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Dr. Donald R. Griffin to Visit Huyck Preserve in July
Listen
Senior
Citizens Bring in Spring
Wildlife
in Distress: When to Help and When to Leave it Alone
Education
Update
Summer Camps for Middle School Youth
Huyck
Preserve offers Field Ecology Course
Dr. Donald Griffin to Visit the Huyck
Preserve in July
by Richard L. Wyman
Dr. Griffin was one of three
scientists to spend the summer on the Huyck Preserve in 1938.
As a boy, his interest leaned toward natural history, and, while an
undergraduate at Harvard he began studies of animal orientation.
He conducted one of the first large scale programs of banding bats in
order to study their migrations, homing, and longevity.
With the aid of many college friends he showed that even the small local
insectivorous bats (weighing about one quarter ounce) migrate for distances up
to 200 miles, find their way home when carried to distances of a 100 miles or
more, and that some of these small flying mammals live more than 20 years.
These bat banding studies took Griffin frequently to
caves in western New England where bats hibernate in winter, as well as leading
him to collect them all over southern New England in order to learn where banded
bats had traveled. It was
impossible to ignore the then mysterious ability of bats to find their way
through complex passages of completely dark caves as well as navigating for long
distances cross country at night. At
the same time, Griffin was studying Biology at Harvard College and learning
about physiology and the workings of central nervous systems.
With the encouragement of fellow students and professors (including his
uncle, Alfred C. Redfield), his interests roamed widely among the sciences
ranging from physics to psychology. One
of the senior physicists at Harvard was George Washington Pierce, the inventor
of the Pierce circuit for controlling the frequencies of radio transmitters and
receivers by including a crystal in the circuit. Pierce was studying the high frequency sounds used by
numerous insects for communication and courtship.
He had developed what was then the only apparatus in existence, which
would detect sounds above the frequency range of human hearing.
Griffin studied the
natural history of bats by reading and direct observation, some of which
occurred on the Huyck Preserve. This
led him to bring bats to the laboratory of Professor Pierce to see whether by
any chance they might emit sounds above the frequency range of human hearing.
They did, and this began a long series of scientific investigations of
natural sonar or echolocation as it has evolved in bats and other animals.
During World War II,
Griffin worked at Harvard where improved equipment was developed for the Armed
Forces. This included improved
communication equipment for use in aircraft and tanks so that soldiers and
airmen could communicate despite the loud noises to which they were subjected.
Another line of applied wartime research included improving cold weather
clothing and other equipment to enable American soldiers to perform more
efficiently under extreme climatic conditions.
A third involved studies of human vision in collaboration with Professor
George Wald leading to improvements in infrared viewing devices.
While he was a graduate student at Harvard, Griffin
studied the long distance navigation of birds as well as echolocation in bats;
his Ph.D. thesis was devoted to the homing ability of birds.
During his years at
Cornell and Harvard University, Griffin and his students learned much more about
how accurately bats use echolocation in their normal lives.
For example they use it to capture small flying insects as well as to
avoid stationary obstacles. In
tropical areas there are many different kinds of bats with very different habits
from the insectivorous species found in temperate latitudes.
Many of these also use echolocation, although the manner in which they
use it varies widely according to their ways of life and the type of food on
which they
depend – flying insects or
insects resting on vegetation, fruit, fish to be caught by reaching a fraction
of an inch below the water surface with gaff like claws or even the blood of
mammals and birds which is the sole source of food for the vampire bats.
Studying the variety of echolocation in bats and certain cave dwelling
birds took Griffin to Latin America, New Guinea, and many parts of Europe and
North America.
In 1965 Griffin was
invited by Fairfield Osborn, President of the New York Zoological Society and
Detlev Bronk, President of The Rockefeller University to lead the development of
a jointly sponsored research program in ethology or the study of animal behavior
under natural conditions. This involved laboratory facilities on the campus of The
Rockefeller University and studies of animals under natural conditions wherever
in the world most appropriate opportunities might be found. Laboratory
facilities and outdoor cages were also provided by the Zoological Society at a
research facility adjacent to the Bronx Zoo.
Into this group Griffin recruited Peter Marler, Thomas Struhsaker,
Fernando Nottebohm, George Schaller, Roger Payne, and other enterprising
students of the newly developing field of ethology. The research of this group of scientists made outstanding
contributions to our understanding of the biological bases of behavior in
animals and men. In particular
these ethologists demonstrated the complex interactions of genetic factors and
individual experience in the development of social behavior in a wide variety of
animals from bats and whales to lions and Great Apes.
