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Thing to See
and Hear on the Huyck Preserve
The Value of
Field Stations and NEON
Wildlife Wears
the Worst of Winter
2003
Environmental Education Camp
by Richard L. Wyman
When you hike the
trails of the Huyck Preserve and if you are quiet and watchful there is no
telling what you may see. Forest floor wildflowers are out so that
they may flower and reproduce before leaf out of the trees. These
include trillium, spring beauty, wild violets, and trout lily. Hardwood
trees are beginning to flower and leaf out. The more common trees
are sugar maple, hemlock, beech, and yellow birch. The branch ends
of conifers have begun to form cones with male cones on higher branches
than female ones. Apple and pear trees flower abandoned in old
fields and along the roadways are shad bush blossoms. In Ten-Mile
Creek above Lake Myosotis, there are hundreds of spawning white
suckers. These are beautiful foot-long to twenty-inch fish, the
males decorated with tubercles and bright silver and orange
colors.
Overhead around the shore of Lake
Myosotis and preying on these suckers are three bald eagles and several
ospreys. On Lincoln Pond several great blue herons are jockeying for
territorial control. Beaver are visible in Lincoln Pond and Lake
Myosotis.
This winter we saw mink and river
otter around Lincoln Pond and black bear sightings are becoming
frequent. Bobcats, owls and foxes call in spring to find
mates. Spring peepers, wood frogs, gray tree frogs, and American
toads are chorusing also to attract mates. Coyotes call with their
puppies to celebrate a kill.
Along trails you may run into wood
turtles and garter snakes and around the ponds and lakes female snapping
turtles will emerge to lay their eggs. Under the leaf litter are
red-backed salamanders and two-lined salamanders are under the rocks along
the streams. Yellow spotted salamanders and blue spotted salamanders
have already courted and lay their egg masses in ephemeral pools and small
ponds. Migrant warblers are searching for insects on branches and
twigs and newly opened leaves. Barn and tree
swallows are flying near the water’s surface to catch emerging
flies. Redwing blackbirds are also establishing territories around
beaver ponds with their rackus “congree” call.
Marilyn (my wife)
was hunting isopods (pill bugs) under boards and rocks to use in a
teacher-training workshop. Also under there were centipedes, ants,
earthworms, spiders, beetles and springtails.
Walk quietly and be
watchful – you might see a bear.
by Richard L. Wyman
I recently
received a new write-up of the importance of biological field stations by
Sedra Shapiro, David Shaw and Eric Nagy entitled Organization of
Biological Field Stations: 180 living laboratories and museums
serving America. I have excepted some of the following from this
document.
The Huyck Preserve belongs to the Organization of
Biological Field Stations (OBFS) a consortium of 180 field stations and
marine labs dedicated to supporting and facilitating modern field
biology. Member stations are located in almost every state.
Field stations like the Huyck Preserve provide resources for research,
teaching and outreach in ecological and environmental sciences. Our
programs include K-12 education, university research and education, agency
and government fieldwork, policy and decision maker workshops and citizen
science.
Field station research has served public health,
policy, and the environment. For instance, scientists at the
Sevilleta Field Station in New Mexico discovered the relationship between
deer mouse populations, El Niňo and the Hante virus epidemics.
Researchers at Jasper Ridge Preserve have identified the potential for
future carbon storage in certain habitat types in North America.
Policies based on these findings could dramatically impact rates of global
climate change.
Contributions to society from research at field
stations are hard to predict. For instance fieldwork on bats in the
1930’s at the Huyck Preserve helped the development of sonar and radar
technology used in World War II. This research resulted in perhaps
the most important military application of new technology of the
century.
A major task at field stations is the monitoring
of the environment. The Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve and the
James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve lead the nation in building wireless
networks to send remote field data on water, climate, atmosphere, and
wildlife to a variety of users in real-time via the
Internet.
In addition to gathering new data, field stations
curate and archive long-term data. For over 100 years America’s
field stations have served as stewards of this national treasure –
priceless data on our nation’s health. Without these historical
data, predictions about the future are impossible. Field stations
also serve their communities by keeping track of local environmental
change. Acid rain was first discovered because of work done at the
Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire. Today field
stations are strategically positioned as an environmental early warning
system.
Biological field science has changed from a
natural history undertaking of documenting the presence and absence of the
flora and fauna to sophisticated multidisciplinary research and teaching
laboratories serving the scientific community and the public at
large. OBFS field stations can serve as frontline centers for
ecosystem sensing and are poised to serve as nerve centers for ecological
research.
