Toys"R"Us vs Environmental Education

When I was told about the new Toys"R"Us commercial by one of my students today I thought they had to have been mistaken. They informed me that Toys"R"Us basically said (without words) that learning about nature is boring and kids receive no joy from it.

I immediately said "what? I highly doubt that."

My student insisted that I pull the commercial up onto my computer and watch it. So I did... and this is what I saw...

I am an environmental educator at heart and practice. I thrive on people's enthusiasm towards experiential learning in nature. I've provided outdoor, educational, nature based events for children between the ages of 3 and 83, of all backgrounds, socioeconomic status, and interest levels for over 8 years. From these experiences I can state one thing... the vast, vast, vast majority of people love environmental education. I've witnessed maybe 5-6 people of the hundreds I have taught who wouldn't hop into a stream with a dip net to collect macro invertebrates to understand water quality. Even individuals who freak out when you pull a snake from under a log to talk about thermoregulation end up saying it was one of the coolest experiences of their life (obviously... there are some people who are highly phobic to specific aspects of nature and as an educator we remove them from the situation if needed until it is safe).

 Environmental education has the ability to reconnect our disconnected youth with what matters most... care taking and understanding our planet.

That being said, I have witnessed horrible "environmental education" programs where the educators acted more like the actor in this commercial playing "name that leaf" game.

I think the absolute WORST thing about this commercial is that this group of kids is (supposedly) an actual group of disadvantaged children. I've worked with children like this before. I've worked with children that didn't know FROGS existed. These children should be attending a good environmental education program because it would probably change so many of their lives. I've seen good environmental programs change the lives of so many children of all backgrounds.

Does this commercial bash the idea of environmental education? I'll let you decide. For me... I think it was probably made in good faith, but could potentially leave a poor imprint of the importance of toys over nature on young-impressionable minds (is that me being too idealistic? maybe). I think it probably should have never hit people's television set. I'm not sure how the commercial made it past trial runs because there is a lot of backlash within the general public.

There are multiple petitions out there looking for Toys"R"Us to pull their add. There are some that are actually looking for Toy"R"Us to back and fund an environmental education program/identity. They aren't hard to find if you google for them... but here is one of the main ones.

While conducting an environmental education event
 at Onondaga Lake in Syracuse, NY with a group of inner-city youth,
I had to tussle with a bowfin and got quite a reaction.
Photo by: David Lassman/Post Standard

Want to read a news release about the program pictured above? Find it here.

American bison

The American bison (Bison bison), also call buffalos (even though very... very distantly related to true buffalo), are often known as the face of the American west. They are one of the few species in North America that are both raised in captivity (not domestic) for their meat and roam in wild herds. Bison can grow to massive sizes, with wild individuals reaching 700 to 2,200 pounds and captive individuals reaching upwards to 3,800 pounds. Males tend to be slightly larger than females.

American bison in Yellowstone National Park
Photo by: Matt Brincka

The American bison roam the plains, sagebrush and lightly wooded areas of the mid-western and western North America. They are migratory, traveling between foraging sites. On average, a herd's daily routine consists of foraging and chewing cud for roughly two hours then traveling to the next site. Sometimes, this traveling can amount to around 2 miles per day. Similar to other herd animals, females live is maternal heard consisting of other females, juveniles, and sometimes elderly males. Males will often leave the materinal herds when they are around three years of age, joining other males in bachelor herds (parrrrtaaay). During the breeding season, males will gather females into a small harem for mating. These bulls will ward off other males who get too close.

American bison often use man made roads as route of easy travel... often delaying traffic.
Photo by: Matt Brincka

Bison partake in a variety of interesting behaviors. During the fall, herds usually wander into more forested areas, preparing for the winter months. at this time, bison partake in a behavior where their rub their horns against aromatic trees, saplings and even utility poles. The tree release an aroma after being horned which is connected providing a deterrent against biting insects. Bison also participate in a wallowing behavior, where they wallow, or roll, in a shallow depression of soil. There are many hypotheses as to why bison wallow, including shedding, rutting, group cohesion, play, scratching their insect bites, removing of ticks, and to keep cool.

Locking horns
Photo by: Matt Brincka

When Columbus first step foot in the New World, there were an estimated 60,000,000 (yes... 60 million) American bison that roamed in herds as far as the eye could see. Many native plain cultures based their societies around the American bison, traveling with the herds, utilizing every part of the animal. When European settlers came, all did not bode well for our friendly, roaming plain goliath. Bison hunting turned into a continent wide cull. In the 1800s, western expansion was in full swing and it has been told that men would sit on the top of trains and shoot the bison herds as they passed. The option to shoot buffalo was often provided by train companies to tourists because they wanted the herds culled. A single bison herd could delay a train for days. The main reason of the American bison decline was because the US Army actively endorsed the wholesale slaughter of the herds. Hunters would shoot hundreds of buffalo at a time, skinning them, allowing the meat to rot, then shipping the bones back east. The federal government had multiple reasons to promote the mass cull of bison, but it is said it was mainly to allow ranchers to range their cattle without competition from the herds and (the probable real reason) to weaken the North American Indian population by removing their main food source.