Growing out of his active involvement with research in
many aspects of animal behavior, Dr. Griffin became increasingly troubled that
the prevailing viewpoints of scientists studying animal and human behavior have
neglected the basic philosophical question of the degree to which nonhuman
animals think consciously and feel subjectively about activities in which they
are engaged, or about events occurring around them.
Because of the extreme difficulties of studying such questions, twentieth
century behavioral scientists have tended to regard them as not only
inaccessible to scientific investigation but also as meaningless and
unimportant. Beginning in 1975
Griffin has opposed this tendency and encouraged the development of what he and
others call “cognitive ethology”. Cognitive
ethologists attempt to learn what animals are actually feeling and thinking as
well as studying their overt behavior. This
field is still in its infancy, but Dr. Griffin’s initiative and his books
“The Question of Animal Awareness” published in 1976 by The Rockefeller
University Press (2nd edition 1981), “Animal Thinking” (Harvard
University Press, 1984), and “Animal Minds” (University of Chicago Press,
1992; revised edition 2001) have helped to rekindle scientific interest in
animal consciousness. This subject
has long been tabooed, but it has begun to receive intense discussion and active
investigation.
Dr. Griffin received
the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal of the National Academy of Sciences for
“Listening in the Dark” and the 1966 Phi Beta Kappa science prize for
“Bird Migration”.
Listen
by Barbara
Bolster Barrett
Spring was late this year. We were all impatient for those signs that the
Northeast was arousing from slumber once again: that fresh scrubbed, yet earthy
smell; a glimpse of crocus, peering out of a flower bed, or pussy willow on the
roadside; a softer feel to the air. Yet, like a household that reawakens
to coffee percolating, footsteps on the stairs and the shower running, some of
the surest signs of Earth’s quickening are auditory.
It was sound that first led me to a little piece of spring magic. Near my
house is a canopied stretch of dirt road perched beneath a section of ridge.
During much of April, a kind of ebullient babble emanates from this stretch of
road. It is a captivating noise. What manner of wood folk so animates this
little hillside? I follow this sound to its source and come upon a spring
pond nestled in an indentation at the crest of the ridge. About three
yards away from the pond’s edge, the sound abruptly stops. They heard me
coming.
I come to find out that it is indeed wood folk that populate these temporary
ponds. Vernal ponds exist in depressions where spring melt
accumulates. Since no fish can live there, they are ideal breeding grounds
for salamanders, such as the Blue-spotted salamander, and their vocal cousins,
Wood frogs.
Rana
sylvatica are tiny denizens of the woodland floor. About as long
as a person’s thumb to the first digit, and tan in color, Wood frogs
camouflage well against fallen leaves. Like all tree frogs, Rana
sylvatica have miniscule suction pads attached to their delicate digits.
A characteristic marking is a sly mask that stretches across the frogs’ eyes,
which only adds to their otherworldly appeal.
Although Wood frogs are largely diurnal, or active during the day, it is not
uncommon to hear their voices at night. Early in the season, I remember
picking my son up from his friend’s house. "Stay," I was told. "You’ve never seen
the house." After an evening of coffee, pound cake and conversation, we
headed out to the deck to say goodbye. While donning a light jacket, I
heard those familiar raspy voices murmuring into the night. I touch my
hostess’s shoulder. "Listen; those are little frogs…"
A similar event comes to mind. I’m
heading to a woodland study plot just off Grevatt Rd., (another tree-lined dirt
road,) when I run into a couple of weekend residents walking their dogs.
We exchange pleasantries for a few minutes. I ask about their daughter.
They ask about the summer schedule here at the Huyck Preserve. We are about to head in different directions when I hear a
familiar low-pitched rumble. It sounds like someone has pulled the start
rope to a 30-year-old lawn mower. This particular little engine seems to
run for about a minute and a half at a time. "Listen." I
pause. We are hushed. "That’s a Ruffed grouse drumming…"
I try to imagine the scene. The male Ruffed grouse or Bonasa umbellus
is at once grander, yet more delicate than the domestic chicken that he
resembles. He sports distinctive reddish-brown plumage, a crested head,
and a characteristic broad black band that runs the tip of his fan-shaped tail. During the spring mating season, the male literally
broadcasts his presence to potential mates and rivals. He usually hops up
on a fallen log or rock to gain a higher position, then beats his wings with
ever increasing velocity.
