roots and shoots hike

On October 9, 2010 i had the opportunity to lead a group of roots and shoots hikers on Santa Cruz Island. Catherine French and i split the large group into two parties. I had the boys :)   This was the first time that Kathy Van Slyke's games were put to very good use by other naturalists. Between the both of us i think we used all of the exercises. I got my group back to the pier with 14 minutes to spare, whew!

This group of students have been guided by three moms who organized this after school group since kindergarten. They were an awesome, engaged group of children.

Roots and Shoots is a program started by Jane Goodall. In her book "Reason for Hope", i think she explains her inspiration for the name and what gives her hope. I read it such a long time ago i guess it is time to reread! Can you all guess what gives Jane Goodall hope?

open classroom kindy

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to talk to the students at Blanche Reynolds. How fun to visit a kindergarten class, they were awesome. It was special to get to hold a little hand again as all my boys' hands are bigger now than mine! We learned how long a blue whale was (very long climbing rope), parts of a whale (above) and all about blubber! I hope again that it was memorable. What an awesome job these teachers are doing.

open classroom center

Tommy thought the "centers" went well! He had to be quiet most of the time since he knew a great deal of what i was going to talk about. it turned out that we had three rotations and i was happy i went today to get another bird, some groups had to triple up.

i am hoping that by collapsing the egg they will visually remember what a chemical harmful to the environment can do, in the case of DDT taking a link away in the food web/chain. In the park the golden eagles came to the island (replacing the bald eagles) and predated on native species almost to the point of extinction (island fox).

Open Class Room center at Blanche Reynolds

egg thinned by DDT (theoretically)

Parent bird getting ready to incubate egg

Parent bird sitting on egg

thinned egg shell collapses

Open Class Room at Blanche Reynolds

Tomorrow i will be teaching six 20 minutes lessons at the school on the effects of DDT and the food web around the islands. The lesson will involve blowing out chicken eggs to represent California Brown Pelican eggs and bald eagle eggs that were affected by DDT. I will then put a decorated feather brick on top of the egg and hopefully the blown out egg will collapse. If time permits I will then talk about how the Island Fox were affected!

The DDT did not necessarily affect adult birds, but dramatically thinned the eggshells of nesting pairs so that when the adult birds went to incubate the eggs they would break and collapse. Needless to say nesting seasons were not successful. The pelican became endangered (recently unlisted) and the bald eagles left the islands to be replaced by the golden eagles who hung out for the easy food resources. The bald eagles were gone from the Channel Islands in the 1950's, so it is awesome they are back. DDT was banned in the US in the 1970's. It is still an important chemical for fighting malaria in other parts of the world, as i guess nothing better has been invented. 

The bald eagles have been reintroduced (through monies from the Montrose Settlements Restoration Program) and have successfully without the help of mankind reproduced on Santa Cruz Island for the first time in over 50 years in 2006. The tags on these two are #10 (male) and #26 (female), they have a lovely nest on the top of a tree. The nest is pretty to watch even though the eagles are not there right now (the web cam has audio so it is fun just to listen to). The below link takes you to the web cam site where you can tune in. A lot of action starts at the end of February till banding (also viewed live) in late May. There are also other nests to view on Catalina Island (not part of the park, but part of the Channel Island chain).

http://www.iws.org/bald_eagles/nestcam.htm

I will try and get tommy to take a photo of one of the lessons to post tomorrow.

narrative for photos :whale watching in the Santa Barbara Channel 2010

The photos of whales are taken in the Santa Barbara Channel. Warm water from Mexico and the colder water from the Pacific Northwest combine right in "our" backyard to cause upwelling and it results in abundant food sources for the cetaceans in the channel (among them are many varieties of dolphin, blues, migrating grays, humpbacks-my favorite, minkes and fins and now and then orca, many more come, but this is just to give you a sample of the variety in the channel).

Photos are hard to capture what watchers actually experience, these photos don't capture the whoosh and smell of an exhale, the synchronized rhythms of whales in a row (miles apart), the trumpeting sound of a humpback scratching his back on the boat. You have to actually be there for those pictures. It is hard to capture the grandeur. The thrill and fear mixed together when a whale is acting "unpredictable", the size of a huge mass of back swimming directly towards the boat and diving down within inches. It is truly awesome.

Common dolphins are spotted year round in the channel, frequently they are swimming in mega pods of over a thousand at a time, many times with infants (around a foot long) keeping up with the adults. They are playful and social animals and also a very dear favorite.

The island fox is from Santa Cruz Island (many of the Channel Islands have their own unique sub species, not all of the Channel Islands have a fox population). They are endemic animals found nowhere else on the planet and in their natural habitat are the top of the food chain. This is why we see them during the day on the islands. They have come back from the brink of extinction (due to predation from the golden eagle and loss of habitat).

whale watching in the Santa Barbara Channel 2010

Welcome to Channel Islands National Park and Marine Sanctuary

Welcome!

I have started this blog as a request. It is basically to share my accounts as a volunteer naturalist at Channel Islands National Park and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.


To volunteer at the islands for me is a way to step out of everyday busy life; it is a step backwards into a quieter more isolated time period. And, yes it is a place to wander without worry. I do a lot of talking each shift, especially when I lead a hike on one of the islands. But, even with all my volunteer duties I always go home with a quiet peace of mind. This is my survival mechanism for life in So. Cal. with three boys and a very busy husband who owns his own business.

The awesome part of volunteering is that I get to share ideas with the park guests. Every national park in America has a wonderful, individual history, plants and animals unique to a specific region, geology that has a long story to tell.

So, again welcome and let's go whale watching!

Main Ranch Santa Cruz Island