Attending an ONREP Natural Resources CTE High School Educator Conference in December of last year, I learned about the possibility of getting a grant from the Diack Ecology Education Program. Inspired by a talk focused on using trail cameras to teach about wildlife, I applied for a grant for the Bear Creek Explorers and my proposal was accepted. It took a bit of going round and round to figure out how to get me the funds (TNW ended up being the conduit) but by last month I had six brand new trail high-quality trail cameras, twelve memory cards, and almost enough AA batteries for a research project!
Before bringing them into the woods my kids helped me unpackage the equipment at home.
Sam enthusiastically used his neatest handwriting to serialize the cameras and memory cards. They are labeled 101-106 and each has two corresponding memory cards (for example, 101A and 101B.)
Out at Bear Creek, I reminded everyone about the scope of the project (I’ve discussed it with them many times now) and then we pulled out the cameras. Sam asked if he could teach everyone how to use them since he’d read the entire manual. Well, it was clear he knew more than me so I let him lead the way! The other adults commented later on what a nice job he did explaining each step, slowly and carefully and giving everyone time to ask questions.
I loved stepping back and watching how engaged the kids were as they supported each other in loading up the batteries and memory cards, and getting all the settings correct.
Everyone chose a name for their camera which had to include the serial number. We double-checked that the date and time were correct.
Our official study doesn’t start until after spring break, but we wanted to practice using the cameras to make sure they work and possibly learn from any rookie mistakes before it affects the data sets.
Everyone picked a location not too far from the main camp.
In the week between, I made sure everyone understood how to access the shared google drive folder I’d set up for the uploading of pictures.
The next week, everyone collected their cameras and we looked through them to see what was captured. There was a huge variation in the number of images: everything from over 11,000 (which turned out to be mostly grass blowing in the wind) and 36 as the low. Already lessons were being learned, and after switching out memory cards and brainstorming a bit more on what animal (or group of animals) everyone was planning to focus on, they headed out to set up their cameras again.
Back at home, the downloaded images have started coming in. Sam caught some birds…
And Sierra a bobcat!
I love that the image shows the temperature, time, date, moon phase, and the name of the camera. We’ll see what gets caught over the break!
Another fun new addition to Bear Creek- we were gifted a wheelbarrow. Some friends had one sitting under their house that they never use and decided we should take it. I dropped by to pick it up and immediately discovered a teachable moment. I sent this image to the group and asked what they thought about me bringing it out there. Gabriel responded right away that it was a bad idea- look at all that shining geranium growing around the lip! Made me happy that my weed warriors have eagle eyes for invasive species!
I did end up bringing out the wheelbarrow- but not until I cleaned it very well, including using boiling water. Once it was out there I talked more about how invasive weeds spread and how I’d appreciate their help detecting any newcomers in our little wilderness.
But with that business out of the way, the wheelbarrow was ready for work, or play!
During their free time they made good use of it being very silly and transporting each other around.
One more sweet moment we caught- their adaptation of everyone sitting on each other’s lap in a circle. Team building at its finest!
It’s officially spring now, and although it’s still cold and wet and the hail and snow keep falling, we did see one hopeful sign this week. A beautiful little Northern Pacific Tree Frog hanging out by the pond.
Happy Spring Break and Welcome Spring!