The Wonders of Weekend Wildlife

By Johnica Morrow 

Saturday morning was a bit dreary after Friday’s rain. The fresh smell that comes after such weather filled the air, while the sleepy setting kept most of us from wanting to rise from our beds. By all accounts, that morning should have been a lazy Saturday morning.

But it wasn’t. Not for me, and not for many excited students who were happy to greet the dreary morning. Why? You ask. Because at 8:00am Dr. John Faaborg stood out in the morning mist with students to set up a large mist net around our station’s bird feeders, that’s why! Students were eager to wake up early on a weekend to catch the early birds and to learn about them from an actual ornithologist. 

A little after 8:00am, we began to see a few birds zipping around the net. The mist lifted and the morning brightened just as we watched our first bird get caught. This bird was a lark sparrow. Students were taught how to carefully remove the bird from the mist net before checking the sex of the animal, and learning how to place a band around its leg. This particular lark sparrow was a second year male. A group of students gathered around as how to properly band a bird and take down important data before releasing him back into the wild was demonstrated.

  

The morning also yielded a second year male warbling vireo and a second year female orchard oriel, which were already banded so data were collected and the birds were released, as well as a house wren and a house finch.

 

Later that morning, some of the students in Life 121 took a trip to a nearby prairie dog colony to observe these animals. The students sited only 2 prairie dogs, but were able to listen to these animals communicate back and forth with one another. Later on, the students were able to collect some interesting plants for their collections and learned a little about two types of fungi that were encountered along the way. The fungi included a puffball and a small cluster of earth stars ready to release spores into the air.

Sunday evening, students were able to experience the joys of light trapping to collect a wide range of insects. Eyes were filled with wonder as the first few hemipterans were spotted followed by multiple caddisflies (order trichoptera) and a surprising number of earwigs (order dermaptera). We also encountered various beetles (predominantly scarab beetles), a few crane flies, and a plethora of midges. By the end, the midges were so thick, that students decided it was time to call it a night and shake off their hair and clothes that were loaded with the small flies. 

All in all, the first weekend of first session was full of fun, optional activities that further engaged the students in various aspects of studying biology in a field setting. Students took great delight in watching everything from invertebrates to birds and mammals. It was wonderful to see students immersed in fascination with the biological world. That’s not something you get in a traditional classroom. THAT is the Cedar Point experience!