Astronomy and Owls over February break

(Oops, mixed up the chronology of this event!!)

It was a beautiful night with a half moon.  Though it was cold, 20 community members came out to celebrate the crystal clear view of the sky.

Orion's nebula, the moon's craters, Jupiter and its moons were all big hits.  Though the light from the moon washed out some detail, that didn't much matter!    Participants took turns peeking through the Levy's scopes at the celestial sights, and there was lots of conversation about the movement of the earth around the sun.  We were all taken by the arrangement of Jupiters moons ... like duckling following after their mama!

Once we realized our toes were going numb, we bounced up and down 16 times and set off towards the lake.  Crunching over the snow, we were pretty sure most of the animals anywhere nearby would have taken off for parts unseen!  We followed up our noisy walk with a quiet pause at the crest of the hill above Foley Fields and could hear a dog barking up by Jackson Street ... not much else.

Cold toes once again insisting on attention, we knew we had to "sample" the area.  Aiden and Ms.Levy gave a few hoots and, wouldn't you know, a Great Horned Owl hoots back.  Funny though, we gave the "who-cooks-for-you" call of the Barred Owl.  That spurred lots of conversation of how a Great Horned might feel about having a Barred Owl in its territory.  We all agreed that a smart Barred Owl would leave.

ducklings?

In the sword, below Orion's belt

Our ploy, the Barred Owl

The master of the Lake Wallace woodland, the resident Great Horned Owl

And look whoo showed up in Meg's backyard in Naperville, Il!!

(full disclosure ... not our pictures!)

Ecomentors head down to the lake for the first sampling of "spring"

Even though we still had a few more days of frozen weather, March 26th turned out to be a great day to explore!  Loads of things to find, including an impressive number of owl pellets!!

This is Lake Wallace in late winter

Listening for instructions before we go

Snack up!  there's hard work to be done!!

The intrepid explorer is ready for discovery

Staging at the picnic table, ready to scoop, sort, identify and document ... How's that for a research station?!

The newest members of Ecomentors learn the fine art of spoon-based science research

Looks like there are a few critters waking up for the Spring!

Katie, Meg, Maggie at Lake Wallace.
 They came all the way from the Chicago-area to join us on our excursion ... Thanks!!

New England Outdoor Writers Association's first annual Youth Writing Contest

Tom Fuller, accomplished author (and Mrs. Fuller's husband!) and outdoor writer, got the Belchertown Public Schools on board for this inaugural year of the Youth Writing Contest.

The Contest: 

The written topics must be an outdoor-oriented topic of the student’s choosing. Appropriate topics include the following: hunting, fishing, boating, archery, shooting, field trials, sporting dogs, camping, woodcraft, skin diving, scuba diving, hiking, rock climbing, cross-country skiing, trapping, snowshoeing, wildlife watching, natural history, conservation, ecology, and similar activities which add to the knowledge and enjoyment of nature and natural resources... not exceed 500 words. 

The students responded with a celebration of place and community, the BHS Woodland Ecology classes responding to the prompt "This is Where I Live... " and the 8th grade writing Pastoral Poems.  Other students submitted work by following their inner muse.

We are delighted to say that Katelyn's story is being transformed into an illustrated childrens' book (in consultation with the Clapp Memorial Library) with Science pages.

We are thrilled to say that Matt's Pastoral Poem went on to win the Massachusetts state prize.
Kudo's to Matt and all of his teachers!!

Left to right, Cheryl Cummings - JBMS Science, Jen Poli and Ginny Doucette - JBMS English, Tom Fuller, Devon Gneda - BHS finalist, Katelyn Clark - BHS winner, Casey Waskiewicz - JBMS finalist, Matthew Davidsohn - JBMS and Massachusetts state winner, Gillian Follett - JBMS finalist, Louise Levy - BHS Science.  Not pictured, Ruthann Sterling - BHS finalist

Stay tuned for next years contest!!  Information should be available come October.

December Ecomentors ... chasing away the dark/celebrating the light

(Sorry, no pictures!!)

This day, just a few days before the Winter Solstice, the Ecomentors shared stories of long ago (or not so long ago) and far away (or right here) to explore how we dwellers of the northern hemisphere view the approach of the winter ... especially The Longest Night.

We explored how folks stay warm as winter closes, how they make light, how they make sure they have enough food to last the winter, and how they keep their spirits up through the long, cold, snowy season in New England.

