Lesson 2 The Importance of Wetlands to Migratory Birds
Lesson No. 2 The Importance of Wetlands to Migratory Birds (Back from the Argentine) Target Audience: Environmental Science, Biology, Ecology students Objectives: This lesson addresses several objectives. 1) Students will be made aware of the importance of the Goose Pond FWA (Greene Co., Indiana) as a resting/feeding/staging area for migratory birds. 2) Students will come…
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,…
Read MoreCritter Corner No 19 – The Fox Squirrel By George Sly
Critter Corner No. 19 (photo by Judy Gallagher – commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55331862) Discussing the Fox Squirrel as a member of the GPFWA fauna may seem a bit surprising. After all, we normally associate the property with wetland and prairie habitats primarily. These are hardly the sorts of places one would expect to find an arboreal (tree dwelling)…
Read MoreWildFlower Walk – 2 Hour Field Trip Focusing On Prairie Wildflowers
Please join Friends members Ron and De Ronk for a two hour field trip focusing upon prairie wildflowers. We will meet at the GPFWA Visitor Center at 9:00AM on Saturday, July 1st. After signing in, we will hear from the Ronk’s about the prairie plantings near the VC. We will also have a chance to…
Read MoreCritter Corner No. 18 – The Red-eared Slider by George Sly
Sherman Minton’s authoritative Amphibians & Reptiles of Indiana (1) notes that this turtle emerges, in southern Indiana, from its period of winter inactivity in early April. But, this book was published in 2001. In our rapidly warming world, Mother Nature seems to be re-writing the rules. By mid-February 2017, large numbers of Pond Sliders were…
Read MoreCritter Corner No. 17 – The Praying Mantis by George Sly
Past episodes of Critter Corner have dealt with some of the mammals, reptiles, and amphibians of GPFWA. One might claim that I have missed the boat by not acknowledging the presence, and importance, of members of the largest taxonomic group of animals on the planet – the insects. Fans of these creatures would have…
Read More$15,600 Reward For Shooter Of Whooping Crane
Critter Corner No. 16 – The Prairie Kingsnake by George Sly
Photo Courtesy of Missouri Dept. of Conservation My earliest recollection of meeting a snake, one which I could identify to species, happened when I was just a youngster. Engaged in a lively outdoor game of hide and seek, I leaped over a roadside culvert and took shelter in the ditch below. As I lie…
Read MoreCritter Corner No. 15 – The Eastern Mole by George Sly
Most of the mammals which make Goose Pond FWA their home are secretive and seldom seen. The subject of this edition of Critter Corner is no exception. In fact, the Eastern Mole is made even more elusive by the nature of its fossorial (burrowing) behavior. Certainly we see the mounded earth and raised tunnels of…
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