Click here to view Urban bird Prezi Are you familiar with Prezi? It is a presentation software and storytelling tool for presenting ideas on a virtual canvas. I find it a very satisfying (and a bit addictive) way to organize information. My latest is Celebrate Urban Birds , which I put together for a 2-day birding course for High School students.
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"If the whole US was one big yard, it might look like this." yardmap
Geume's Island of Skagit, Washington was recently one of yardmap's featured sites. A beautiful yard! Congratulations to you Salal Sal~
"If we and the rest of the back-boned animals were to disappear overnight, the rest of the world would get on pretty well. But if the invertebrates were to disappear, the world's ecosystems would collapse." Sir David Attenborough
Buglife is a European organization devoted to the conservation of all invertebrates. Buglifers are actively working to save Britain’s rarest little animals, everything from bees to beetles, worms to woodlice and jumping spiders to jellyfish. Buglife researches what bugs need and then campaigns for bugs so that everyone will understand the importance of looking after biodiversity as a whole, and what we can each do to help. The goal is to save threatened populations, restore wildlife habitats and tell everyone why invertebrates matter. An information-rich site with Habitat and Species projects, field guides, activities, factsheets, and how to guides (like this) Wildlife Gardening. Be Inspired! GROW WILD is also based in the UK and their motto is "Flowers to the People". Grow Wild's goal is to encourage communities and individuals to come together by sowing, growing, and enjoying native wild flowers. The idea is to transform spaces for nature, which increases biodiversity, and allows people to connect with nature and each other whilst nurturing biophilia. Grow Wild is publicly-funded by the Big Lottery Fund, which gives millions of pounds to good causes, i.e. community groups and projects like Grow Wild, that improve well-being, education, and the environment. Grow Wild is also sponsored by Royal Botanic Gardens-Kew, whose mission is to “inspire and deliver science-based plant conservation worldwide – enhancing the quality of life." Now, the question is: how do we get something like this going here?
No egg masses counted, but several salamander tadpoles in various stages of their aqueous metamorphosis were seen yesterday. That means that our 2014 volunteer work as WDF&W Amphibian Egg Mass Monitors at the Arboretum has concluded. Thank you Stephanie, for your knowledge, good humor, and leadership! This year's Woodland Pond counts were far below our findings of 2013 for both Pacific Tree frog and the NW salamander. One thing that was different was that we only counted monthly rather than bi-weekly, so it's possible that we missed some of the action. Also, our May count was next to nothing, with murky water and flooded conditions from the rain and run-off. Worrisome. We felt hopeful yesterday after our salamander tadpole sightings. In addition, Steph scooped some healthy-looking pond water full of tiny creatures. Good luck little guys...see you next year! What we found, whilst Amphibian Egg Mass Monitoring, at the upper Woodland Pond of the UW Arboretum yesterday, were these lovely Odonata larvae; the larger is a dragonfly nymph and the smaller a damselfly. Dragonflies have been on the earth for over 300 million years, and at one time had wingspans of up to 75cm! Our modern-day dragonflies spend most of their lives as nymphs and molt 6-15 times before reaching adulthood, and this takes between two to six years. Cool fact: 80% of a dragonfly's brain is used to process visual information; their compound eyes are huge, with almost 28,000 individual units, and they can see 360°. Plus, they are both fast and agile, with flight speeds up to 35 mph. Read more about Odonata at UCMP Berkeley. I've just signed up for Bumble Bee Watch!
You can join me as a beepeeker here: Xerces Society |
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