School Experiences

by Licia Johnson, Naturalist

One of the most important programs here at the Center is our school-based environmental education programs.  As much as we can, we get schools to come to the Center for a full day of educational activities, but budgets do not always allow for this type of program.  Several years ago we developed the “Naturalist in the Classroom” program, where we take our programs to local schools.  This has given me an opportunity to educate hundreds of local students and make vital community connections.  

Naturalist, Licia Johnson, explores
 beaver ecology inside the classroom.

I wanted to highlight two experiences where I have worked with the Arbor Vitae-Woodruff School.  AVW school is an expeditionary learning school, which defined by elschool.org means this school “inspire[s] the motivation to learn, engage teachers, and students in new levels of focus and effort, and transform schools into places where students and adults become leaders of their own learning.”  AVW School’s mission statement:  The mission of the AV-W School where commitment to the child is first, is to ensure each student learns, dreams, grows, and contributes as a responsible citizen. This is accomplished by providing challenging diverse educational experiences , utilizing our natural setting and technology , taught by a dedicated staff in partnership with our entire community.  This is really a special school and we are honored to be a part of their vision for their students. 

First Grade Frog Expedition

In the spring of 2012, I was asked to come in and work with the first grade students on their spring frog expedition.  Each study came along with guiding questions and case studies.  I came into the school to not only teach the students basic information on frogs, but to also develop and assist of some type of fieldwork project that would take place off campus.  Under their expeditionary learning model, they try to frame their work away from school and great field work studies where students are active investigators.  I spent a day working with the students discussing frog adaptations, habitat, frog ID, etc.  Guided by the teachers’ goals, I then developed a treefrog monitoring project for the students.  We decided to install a simple passive trapping system at the local school forest.  This included putting basic PVC pipes upright in the ground to act as shelter for local treefrogs.  They are not trapped, but use the tubes as a protected, humid retreat during the day.   I joined the students for a morning of marking and installation of the pipes.  I then created a data sheet and frog ID sheet for the students to use on their subsequent visits to the school forest to check the pipes for treefrogs.  They also installed several pipes around their school.  They visited the traps a number of times throughout the last month of school, but were unable to document any frogs in the traps.  With any good research project, lack of documentation of critters is still valuable information!  Following the several month long expedition, the students were they asked to create products to show off their learning.  They created a frog life cycle booklet, clay frog that showed some specific physical characteristics of a species of local frog, and a diorama that demonstrated the knowledge of a frog’s habitat.  

Student's Frog Diorama

The project culminated with an evening presentation to family and friends where the students discussed their time learning about frogs and conducting the research project.  They then were able to show off their clay frogs and dioramas.  Being a part of such important educational opportunities is the best part of my job here at the Center; there is nothing better than seeing these students become interested and involved in the natural world around them, gaining a new appreciation for their local environment.  The school plans to make this an annual study.  The Discovery Center was able to provide my time and efforts at no cost to the school on the project thanks to our annual Fund-a-Wish donations that supports Citizen-Based Monitoring projects.  Thank you to all who donated and allowed this great program to come to fruition!    

Second Grade Beaver-cology

Students explore the beaver pelt.

October 2012 brought another visit to AVW school, this time with the second grade students and the topic of beavers.  Now these are the same students who I worked with in the spring of 2012 as first graders.  It is such a joy to work with students year after year, watching them grow and learn.  Of course I wanted to see if they were able to remember some of the information I taught them about frogs and to my amazement and delight they were able to recall the term ‘adaptation’ to describe something an animal has or does that helps it to survive.  I was so proud!!  I then had them make a connection between frogs and beavers; how they are the same, how are they different.  Our morning programs focused on beaver adaptations, lifestyle and impacts.  The students participated in a fun beaver adaptation dress-up activity along with exploring actual beaver artifacts that included skulls, pelts, and actual beaver castor.  As school budgets reserve less and less funds for these types of activities for students, these particular programs were partly funded by a generous grant to the Discovery Center’s environmental education program from Xcel Energy.  We would like to thank Xcel for their support of our programs and furthering our mission.    

From Smelling to Collecting Food, Animal Tongues are Amazing!

by Licia Johnson, Naturalist

I have recently been creating new programs for our curriculum at the Discovery Center.  Researching and reading on different animals in the Northwoods has really taught me a lot, but something that I have really noticed are just how incredible some body parts of certain animals really are.  Nothing has stood out to me more the tongue.  Humans use tongues to aid in eating, tasting and speaking, and I was amazed at the different ways that animals have adapted to use theirs.

Snakes

If you have ever watched a snake slithering around exploring its environment, you have inevitably watched as it quickly sticks out its tongue.  There is a very important function going on with this simple motion.  IF you take a close look at the tongue of a snake, you will notice that it is forked at the end.  When a snake is flicking its tongue out, it is smelling and sensing its surroundings by collecting particles in the air.  What we can’t see, is when the snake brings its tongue back into its mouth, it sticks the forked end into two holes in the pallet of the mouth known as the Jacobson’s Organ.  This organ allows the brain to perceive and detect prey.  The snake does not use its tongue for tasting or as an aid when eating.