Today field stations are models of cooperation and
ingenuity. But informal academic collaborations are no longer
enough. With the development of a nationally networked
infrastructure, field stations will be ready to serve as regional
sentinels serving local, state and national interests. Cutting edge
science requires global collaboration and modern highly sophisticated
equipment and facilities. To meet regional and global challenges,
field stations need support to upgrade facilities, enhance infrastructure
and expand research, education and outreach.
What follows is excepted from Rationale, Blue
print, and expectations for a National Ecological Observatory Network
a white paper by the American Institute of Biological Sciences
(2003):
One new initiative at the National Science
Foundation is the proposal to develop a National Ecological Observatory
Network (NEON). NEON would network facilities, databases and
scientists among the nation’s field stations. “NEON is envisioned to
be a research platform that will apply experimental, observational,
analytical, communication, and information technologies to investigate the
structure, dynamics and evolution of ecosystems in the United States, to
measure the pace of biological change from natural and human influences at
local to continental scales, and to forecast the consequences of that
change.
NEON is also envisioned to be composed of 17
regional observatories to cover a broad range of ecosystem types.
Each regional observatory in the network will itself be a network of
facilities such as biological field stations, national parks, college and
university campuses, marine laboratories, government agencies or nature
preserves. Each observatory will include a core site that is
extensively instrumented and a number of satellite observatories that will
be less extensively instrumented. Specialized research
infrastructure including field-based sensor arrays, flux towers, stable
isotope analyzers, micro array analyzers, and automated DNA sequencer will
be part of the NEON infrastructure.
Thus far congress
has not funded requests from the NSF to begin NEON development.
There is some 14 million requested in fiscal year 2004. Hopefully,
some day the Huyck Preserve will be a part of a nationally integrated
network of observatories keeping track of the health of our nation’s
ecosystems.
by Kelly Martin
It has been a long, hard winter to say the least.
The early arrival of snow, the amount of snow and the severe cold not only
was hard on the human population; it was harsh for our wild neighbors as
well. Winter can be a difficult and sometimes depressing time for wildlife
rehabilitators, as the animals we take in are generally suffering from
serious problems due to the weather.
In my younger days, I could lift an unconscious
adult deer into my vehicle without assistance. As that is no longer the
case, I had to seek help from a friend in town to lift a deer hit by a car
on Pond Hill Road into the back of my SUV (yes, where I live I DO need a
four-wheel drive SUV). Deer with broken bones should be humanely
euthanized as soon as possible to end suffering, as they are not generally
good candidates for successful rehabilitation. This deer had head trauma
and hypothermia, both potentially treatable problems. The wonderful
veterinarians at Howes Cave Animal Hospital attempted unsuccessfully to
treat this deer; no doubt there were internal injuries not easily
seen.
Two Screech Owls, both with broken wings, either
from car or window collisions were my next candidates. They were both
quite thin, as smaller prey items, such as mice and voles, may remain in
tunnels under the snow and therefore are difficult for little screech owls
to access. Both birds, one red screech and one gray, were found near
houses and may have been hunting rodents feeding on birdseed from feeders.
The birds were looked at by the Howes Cave Veterinary Hospital, but both
had injuries that the veterinarian felt might be better treated and
surgically repaired at Cornell, by their wildlife veterinarians and
surgeons. Both birds are now being evaluated at Cornell. If the red one
survives its injuries, it may find a permanent home at the Syracuse Zoo.
Also sent to Cornell was a House Finch with
conjunctivitis. This is a commonly observed problem for house finches and
is readily treatable. House Finch conjunctivitis is caused by a bacterial
pathogen, Mycoplasma gallisepticum, and is in itself not fatal.
However, severe conjunctivitis and subsequent irritation around the eyes
can cause near blindness in these feeder birds, resulting in starvation or
becoming easy prey for predators. This is a contagious disease that easily
gets spread among house finches as they congregate at bird feeders, but so
far does not spill-over into other species (some documented cases in
goldfinches). Cornell has an ongoing survey that the public can
participate in if you notice birds at your feeders with this problem
(birds.cornell.edu/hofi/abtdisease.html).
Another “patient” this year is not a surprising
one, a male Ring-necked Pheasant, also a starvation case. I have a strong
bias against the release of these birds for so called sport hunting,
although this is not a bias against hunting in general. Specifically,
these are introduced, pen-reared, exotic birds raised solely for the gun.
