LEARN ABOUT CREATURES

(IN OUR OWN NEIGHBORHOODS)

this project is called LOCAL BIOLOGY (until we think of something better)

    1. good for people who are new to nature
    2. good for all ages
    3. easy to do

Get out there! sticky icon

Now hear this

It is almost impossible to really learn about the natural world on the Internet. Sorry.

:)

Actually, that's totally not true at all. The internet can help you find stuff to do. Speaking as one internet obsessed person, HOW to use the internet to enrich your experience and contribution back to the earth is not exactly clear cut. That's part of why we started up this project.

Listen to birds sticky icon

Sometimes it's really hard to see all the birds that are supposed to live near you. But that's OK, because some of the best bird-finders in the world have said that birding is 90% listening.

To get you started, try this:
1. Find a comfortable place to sit where you can hear outside.
2. Take about 10-15 minutes to just sit and listen.

  • Don't worry about identifying the birds at this point
  • How many different songs do you hear?
  • Can you whistle the songs that you hear?
  • Does it ever get really quiet all of the sudden?

Beginning to name trees sticky icon

I think trees are really cool, but I always feel like I'm supposed to know what their names are. I wish I knew them all, but I only know the same handful of names that I've known all my life.

This activity could get you started learning about trees.

This activity should take about 3 days to complete.

1. From wherever you normally sleep, locate the closest tree or bush.

List 5 things you know about that tree or bush.

2. Observe the tree or bush for a few minutes.

List 5 things that you notice about the tree or bush.

Look at Tailing Basins (nasty ponds from mining) online

This is an example of a tailing basin

(FYI there's no wikipedia definition for tailing basin)

How many of these can you find in your state?

in michigan

Coffee Shop Seasonal Calendars

This Spring, we will be bringing Local Biology to our local and beloved Coffee Shops (just a handful of coffee shops, just the ones that we, personally, attend regularly.)

We will be providing both you, and ourselves, with the materials necessary to get more observations & understanding about wild things in our own neighborhoods.

It's pretty simple -- and if you want to do it to, let us know. We hope to have this project go in 5-10 coffee shops next year.

Tiny Field Guides

Our plans for the summer

There are a few of us who decided that we really will make some tiny field guides for our own neighborhoods. Subjects so far include: birds, ants, trees, bees, bike sound mapping.

We are going to try sharing these with the people in our neighborhood. We will let you know how it goes.

If you want to get involved, it's easy. Pick something you want to learn about, and make a little guide. Share it with us and we will be happy to give you some feedback.

What is a Tiny Field Guide?

Tiny Field Guides are little books made from 1 piece of printer paper. The paper is folded & cut to make 8 little pages — a front, back, and 6 pages for descriptions and observations.

Through this website, we can upload our guides, and digitize the content in the guides. This will make the content of the guides searchable through the internet. This means people in our neighborhoods might find our little guides!

(we will make a picture of this for you!)

Make & Share a Tiny Field Guide

Check the main page for field guides

Find owls...put them on a map

http://colderbythelakebirding.blogspot.com/2008/12/dec-10-snowy-owl-nort...

Check out this owl map. I'm going to try to figure out how to contribute sightings & also how to look for owls.

Grow Moss

I learned about growing moss at my class last night, "Botany for Artists," taught by Dr. Robert Bergad (Minnesota School of Botanical Art.)

He says it is very easy. So I tried this as soon as I got home, since I had a spore capsule.

Here are some instructions:

Birding with seniors over the phone

Jeanne-Marie saw this listing in a Golden Gate Audubon e-newsletter. A senior center, which has a telephone-based talking program, was accepting birder volunteers to talk to seniors about birds out their windows.

The program they mentioned was http://www.seniorcenterwithoutwalls.org. They were just looking for 1 volunteer. But this is definitely something that a lot of us could do. Perhaps we can come up with ideas for having these discussions from your phone...because I am not quite sure how it works.