Posts by George Sly
23. The Prairie Vole (Microtus ochrogaster)
If I were to ask you to guess what the most abundant mammal inhabiting GPFWA is, you might first think of white-tailed deer. They seem to be abundant almost everywhere in Indiana. Perhaps the muskrat or the mink, a common predator-prey duo of the wetlands, would come to mind. All would be good conjectures. But,…
Read MoreCritter Corner No. 22 – The Giant Water Bug
With several thousand acres of shallow water, it should come as no surprise that Goose Pond FWA is home to an abundant, varied, and highly interesting assemblage of aquatic macroinvertebrates. The prefix macro- means big enough to see without a microscope and the suffix invertebrate refers to their lack of a backbone. Hidden from…
Read MoreCritter Corner No. 21 – The Red Bat
Critter Corner No. 21 – The Red Bat by George Sly (photo courtesy So. Conn. St. Univ.) A recent presentation on bats to a group of Sullivan Elementary School second graders reminded me that this was a group which has, up until now, been totally neglected in my Critter Corner blogs. Time to remedy that…
Read MoreLesson 3 – Conserving Wetlands and Their Sandhill Cranes
Lesson No. 3 Conserving Wetlands and Their Sandhill Cranes (Marshland Elegy) Target Audience: Environmental Science, Biology, Ecology, and Language Arts students. Objectives: This lesson introduces students to some of the issues surrounding wetland conservation and also gives them an opportunity to learn about the conservation history of the eastern sandhill crane population. It also provides…
Read MoreLesson 4 – Lessons in Biodiversity: the Writings of Aldo Leopold
Lesson No. 4 Lessons in Biodiversity: the Writings of Aldo Leopold (Thinking Like a Mountain & Escudilla) Target Audiences – Environmental Science, Biology, Ecology, and Language Arts students. Objectives: This lesson is designed to a) supplement discussion and understanding of the concept of biodiversity, b) introduce students to the conservation philosophy of Aldo Leopold,…
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