me, Scott. The day was productive with a belted kingfisher, blue-gray gnatcatcher, yellow-rumped warbler (often referred to as ‘butter-butt’), and a wild turkey rounding off new discoveries. Keeping this team on track is challenging, but clearly they all enjoy time outdoors and many are becoming birders in spite of themselves.

William Roberts and I were invited to give a presentation on all things birdy for the Baywood Cub Scouts on the 9th. Meeting in the gym with 14 kids, along with their parents and siblings, was a noisy affair, but we managed to share with them bird feathers, skulls, feet and lore. We began with comparing screech and great-horned owl parts, and then the wild turkey. Most of these kids knew the turkey, of course, but when we brought out the great blue heron parts, confusion and competition…along with great questions and guesses…challenged the acoustical limits.

Then we moved out to a quieter hallway for a reading from William, based on a Pacific Northwest Indian creation myth, about how light, warmth and the all-important sun were given to people. The raven, a classical trickster figure in Native American stories, played a major role. Given that we had a little more time, I pulled out some bird flash cards to see exactly how much these youngsters knew about birds, and both William and I were amazed by their collective response.

One of my favorite kid groups comes from our local home educators, whose moms show at least as much interest as their children. Brenda Bonk (president of BRDC) joined me as a guide on a cool rainy day at the Matthews State Forest for a morning of birding and an afternoon of insect identification. In spite of the iffy weather, and having our study area situated on Judge Matthews’ old farmhouse porch, we were able to dodge intermittent rains with great productive success. These kids are patient and overwhelmingly excited about natural history. Many of them are already anglers and hunters, with a keen sense of outdoor experience. Sometimes I am happy to learn from them, as it should be.

At this time of year, early spring, and given that the Judge was crazy about apple trees in all of their varied glory, we had a blooming event that brought out a plethora of pollinators, mostly native along with the imported European honey bee. I have begun an insect collection/preservation bio survey component that requires the ‘killing jar’. So far, no one seems to object, but I need to say that we are careful with all insects, most are catch and release episodes, and those that do die are dispatched humanely. BRDC believes that this collection will serve not only as an important educational tool, but also as an archive of here and now, an important historical record. It appears that bees and ants are the first insects ready to go to work during the first hints of warmth.

Finally, on the 16th, Sarah Osborne, Chassney Hodge and I regrouped indoors (because birds and people are not as outdoor active on cold rainy days), we continued with the follow-through next step of Cornell’s Bird Sleuth program based on data analysis. This is a required component of our effort, and though the students would prefer to both escape the paper work and the classroom, giving them a sense of the importance of translating their outdoor experience to another level of value, completes both the school’s prerogative as well as BRDC’s commitment to a rounded out educational experience.

Scott Jackson-Ricketts, Program Director, BRDC

Tracking Part I: Boy Scouts and BRDC

[Tracking Part II: Field trip details

]

Two local Boy Scout Troups

secured the promise of two Blue Ridge Discovery Volunteers, Scott Jackson-Ricketts and Roald Kirby, to help them with their Tracking Merit Badge work. Leading up to the big day, Scott gathered tracking materials from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries through the generosity of Allen Boynton and Carol Heiser.

On Friday, November 19th, Roald and Scott met at Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, to spend a few preliminary hours checking the grounds around the pond and above it, an old apple orchard. They raked leaves away from well-worn paths to give the boys a better opportunity to find fresh tracks worthy of casting.

Then, on Saturday, 11 boys, four parents and the BRDC volunteers began their tracking by finding some good tracks and casting several molds, using plaster of paris and containment collars. As Roald and Scott discovered the previous day, there are so many deer on premises that finding any other tracks would be nearly impossible. There were canine tracks, most likely left by domestic dogs, as they were too big to represent coyote. However, some scat was discovered that contained mostly rodent hair, and was determined to belong to either coyote or bobcat.

Splitting into two groups, with Roald and Ann Watson taking one up into the orchard, while Buddy Halsey and Scott headed down below the pond into brushy undergrowth and eventually up a deer trail through a short leaf pine woods and into a hardwood stand. Both groups found some more cast-worthy tracks, and various signs such as recent evidence of a bird kill, raccoon scat, deer hair on twigs, bird and squirrel nests, and antler rubs. Deer trails dominated the landscape, and were used to demonstrate efficiency of movement, discovery of bedding areas, and the evidence of how important a role the apple orchard played in the deer’s world at this time of year.

After lunch and some general discussion, Buddy offered a stalking game, which turned out to be the highlight of the day. The idea here was for Buddy to position himself on top of a hill, in full view, while three groups of scouts attempted to get as close to him as possible before he spotted them. The three groups designed their own strategies and all took different paths. What made this especially challenging was how open most of the area was between Buddy and the scouts’ starting points. All three groups put great effort into this challenge, suffering the barbs of black-berry thickets, barbed wire and other indignities, but the older group won by skirting a wide arc and coming up behind Buddy. They used the more civilized but longer path, including campus buildings for shields.

And lastly, all 11 boys participated in a version of hide and seek known as Snake Pit, where one boy is given a four minute lead, finds a hiding place and stays put. Then, at four-minute intervals, and one at a time, another boy was released to find the hiding place, and if successful, stayed as well…and so on.

At the end of the day, the adults discussed another follow-up field trip in a different habitat, such as along the river. This merit badge is one of several centennial offerings, and will no longer be available after the end of this year. Historically, the badge was called ‘Stalking’, but was altered to ‘Tracking’ due to the recent use of the word ‘stalking’.

For more information see: http://usscouts.org/mb/mb142.asp

For a detailed description of discoveries and education activities see:

Tracking Part II: Field trip details

Article and photographs by Scott Jackson-Ricketts