We followed our stories by decorating our own candle holders with images that celebrate the return of the light ... the banishing of the darkness that is the root of Winter Solstice celebrations around the world.  Then, we went outside ... hmm.

It was a bit windy, and it took the group a solid 10 minutes to make our way across the driveway from the Teen Center to the gazebo.  Wow!  Did we have to share our flames!!  Over and again, the wind blew out one or another candle, but we were determined.  With all of us working together, relighting each others flames, we finally made it!!  (not without a few of the candle holders getting destroyed in the process!!)
Now that was an adventure!!

Hunkering down for the long, cold time

Sharing the light

How we all used to stay warm

Winter Solstice celebration at the UMass Sunwheel

Winter Solstice at Stonehenge

Winter = snow and cold

Snow ... starts off soft, winds up deep.  That's winter!!

Winter, leaves traces and tracks

Last years' Mantis egg case

Skunk cabbage, melting its way out of the snow

Cardinal and wren accept some hospitality

November ... time to recap the year at the lake

Yep, it was cold, and getting dark earlier.

Ecomentors set to work gathering natural objects (no poison ivy, please!!) to include in our Biodiversity brochures.  We talked about how much we enjoy being outdoors and how different Belchertown is from other places that we visit.  We collected items that would represent our Western Mass ecosystems best. Then we got busy!

Birch bark and crackers ... fueling up before heading indoors with our natural objects

Celebrating our surroundings

Lake Wallace is a great place to find nature!

Hard at work making gorgeous Lake Wallace biodiversity brochures

Salamander visits BHS

It may come as a surprise to us, spending so much time in our climate-conditioned buildings, but the land around BHS is habitat!  Salamanders will climb up hill in order to navigate to their next place, including their wintering areas.  This Spotted Salamander (about 5 1/2" long) appears to have been making tracks from the wetlands beyond the Junior parking lot over to the wetlands next to the Chestnut Hill playground.  It was found in the corridor outside the gym.

Mr. Marchewka decided that he really isn't a fan of salamanders!

The little guy spent a day in Ms.Levy's classroom recovering, from the exertion of getting under the door into the school and from all of the dust and cement dust that stuck to its' sensitive skin.  It left us with it's molted skin.  Take a good look ... the feet look like gloves, five toes on the front, four on the back.

Needless to say, the little guy took off when we released it the next afternoon!!

Poor little guy ... look at all that dust.  And is our Athletic Director scooting away from it?

Hey, there, handsome!

How would that be for us ... when our skin got itchy, we just molted the whole thing?!
(Notice the duckweed inside the lower foot ... the whole skin is inside out!)

October 25th Ecomentors get one last look at this years' pond critters

The afternoon was crisp and cool, and the rain held off just long enough.  The Ecomentors decided to head around to the backwaters of the lake to answer the question ... just what is there in that swamp?  We hadn't been there since last October, when the bridge was still partially under the water ... compliments of the beaver.

We found loads of snails, algae, duck weed and aquatic worms, some diving beetles and water bugs = no where near as much variety as we find in the main body of the lake, but not a surprise

Ecomentors on the Swamp bridge ... anything in here?

Take a closer look, What is that bug?  Do they always live near old soda cans?

That's one big bug

A big tadpole, ready to wait out the winter in the main body of the lake

Scientists know they have to document their work ... it's that important, it's serious work.

October 25, Senior Center and Homeschoolers explore Lake Wallace/Foley Fields

It was another lovely afternoon, with the fall colors signalling the end of another growing season.

Members of the Belchertown Senior Center joined forces with homeschoolers to see how the fields and forests impact the vitality of the lake ecosystem.  ...  Pretty good!!

Old Monarch chrysalis ... looks like this one didn't make it

Nothing quite like an inter-generational excursion ... everyone has their perspective to share!

3rd grade takes a field trip to Lake Wallace

It was a gorgeous October day, and 180 3rd graders agreed!

8 BHS students, Mr. Clark and Ms. Levy hosted all of the 3rd graders in two "waves," exploring the life in the water, reveling in the colors of autumn leaves, and writing compelling letters with rich language to convince residents of the desert southwest to come to Belchertown to visit!

All agreed that we live in a beautiful place, worth celebrating (and that it was great to get out for some Science!)

Scooping for Science!

Sort and identify

Let's take a closer look at that one!

Scientists, getting right into their studies

Yep ... that's a snail

Choose, identify and sketch ... now that's documentation!