Wallowing in a dust hole
Photo by: Matt Brincka

Interesting Tid-Bits

• Sometimes bison give birth to a white juvenile, which are of spiritual significance to Native American culture
• Several American coins have featured the bison, including the "buffalo nickel" from 1913 to 1938.
• The city of Buffalo, NY originally was called New Amsterdam and resided on Buffalo Creek.... and yes, New York City was originally named New Amsterdam by Dutch explorers. Well guess what, it was a Holland Land Company that first established the Buffalo - New Amsterdam. Residents of New Amsterdam (Buffalo) didn't like the name much, so in 1808 they renamed their town as the "Village of Buffalo". There are a few theories as to why the village was renamed Buffalo, and it is often disputed. One is it related to a story that stolen horse meat was being passed off as bison flesh, with the area then remembered as "Buffalo," however, there is great skepticism towards this. Another is that the name "Buffalo" is a horrible butchering of the French saying beau fleuve meaning "beautiful river," which was used to describe the Niagara River. Another is that the town was named after Fort Le Boeuf, translated as "Fort Buffalo," but this fort ceased operation years before the settlement of New Amsterdam. All of these theories stem from the belief that the American bison once roamed Western New York, but there are only 1 or 2 historical accounts, which aren't 100% reliable. It is also widely accepted that if bison roamed Western New York, they were extirpated years before colonists made it there. Many believe it is the legend of the American bison that fueled the naming. However, without more historical discoveries that creates an indisputable generation story, the naming of Buffalo, and Buffalo Creek, will forever be debated.

Mountain Bluebird

Mountain bluebirds (Sialia currucoides) are a member of the thrush family (also home to the American robin). Bluebirds are one of the most recognizable songbirds, and one of the most sought after. There are three bluebird species in North America. In the east, there is the eastern bluebird, and in the west, there are two species of bluebird: western and mountain bluebirds.

Male and female mountain bluebirds
Photo by: Matt Brincka

Adult males are a beautiful turquoise-blue with a lighter blue chest and belly, where females are a duller blue with grey. In the fall, females can show a slight re-orange on the throat and breast. It isn't common to see a bird that is pure blue in color in North America, making the mountain bluebird an even more attractive site. Their range spans from Mexico to the as far north as Alaska. Northern birds will migrate down to the southern reaches of the range, while birds found in Mexico are often year-long residents. They can be found in open rangelands and meadows above 5,000 feet.

Male mountain bluebird with a snack
Photo by: Matt Brincka

Mountain bluebirds were once considered threatened due to an increase in agricultural land, destroying habitats. However, thanks to an overwhelming effort by landowners in the West to provide bird boxes for these cavity nesters, their numbers have dramatic increased. Little is know about native nesting requirements, for the vast majority of couples that are studied use nest boxes.

Male mountain bluebird
Photo by: Matt Brincka

Interesting Tid-Bits

• Usually hunts from perches, flying to the ground to catch prey. Does exhibit fly catcher behavior (hunts from perch and catches prey in the air).
• Only females make nests. Males pretend to help, but usually either drops or just shows up with no nesting material at all.
• Mountain bluebirds are sometimes credited with halting or slowing the advance of eastern bluebirds into the west because the out compete them for nesting sites.
• A very slow migrator, stopping often to feed (fatty).

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Sorry it took so long for an update, I've been rather busy (and Colorado has been a mess lately!) I'll be posting another 2-3 post over the next week or so to make up for it! Including a post on Yellowstone National Park and American bison!

Hummingbirds: The Little Birds That Could

Probably one of the most sought after bird family and probably the most recognizable, hummingbirds are almost a thing from a fantasy faerie world. The majority of hummers fall into the pint-size category between 3-5 inches, however, the Bee hummingbird is a ridiculously scant 5 cm in size, making it the smallest extant bird species known. There are 17 known hummingbird species within North America, 356 world wide and 51 of them are endangered.

Broad-tailed Hummingbird © Matt Brincka

For being so small, they are packed with an arsenal of adaptations. They are able to hover in mid-air while beating their wings an exhilarating 12-80 times per second (depending on the species). They can reach speeds of nearly 35 mph and are also the only known group of birds that can fly backwards. That's right... backwards!