Butterflies

Butterflies have a specially adapted mouthpiece known as a proboscis.  If you have ever watched an adult butterfly land on a flower, you may have noticed that a small straw-like body part unravels out of the mouth area and stick into the center of the flower.  Unlike their caterpillar metamorphic stage, who eats with a chewing mandible mouthpiece, adult butterflies must ‘suck’ up their food.  They have adapted to have a long, tongue-like mouthpiece that does exactly that.  The proboscis is actually made up of two separate pieces, long grooved half-tubes that are separate when the adult emerges from the chrysalis.  They are then unrolled and rolled up until they are literally ‘zipped’ together, forming a tube.  Included in this tube are several muscles and a trachea.  As a butterfly flies around and lands on flowers, the proboscis is unrolled and stuck into the flower. It was once believed that they suck up nectar like a straw, but some studies show that butterflies bring up the nectar using capillary action- just like water moves across paper towel.

Hummingbirds

When a hummingbird hovers around a flower to collect nectar, it sticks an almost translucent tongue into a flower.  It was once believed that the tongue worked like a straw, but hummingbirds don’t suck up nectar, they lick it up.  The tip of their tongue is forked and has a hollow trough.  Nectar is drawn into these troughs through capillary action, similar to the butterfly. As the bird extends its tongue again and again for each lick, this brings a pulsing stream of nectar into its mouth. 

Woodpeckers

We are familiar with the rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat sound of the woodpecker resonating throughout the northern forests.  Woodpeckers drill holes in trees for many reasons, to create nesting cavities, in a courtship ritual, and in search of food.  While searching for insects to consume, woodpeckers will drill holes into the trees, listen for bug activity, and continue until a cavity is created that they can stick their bills into.  This is when the amazing woodpecker tongue goes to work.  Inside the trees are incredible networks of tunnels created by numerous species of insects.  The woodpecker hole literally ‘taps’ into these networks in search of food.  Once the bill is located inside the cavity, a long, sticky tongue comes out and probes around the tunnels to catch the meal.  The tongue of a woodpecker needs to be quite long in order to achieve this, sometimes reaching three times the length of the bill!  The tip of a woodpecker tongue is hard and pointed with barbs (similar to a porcupine’s quill).  The pointed end pierces through the insect, the barbs keep the insect on the tongue, and it is brought back into the mouth of the woodpecker.  This long tongue finds its start at the base of the right nostril, extends around the head, and out the mouth.  It’s important to note that not all woodpeckers have this adaptation, Northern flickers, who often feed on the ground, have long, smooth, sticky tongues with which they probe anthills.  Yellow-bellied sap suckers have a shorter tongue with feathery bristles that help it lap up the sap from holes it creates in trees.  

Lightning Bugs!

by Allie Coleman, Visitor Experience Intern

Lightning bugs, also called fireflies, are not simply bugs and are not flies. They are beetles! Fireflies are carnivorous. The adult fireflies signal each other with their lights and mate. 

The summer evening light shows, that you see, are performed by male fireflies. They flash patterns of light to females. The females signal in response from perches in or near the ground. When the male sees the female's flash he continues to signal and moves closer. Eventually, through a series of flashes, they find each other and mate. Each species of firefly sends different mating signals. In fact, a beetle specialist or a keen observer can recognize most species by the number, duration, and time lapses between flashes. The light given off by fireflies during their abdominal flashes is called bioluminescence. It happens when oxygen and the organic compound, luciferin, react together in the presence of the enzyme, lucifereace. This creates light. Although other insects can produce light, fireflies are the only insects that can flash their light on and off in distinct signals. Even the eggs and larvae of some firefly species glow. That's where the name "glow worm" comes from.

For more information on fireflies and how you can help track their numbers and progress, visit www.mos.org/fireflywatch

Who is the Wood Turtle (AKA Bog Turtle)?

By Ben Betterly, Wildlife Educator

Wisconsin is home to 11 species of turtles.  If you’re in the Northwoods and near water, there’s a good chance that you’ll see some of our most common species, including the Painted Turtle, Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle, and our largest species, the Common Snapping Turtle.  But, if you’re really lucky you might spot the less common Wood Turtle.

The Wood Turtle is a medium sized turtle that is most easily recognized by sculptured growth rings on each scute of its shell.   The shell (or carapace) is usually medium brown, and occasionally has black flecks and faint yellow rays. The bottom plate (or plastron) is yellow with black blotches toward the outer edge. The head is dark brown and without markings (and big black eyes), while the skin on the neck and leg sockets varies from pale yellow to orangish-red.

This Wood Turtle was spotted while paddling the Manitowish River.