Often these birds are released where there is unsuitable habitat to
support them. Few survive past the first days of open season, as they are
quite visible and ill adapted for survival outside the safety of their
pens. They lack the appropriate predator avoidance skills and foraging
behavior needed to survive. From a rehabilitator’s perspective, this is a
sad thing and inhumane thing to do to living creatures. Winter also takes
its toll on these creatures, as there is not good food or habitat to
support them, and the male I received was much too thin to
survive.
This winter we treated a few extremely thin,
hypothermic and frostbitten opossums. These creatures suffer terrible
frostbite in winter as they have no fur on their ears, tails or toes and
they do not hibernate. One poor ‘possum was euthanized due to severe
frostbite; the other is under veterinary care for relatively minor
injuries and will be released.
One interesting phenomena that occurs periodically
during winter is the grounding of grebes and loons. Grebes and loons have
lobed paddles for feet and their legs are extremely short and set far back
on the body. They need large bodies of water for take-off for flight and
are unable to take off from land.
Two grebes, one Horned Grebe and one Red-necked
Grebe, were found in the Rensselaerville area in late February. Both were
found on the roadside literally grounded. It is an occurrence not
unfamiliar to rehabilitators. These birds were probably early migrants
returning from coastal wintering areas and were unable to find open water
along their route. When flying at night, these birds often mistake wet or
icy roads for water and land on the ground and find themselves grounded.
Incidentally, at the same time, a dead Horned
Grebe was found near the Alcove Reservoir, and learned from communicating
with rehabilitators across the state, others were found from Binghamton to
Buffalo. These birds are often uninjured when they land and can often be
quickly released if no other problems are found. Unfortunately, the
Red-necked Grebe probably had internal injuries or, again, may have been
flying for a long distance, expended all its energy reserves and was too
weak by the time it was picked up.
The difficulty in rehabilitating these kinds of
birds is in providing food – minnows in large quantities, keeping stress
minimal, maintaining the waterproofing of the feathers, and then in
finding a suitable release site. Since we still had frozen waters in this
area, the Horned Grebe was transferred to a rehabilitator in Binghamton
after a two-week stay with me, for ultimate release in the Susquehanna
River.
The other winter residents still under my care are
three banded racing/homing pigeons, not exactly wildlife, but birds in
need. These birds are shipped to a release spot, often hundreds of miles
away, and whichever bird returns to the roost first wins the race, suffice
it to say, not always a humane endeavor. The problem is that these birds
fly and fly and fly and fly, totally expending all their energy reserves
and often depleting their pectoral or flight (breast) muscles to the point
of emaciation.
All three of the birds in my care were emaciated
with the third having been hit by a car, sustaining two broken legs.
Leg injuries are difficult to repair, especially on a bird with short legs
but as they are not wild birds, but used to cages and people, there are
options. All three birds are actually doing so well I had to separate one
male from the other two as he was too aggressive, making cage life
stressful. The remaining pair became a mated pair and second week of March
saw the birth of two tiny, ugly (some may think cute) yellow downy
hatchling pigeons. Unfortunately, owners don’t usually want these birds
returned. Anyone interested in a pet pigeon?
Back to
Top
The
Environmental Education Camp for middle school students has grown in
stature over the past few years, encompassing both an extensive learning
experience and a fun social environment. Again this year, we will host 12
students for a week-long residential experience at the historic Bullfrog
Camp, utilizing all the wonderful resources the Huyck Preserve has to
offer, both indoor and out.
The camp
attempts to allow participants maximum opportunities for interacting with
nature, building a relationship with our natural world and enhancing our
appreciation of it. Activities and workshops are designed to challenge
students to develop both their personal skills, such as self-esteem, and
their social skills through teamwork and cooperative learning
experiences.
While specific
workshops have not been finalized, we can promise the range of learning
experiences will offer a little of everything, covering a broad array of
subjects and content. General subjects to be covered include; Art and
Nature, Creative Writing/Journaling, Wildlife Rehabilitation (including a
hands-on animal rehabilitation project), Scientific Discovery, Outdoor
Education skills (including survival skills in the woods and canoeing),
Cooking and Photography.
The week would not be complete without the
daily activities of residential camp, including the preparation of meals,
sharing the cleaning responsibilities, games, swimming, walks and the
campfire ghost stories!
Each year, we
try to include new activities and workshops, and this year will be no
different. We have a lot of fabulous new ideas for this year, promising
some of the most exciting workshops to date. The camp culminates in an
afternoon BBQ and presentation of science projects on Friday afternoon at
the Lake.
Unfortunately there are presently no
openings for participating students but we are keeping a waiting list in
case a spot opens up. Please call the office to add your child to
the list if you are interested or keep us in mind for next year.
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