Songbird Behavior

Today, we observed Black-Capped Chickadees in the field. We recorded their behavior every minute, on the minute. We plan to come up with data representing how the different birds spend their time. Each data sheet can be broken down into percentages in which we can determine an average afternoon of a Black-Capped Chickadee!

Narelyn does some expert birdwatching! 

Some other classmates checking out birds

We then took a hike around the refuge and looked at the changes over the seasons! 

Bird Behavior

On Monday, the Urban Naturalists of Roger Williams Middle School studied bird behavior of Mallard Ducks, Canada Geese, and Ring Billed Gulls in a public park at Roger Williams Park in Providence, RI.

We used a book called A Guide to Bird Behavior: Volume 1 by Donald W. Stokes to determine what the birds behaviors and displays meant. We used charts to log our information about each species in hopes to determine what the similarities and differences are between city birds and birds on a wildlife refuge. 

Check out the Wood Duck we saw at Roger Williams Park!
These guys are generally too shy to be around humans, but this guy
and his mate were swimming amongst the mallards! 

We had quite a few specimens to observe! 

This bird has been "banded" with a metal bracelet. Each bracelet is recorded  and has a special number on it that tells a scientist who this bird is, where it was banded, and when it was banded. It can then be traced and monitored by anyone who spots this bird using binoculars. 

All of our birds in our study in one spot! 

Check out our Providence Peregrines!

Check out our nesting Peregrines on the Bank of America Building in Providence, RI! Watch through our live feed!

Click here to view our nesting Peregrines.

Human Impact: Where Is It?

The Urban Naturalists have been assessing the impact humans have on the environment. We have discussed the possibilities of positive impact, such as recycling or trash bins in the public areas, signs to prevent people from feeding wildlife, and bike paths. We also discussed the effects of negative impact, such as littering, dumping into ponds/lakes and car emissions.

We spent our day at Roger Williams Park in Providence, RI, assessing 3 sits for both positive and negative human impact. Luckily, we found both!

Discussing the task for the day 

Checking out the Temple of Music. Would this be a sign of positive or
negative human impact?

Writing down notes on our assessment! 

How does the lake look? 

So many ducks and geese! 

What Does Wildlife Depend On?

The Urban Naturalists checked out some wildlife at the Audubon in Bristol, RI! We took a wonderful hike outside and assessed what each member of the refuge depended on. We saw many birds, such as Northern Cardinals, Northern Mockingbirds and American Robins. We discussed their dependence on the trees for shelter and food, clean air for breathing and water for drinking. We even saw a muskrat and a pile of freshly emerged Garter Snakes! What an amazing day for wildlife!

Checking in with our Urban Naturalists Today!

Look at that wetland! Spring is on the way!

A lovely Mallard male and his mate

Can you spot the pile of Garter Snakes?

More Skunk Cabbage! A lovely sign of spring! 

Everything's Connected

Today, the Urban Naturalists learned about how everything in our environment is connected to each other. We first spent time working on Food Chains in the classroom. We then took a hike outside to see if we could find any signs of a food chain in our Audubon Smithfield Refuge!

Angel works on a food chain!

Emily considers this wetland habitat which,
only a month ago, was dry land

Hiking through the woods!

Signs of a food chain! Some Bark Beetles made a snack out of this tree! 

Checking out the damage done by Bark Beetles

Mr. Who celebrates finding the perfect
walking stick! 

Some of our crew

William is part Hobbit!

We took some time to pose for the camera on a rare, non-candid moment! 

Checking out our Commons!

Today, we assessed a commons in our neighborhood: Roger Williams Park! We used a map to see what our park is used for. We made a comprehensive list of all the common space in the park and discussed what could be done in each area. We even discussed whether places such as the zoo, museum and baseball diamonds could be considered a commons as you have to make reservations or pay to use some of that space. Some stated it is still considered a common space because you can pay and enjoy the area as you wish while others said that it is not a common space because it is only open to those who can afford to use it.

After assessing this common space, we played a game called Oh Deer. In this game, half the class starts out as deer on one side of the room and the other half of the class are resources that the deer need. Each deer secretly decides whether they need food, water or shelter and make a symbol over their heads to indicate this. The resources secretly decide whether they will be food, water or shelter and indicate this over their heads as well. When prompted, both groups of students turn around and the deer run over and take the student resource that matches theirs. If a deer cannot find their resource, they turn into one and join the resources side of the room. This number of deer and available resources are recorded each round to help assess what happens in nature!

Finally, the students were able to meet a lovely Pueblan Milk Snake! This snake is non-venomous, but has "warning colors" so that animals in nature may think it COULD be!

Tragedy of the Commons

The Urban Naturalists learned about the idea of The Tragedy of the Commons. In short, the Tragedy of the Commons "states that when a resource is collectively owned by a group of people, each will exploit the resource, overusing it, and thus, ultimately destroying the resource." We learned about the concept through a book called Common Ground by Molly Bang

Afterwards, we discussed the meaning of the book. We played a game to help us understand the problem when people overuse the commons. We each took turns "fishing" for our resources in the common sea. With each generation, less and less of the fish were left to breed and add to the population numbers. This caused less and less resources for the future generations.