With each powerful flap, the lowered air pressure between his wings and chest
create a vacuum, then an ensuing "pop" when the vacuum is broken. Each of these percussive "pops" come at a faster
and faster rate, which in turn effects the rather uncanny small motor sound.
The entire time, he is in full display. Thus, a little game bird—an
unassuming inhabitant of a brushy thicket--becomes an impressive force indeed.
Each spring, one sound captivates my soul. This year is no different.
I am sitting on the porch at my friend’s farm in nearby Berne. It’s a
fairly typical set-up: field and pastureland dotted with some nice shade trees,
bordered by wooded areas. We are talking and enjoying the spring day when
I hear it. It is the voice of a songbird and it rings unusually strong
and true and clear. There are no arpeggios, no trills or flourishes.
Its beauty is in its strength and simplicity. It is a tenor singing `a
cappella so beautifully that the hairs rise up on your arm.
"Listen," I say. But it’s my turn to ask, not inform.
"Who is doing that? What a beautiful song." She doesn’t
know, but we get a much-needed clue. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a
flash of orange and black. Thus, we know it is a medium sized perching
bird. We know its habitat, the qualities of its voice and the colors in
its plumage. Any field guide to birds will tell us the rest.
Our bird turns out to be as striking as his song. He is a Baltimore oriole
or Icterus galbula, a brightly colored cousin to Blackbirds and Grackles.
The male Baltimore oriole sports glorious flame-orange plumage and a distinctive
black head and wings that together resemble a hood or cape. Orioles also
build a unique nest among the songbirds. Most nests can be found snug in
the crooks of branches. The Oriole prefers to construct a finely woven
sack that hangs off the limb.
The return of brightly colored, vocal songbirds* to the Northeast is the surest
of all spring signs. There is no turning back once our migratory friends
arrive once again.
All these animals are common to the E.N. Huyck Preserve. Spring is a wonderful
time to visit our trails. The lower Rensselaerville Falls are swollen by
the melting snows and should be at a magnificent roar. They are easily
accessible from our Mill House offices.
While hiking the woodland trails early in the season, keep an eye out for low
lying areas that collect the spring thaw. These are breeding grounds for
Wood frogs. The shrubs and brush of thickets or "overgrown"
meadows are the natural habitat of Ruffed grouse. Grouse often
"flush" or startle out of the brush by approaching hikers.
Orioles like more open "edge" communities and isolated shade trees,
along with many other songbirds. Watch for them as you come to a meadow.
So, as you walk along taking in the green of the new leaves, the feel of the
breeze against your cheek and the smell of the rich soil, open up to the
multitude of sounds that surround you. Listen…
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Senior
Citizens Bring in Spring
by
Deb
Monteith
To
kick off the Spring season, the Preserve was pleased to host the Town of
Rensselaerville Senior Citizens during a morning visit on April 30. The
group took advantage of the early break in the weather to come visit the
Eldridge Research Center and learn more about the type of work carried out at
the Preserve. The group toured the facility and spoke with staff regarding
our programs and efforts to achieve our goals of research, preservation,
education and recreation.
Animal
Rehabilitator and Huyck Preserve Educator, Kelly Martin, provided the group
with some hands-on experience during a short presentation, bringing in some of
the long-term residents of her animal rehabilitation program. The group also watched a slide presentation about animal
rehabilitation and discussed wildlife management issues with great enthusiasm.
The
seniors later enjoyed a walking tour of the Bullfrog Camp complex, currently
under renovation to better house visiting scientists conducting research at the
Preserve. Morning tea on the porch overlooking picturesque Lincoln Pond
completed the day, and plans were made to include this outing as a regular
feature of the Senior Citizen program.
Wildlife
in Distress: When to Help and When to Leave it Alone
by Kelly Martin
The
spring and summer nesting season produces a wealth of wildlife that greatly
enhances and enriches our lives.
This time of year can also cause us concern as well as frustration.
Many dangers affect wild animals and humans are often faced with a wild
animal in need of assistance.
Knowing when to interfere, and then knowing how to safely rescue wildlife
in need of help, can save an animal’s life.