Photo by Ben Betterly

Wood turtles are semiaquatic and prefer rivers or streams with moderate to fast flowing water.  They also spend a great deal of time in forested habitats adjacent to water, where they feed on berries, vegetation, mushrooms, worms and other invertebrates. Because they frequently bask on land, Wood Turtles are less observable than other riverine turtles.

Of the 11 species of turtles native to Wisconsin, 6 are considered to be moderately declining, 2 are of special concern, 2 are threatened, and 1 is endangered;  The wood turtle is currently one of those 2 species considered to be threatened (along with Blanding Turtle). The main reason for the decline in turtle populations in Wisconsin is due to habitat loss or fragmentation, human harvest (for food and pets), and increased rates of predation.  To make matters worse, the recovery of many turtle populations is limited by slow maturation rates, and thus it takes a long time for some species to rebuild their population. The Wood Turtle is one of those species, and consequently cannot breed until it is at least 12 years old (Blanding’s can take up to 20 years to mature!)

Caption: Naturalist Licia Johnson showing the plastron of a specimen she found along the Flambeau River. Photo by Heather Palmquist

Though slow to mature, Wood Turtles can live to at least 50 years old and possibly upwards of 100! Unlike most other turtles, Wood Turtles add annual growth to their shells without shedding their scutes; which results in a pattern on the shell that is synonymous with the annual growth rings of a tree. Like the rings of a tree, it is possible to age a wood turtle (to a limited degree) by simply counting the rings of its shell…hence the name “Wood” turtle!

Scutes that resemble the growth rings of a tree have earned the Wood Turtle its name.

Nature's Timing

By Angela Ziobro, Summer Environmental Educator

“Isn't that early?” This is a question I have been hearing time and time again since spring set in. From the San Jacinto mountains of California where I teach during the school year to the Northwoods it seems that nature's timing is changing—and this can have startling effects on humans and non-humans alike.

After a showing of Green Fire (the documentary about Aldo Leopold's life and influence) I led a discussion several weeks ago. As always seems to happen as of late, the conversation veered off towards phenology (nature's timing). We learned from one community member that on average the lake he lives on is frozen for 50 less days per year than it was just twenty years ago when he relocated to the area. This fact alone is startling, but when taken in the context of some of the creatures that share these northern lands with us, it might be a question of survival.

The snowshoe hare, for instance, changes color when the amount of light per day changes. This color change will thus happen at the same time each year regardless of weather and plant conditions. Since snow sticks around for a shorter amount of time, and arrives later on average, this could leave the white-colored hares prone to predation in an environment they no longer blend in with.

Here is a link to an article about snowshoe hares and color change in a shifting climate: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090224220347.htm

“Something mysterious happens when we look into the eyes of an animal, whether it be a panther or a poodle—we see something familiar looking back. Ourselves? Yes, but we also see an 'other.' We see something that is in us and yet without us, something we recognize and yet is unfamiliar, something we fear but for which we long. We see the wild.” –Renée Askins

Mammals are not the only creatures that could be negatively affected by the phenological shifts that are happening across our planet. Our avian friends could find struggles in their paths in the near future as well. Birds (along with mammals in many instances) are influenced greatly by day length.

Day length, or photoperiod, plays a key role in the control system that synchronizes the             physiologies of individual birds and their environment...Molt and preparation for migration also                are triggered by changes in day length (Gill, 2007).

If, for instance, a certain species of bird depends on a particular species of berry to build up fat stores for migration and that berry becomes ripe a month sooner than usual the bird will not have that nutrition source when they prepare to travel to their winter habitat. Conversely, when they migrate north, if a major spring food source has already come to fruition and been consumed by permanent residents the birds may not find the necessary nutrition to nest and nourish their young.

Robins love to eat raspberries.

So, enjoy the raspberries that are now ripe in our roadsides and back-country meadows, but remember to be conscious of the changes that are occurring all around us. Perhaps while you enjoy a raspberry sundae you can jot down the events you noticed during your picking expeditions. What other types of berries did you see? How large were the deer fawns you witnessed? When did you first notice loon chicks on the lakes near where you live? Having a base knowledge about nature's timing can help us to understand, and perhaps even help, the other species that share these forests with us.

“One has only to consider the life force...to lay the mind wide open to the  mysteries—the order of things, the why and beginning....One question leads inevitably to another, and all questions come full circle to the questioner, paused momentarily in his own journey under the sun and sky.” –Peter Mattheissen

Works Cited

Gill, F. B. (2007). Ornithology. (3rd ed.). W. H. Freeman.

Robin picture: http://aniruddhahd.blogspot.com/2011/01/day-in-life-of-animals.html

Snowshoe Hare picture from NPS.gov

Phenology

July 13

Phenology summary

July 7- Wood frog eggs in Statehouse Lake

July 10- Chanterelle mushrooms out

July 11 – Galls on goldenrod

July 12 – First red maple leaf!

July 14- Pods forming on milkweed

July 16- Bot Flies being eaten by frogs

In bloom: Bee balm, St. John’s wort, Compass plant, Cupplant, Culver’s root