Broad-tailed Hummingbird © Matt Brincka

Since they are so small, they have an amazing heartbeat of roughly 1200 beats per minute and have the highest metabolism of all animals (except insects); a necessity to support the rapid beating of their wings. A high metabolism requires a lot of food, in which they consume more than their own weight in nectar each day, visiting hundreds of flowers to get the needed food. It is said hummingbirds are always hours away from starvation... so what do they do when food is scarce? What do they do during the night? Hummingbirds are capable to go into a state of torpor, a hibernation-like state. Topor is not hibernation, but it is similar. When going into topor, a hummingbird can lower their metabolic rate to nearly to 1/15 of its normal rate, with a heartbeat of only 50-180 beats per second.

Broad-tailed Hummingbird © Matt Brincka

To attract these beautiful litte buggers, go grab a hummingbird feeder at your local store. Don't, however, buy the dyed humming bird food. It is much healthier (no artificial dyes) and easier to make your own.

Fool-proof hummingbird food recipe

4 cups of water (filtered if possible)

1 cup of white sugar

1. Bring water to a boil
2. Take water off of heat
3. Add sugar and stir to dissolve sugar
4. Let nectar cool to room temperature
5. Place in a clean humming bird feed

***Make sure you check your feeder for mold periodically. If mold is found, dump food and disinfect with warm water and soap. Rinse thoroughly with fresh water once clean.

Interesting tid-bits

• The Aztec god Huitzilopochtli is often depicted as a hummingbird.
• They are able to assess how much sugar is in the nectar they eat, and often reject flowers with less than 10% sugar.
• Hummingbirds don't only eat nectar! To meet their needs for protein, amino acids, vitamins and minerals they prey on insects and spiders.
• Many hummingbird species make their nests out of spider silk.
• Longest recorded lifespan is 12 years.
• Some hummingbird species in North American are known to travel hundreds of miles during migrating. The ruby-throated humming bird actually flies non-stop over the entire Gulf of Mexico!

If you need a larger version of this very interesting infographic, click the picture or find an even larger version here.

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Record your sitings and help with hummingbird conservation at National Audubon's Hummingbirds At Home website or phone application and at eBird.

An interesting website to learn anything from hummingbird first aid to hummingbird stories is the World of Hummingbirds. Enjoy!

Pictures in this post were taken with a Samsung Galaxy SII... only proving you don't need a $10,000 camera to get awesome pictures. You just need brave wildlife!

eBird: Citizen Science at its Best

Do you like looking at birds? Do you already keep bird logs on what species you see on your hikes/walks/kayaking/driving adventures (nerd)? Interested in a way to easily keep records of bird species you see without dealing with excel formating nightmares and hardware crashes? Want to know what bird species are in your area at a specific time of year? Want to get updates on when rare species are seen in your area? Want interactive tools to look at recent sightings of birds in your area? Does the sound of tracking which species you have seen over time give you chills down your spin? Want to help out ornithologists (bird scientists!) study migration patterns, biodiversity, vagrant species, conservation of threatened species, and so much more?

If any of those ring a 'yes' from your mouth... why haven't you checked out eBird yet? If you have, I commend you on your service.

Developed in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, eBird in a free, online, interactive tool that allows you to record the birds you see around the globe, keep track of you many, many bird lists, explore dynamic maps and graphs, share your sightings and contribute to science and conservation all in one place.

You are able to explore interactive maps and charts to look at real-time recent sightings, what birds to expect at certain times of year, and range maps based on actual sitings people like you and I (O.K. and scientists) submit.

Range graphs allow you to input a desired species and zoom in and out on a "google-map" style interface. The darker the purple, the more sightings in that area.

As you zoom in, you can also view checklists of individual sites where the species was seen. Many sites are pre-determined "birding hotspots" but you can also create custom sites for your individual use. Red means recent sightings; blue means sitings in the past.

Bar graphs allow you to see which bird species (and the frequency!) are sited in your area throughout the year. Have a camping trip to California and have no freaking clue what you might see? Check out eBird before you go and study up on your west coast birds!

Another great feature is it tracks your sited species and checklists. No more having to keep hard copies or crazy excel files for your sitings, eBird does it all for you. 

The best part of it all is what you see and report actually makes a difference.  To quote the website directly,

... it is amassing one of the largest and fastest growing biodiversity data resources in existence... in March 2012... more than 3.1 million bird observations across North America!... eBird then shares these observations with a global community of educators, land managers, ornithologists, and conservation biologists. In time these data will become the foundation for a better understanding of bird distribtuion across the western hemisphere and beyond.

So go check out eBird my fellow bird nerds. Can't get much better than this!