There
are many things that negatively impact wildlife causing them to need a helping
hand. Birds
hit windows, get tangled in fishing line, ingest lead sinkers or fish hooks, get
mired in driveway sealer or roofing tar, suffer central nervous system disorders
from lead poisoning or lawn chemicals; animals fall into window wells, go down
chimneys and can not escape, get tangled in barbed wire, become trapped in
buildings, they get mangled by lawn mowers, roto-tillers or haying machines, and
add to this the foremost killers - cars, cats, and dogs.
They may suffer simply because of a close proximity to human dwellings
and end up where people do not want them or expect to find them.
In addition, there are natural mortality factors, such as, disease,
accidents and natural predation.
The first important step in knowing whether or not a rescue
is necessary is to become familiar with the natural history of the wildlife that
shares our immediate world.
Particularly with juveniles, many animals are ‘rescued’ that do not
need help. The
classic examples of human-created orphans are cottontail rabbits and whitetail
fawns. People
may encounter young left alone by their mothers.
This is the natural state of affairs.
Nestling rabbits are left unattended by the mother for long periods of
time. She
returns to the nest only a few times in a twenty-four hour period when she does
not detect a predator/human, nurses her young, and leaves.
Nests, often disturbed during normal yard work, can be replaced and the
mother usually returns.
Whitetail deer also leave their fawns alone.
Fawns have no scent when first born, have spots for camouflage, and
instinctively know to remain motionless when they detect a predator/human.
The mother will return when she detects no danger to nurse her baby and
may move her baby to a new location.
If a fawn reacts to the presence of people or dogs by blatting and
approaching, then you can suspect something is wrong and assume the mother has
not returned. Likewise, if baby rabbits with their eyes closed are found outside
of a nest, are cool to the touch, seem weak, or are squealing without being
handled, then the mother has likely not nursed them.
The other classic example is fledgling birds.
A fledgling is any bird old enough to be out of its nest, but, not old
enough to fly well or to be independent of its parents.
People find these birds on the ground, often being threatened by a cat,
and pick them up while the parents are squawking nearby to deter the predation
(by human or cat) of their young.
Here is an important natural history lesson - the baby bird belongs in
the wild cared for by its parents; the cat is not a native, natural predator and
does not belong in the wild killing and maiming small animals.
Conversely, nestling birds out of the nest need help either by returning
them to the nest, or by using a substitute nest if theirs has been destroyed.
Parent birds can locate their young by responding to their food-begging
calls. Another important natural history lesson is that birds have a bad sense
of smell and cannot detect human scent on their young.
Even mammals with a good sense of smell are better parents than to let
human scent deter them from caring for their young.
But, constant interference by humans may cause them to abandon a nest.
Hungry baby squirrels have also been known to approach humans
when their mother has not returned.
Squirrel nests can also be replaced or relocated when a nest has been cut
down. Placing
the babies in a shallow box near the original nest location will often prompt
the mother to reclaim her young and move them to a back-up nest. When babies
elicit a loud ear-piercing distress scream a mother will respond if she is able.
Gray squirrels have two nestings, in spring and again in the fall, so, if
you are trying to remove gray squirrels from your house, it is most humane to
exclude them once nesting is completed and the young are independent.
Another common orphan is the opossum.
As our only native marsupial, the female has a pouch in which to rear her
young. Opossums
are often orphaned when a mother is hit by a car, or attacked by a dog, and
young are discovered in the pouch.
Another road casualty are turtles as they face great peril when traveling
on land. They
are often hit by cars, particularly in the spring, and fall as they move to and
from hibernating areas, egg-laying sites, and ponds.
When hit, their shells may be fractured.
Sometimes these broken creatures can be repaired by cleaning the wounds
well, wiring pieces together, or, by patching the cracks with fiberglass and
epoxy glue.
It is often easy to determine if an animal needs help.
Look for obvious signs of injury - limping, inability to fly,
asymmetrical positioning of limbs, and, obvious signs of disease -
disorientation, tremors or seizures, nasal or eye discharges, lethargy, abnormal
aggression or lack of fear of people.
A word to the wise is in order.
Wild animals will bite a helping hand.
To a wild animal, any large being approaching them is viewed as a
predator and this elicits a flight or fright response.
Remember, any wild animal that allows a person to approach closely is
injured, sick, or too young to know better.
(Never forget that any mammal may be sick with rabies and extra
caution is warranted.
Bats, raccoons, and skunks are the highest risk species for rabies.) Use
common sense when trying to rescue wildlife. If you cannot safely handle the
animal without getting bitten or scratched do not attempt a rescue.
Sometimes an animal can be placed under a container with a weight on top
to secure it rather than lifting an animal into it.
Using leather gloves or towels may reduce the risk of bites and
scratches. Remember that birds too have weapons of defense.
Hawks and owls have sharp beaks and lethal talons used for catching and
killing prey and these become effective defensive weapons.
Herons have long pointed beaks that can be aimed at the eyes of a
predator/human. Even
small birds will use what is available to them for protection.
And, when all else fails, if they are mobile at all, they will try to run
or fly away even with horrific injuries that can cause further damage if not
quickly secured.
Once
captured, keep an animal in a warm, dark and quiet place and call a wildlife
rehabilitator. If
the animal appears to be seriously injured or sick it may be best to seek
immediate veterinary attention.
Do not attempt to feed the animal unless advised to do so and
arrangements for transport to a wildlife rehabilitator will be delayed.
Minimize visual and auditory stresses and avoid exposing the animal to
people and people to the animal and any potential disease threats.
The names and numbers of local wildlife rehabilitators can be obtained
from the Huyck Preserve.
Education Update
On May 2nd, the Huyck Preserve had the opportunity to share one of
our education programs at a workshop at Cornell University’s Arnot Research
Station. Over 20 schoolteachers, Cornell Cooperative Extension educators
and Cornell University staff attended this workshop. Everyone present had
received funding to provide links between research and youth via 4-H, schools
and other environmental educators.
Over
the past several years we have developed a program that helps students
understand the process of doing science by harnessing their own curiosity and
giving them a reasonable format to organize their curiosity. Many students
and educators are intimidated by science because they perceive it to be a string
of facts. Our program requires no background information, just the
willingness to participate in formulating a question and planning an investigation.
Answers aren’t important- it’s figuring out the question.
We have conducted this program with several hundred students and teachers
and have been amazed with the results. Students evaluating the day are
“energized by a new way of looking at science” and teachers realize the
tremendous motivation and commitment students exhibit if their own curiosity
drives the process.
On June 2nd, the Huyck Preserve, Cornell Cooperative Extension
of Greene County and others hosted a workshop highlighting this program and
others available to interested educators in our area.
Summer Camps for Middle
School Youth
by Deb Monteith
The
E.N. Huyck Preserve is again excited to offer middle school students the
opportunity to participate in two summer camps, the Environmental Day Camp and
the Science Education Camp.
Both of the planned
camps are in their third successful year, and again promise to be packed with
learning and fun. A full schedule
is currently in the planning stages, so while many regular activities will be
featured, so will a few surprises.
The Environmental Day
Camp will run from August 13-17, 2001, daily from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
It aims to teach participants about biological diversity and the natural
environment through an array of activities and programs, featuring workshops
hosted by local experts. Through a
variety of experiences, it is hoped that students will not only learn valuable
skills and knowledge, but also build personal attributes through cooperative
challenges and teamwork.
Workshops will include
sessions on nature photography, painting and illustration of the natural world,
creative writing inspired by our beautiful surroundings and wildlife management
and rehabilitation. For the more
energetic participants, orienteering, hiking and canoeing are also planned.
As in the past, a sleepover will be held on the Thursday night of the
camp if enough participants wish to attend.
The Science Education
Camp offers students the chance to explore the methods and skills of scientific
enquiry and apply these problem-solving skills into their everyday life.
During this weeklong camp, participants will formulate hypotheses, plan
and conduct their own field research and evaluate and present their findings to
parents.
The camp is scheduled for the week of August 20-24, to be held daily from
10 a.m.- 4 p.m.
Both opportunities are
open to all youth in grades 6-8 and attendance will cost $120 for members and
$140 for non-members for each camp. Scholarships to each of these camps may be available.
Please contact the Preserve to find out if you qualify.
For registration or
membership information, please contact the Preserve Administrative office at
797-3440. Deadline for registration
is August 1st, 2001.
Back to Top
Huyck
Preserve offers Field Ecology Course
The
Edmund Niles Huyck Preserve offered a Field Methods in Ecology from June 10-22,
2001. This undergraduate level
course earns credit through the University at Albany.
Dr. Richard Wyman (Huyck Preserve), Dr. George Robinson (University at
Albany), Dr. Nancy Elliott (Siena College) and teaching assistant, James
McCormick (University at Albany Ph.D. candidate) introduce students to a variety
of methods used in field research. Students
also researched their own projects.
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