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EDUCATION
Apalachee Audubon Society

http://www.apalachee.org/Education.html#School_Events

TRAINING

The AAS education committee met at the Cornerstone Learning Community on September 16th to discuss
goals for the year. Attending were committee co-chairs Dawn Saucier and Elizabeth Platt, Matt Morris, Karen
Wensing, Judy Goldman, and Gail Menk. We decided on two main goals: to promote learning about birds and
nature in the classroom through use of the Audubon Adventure kits and on-site visits by AAS members, and to
support hands-on activities in the out-of-doors. We also agreed to contribute information to the education
page of the AAS website. The following reports illustrate how the committee’s goals are being carried out at
various area schools.

Gail Menk, one of our areas most accomplished birding experts, has offered to accompany very small groups
of teachers on local field trips to help them learn about our common birds. He can be reached at 850-575-
9361. Here is a picture of Gail birding in a meadow near Lake Jackson.

New approaches to teaching ornithology

On May 12 Elizabeth Platt hosted a meeting of some Leon County grade school teachers and yours truly,
purpose of which was to promote ways and means of nature studies in local schools. Those attending
discussed various ongoing projects and activities and also discussed time/cost effective suggestions on how to
supplement appropriate teaching methods and approaches.

As a volunteer avian consultant, I proposed that I promote one-on-one bird outings with teachers at sites in
Leon County in order not only to acquaint teachers with identification of bird species but also to stress
awareness of the natural world in general, i.e. plant life, habitat, seasonal change as well as other related
matters.
To jump-start such outings, on June 5 I accompanied Julie McBride on a bird walk near her residence on Mill
Branch Road where we listed 16 bird species and discussed various plant life (How nicely were blackberry and
elderberry bushes doing this time round!). Included on our bird list was a foraging juvenile Wood Stork which
joined us surprisingly on a stretch of mowed lawn; during daytime this species typically confines itself to mud
flats where it feasts on fish and other aquatic animal life. An unseen calling Limpkin suggested further
extension of its summer range in the county and several other bird species were in good voice - Yellow-billed
Cuckoo, White-eyed Vireo, Fish Crow and others. Julie's neighborhood is indeed an ideal "resource laboratory"
for natural learning experiences.

Later we visited nearby Gilchrist Elementary School where Julie envisions additional plants and trees including
flowering butterfly gardens and the like. A retention pond with flowering pickerel week provides there a good
source of water. A Red-shouldered Hawk and friendly vocal House Finches and two or three Great Crested
Flycatchers were on hand to greet us.

I look forward to future birding and nature walks at Mill Branch Road and Gilchrist and greatly appreciate
Julie's cordiality on June 5.

Gail E. Menk, Tallahassee

RESOURCES

The Audubon Advertures Kit is prepared by the National Audubon Society. The kit si provided to teachers,
without charge, through cooperation with the Apalachee Audubon Society. Audubon Adventures is a convient,
reliable, and accurate way for you to present information on nature to your students. The material is
presented in a manner that quickly captures their interest and promotes retention. Details on the four topics
to be presented in this years kits is available on the edication segment of the National Audubon Website.

To enrole in the program you may contact Judy Goldman at (850)-385-5222

Audubon Adventures Kit History

2009 Birdathon Revenue for Audubon Adventure Kits and other projects Birdathon results
SCHOOL EVENTS

In addition to the Audubon Adventures Kit program Apalchee Audubon can provide you with guest

instructures on bird topics as well as support you with guides and bird watching equipment on

field trips near your school. You may contact Dawn Saucier at (850) 656-4045 to arrange for these free
services.

School of Arts and Sciences photo presentation and field trip

Responding to a call from the School of Arts and Sciences for a presentation about Wakulla Springs, the
limpkin, and other springs species, Marvin Collins and Elizabeth Platt spoke with four groups of grades K-1 and
2-3 students on September 25th. The photo presentation was highly interactive and the presenters were very
much impressed at how observant and knowledgeable the children were. Two weeks after the presentations
the children went to Wakulla Springs with their teachers to learn more. Few groups of youngsters could have
been as well prepared!

Magnolia School basic bird-watching lecture and field trip

Education Committee co-chair Dawn Saucier visited Magnolia School on September 17th to present a program
on bird-watching basics to a group of about 32 students in grades K-5. As a follow-up, AAS volunteer Lynn
Reynolds led a bird walk for the students on their recent school field trip to St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.
The students first participated in orienteering activities at Plum Orchard Pond, then enjoyed lunch at the
picnic area where they were treated to the sight of a bald eagle soaring overhead. In the afternoon, classes
were divided into small groups for nature hikes around Tower Pond. Students kept notes in their science
journals about species seen, then used field guides to help identify birds such as the Downy Woodpecker and
Common Yellowthroat.

Cornerstone Learning Community and listed a Gray Catbird and a Red-eyed Vireo (likely migrants) prior to
accompanying as invited guest a bus load of CLC 4th-graders to Birdsong Nature Center in Grady County,
Georgia, where said students undertook field activities under the tutelage of naturalist Matt Morris. It was
nice to touch shoulders once more with Birdsong's Kathleen Brady who informed me that, interestingly, the
Gray Catbird had yet to be listed there as a nesting species despite its southward spread as year-round
resident into North Florida as of 1978.
First student project was to help uproot invasive "rattlesnake roots" (Florida Botany, Stachys floridana)
crowding out a certain bed of blue-flowering hummingbird-attracting plants which reminded me that I had the
day before observed a hummer sipping from the blue flowers of the Pickerel weed. The tuber of the
rattlesnake plant does suggest the segmented tail of a rattler and is reportedly edible as radish-tasting
"without the hot taste" - good for salads, pickling, snacks, etc; hence one good way to eradicate the plants is
to dig up their roots and eat them (according to Florida's Incredible Wild Edibles by R. Deuerling and P. Lantz,
copy of which I recently purchased at Tallahassee's Native Nurseries).

Next Mr. Matt lead the students into the nearby forest where he lectured concerning the interesting ecology
of the prized longleaf pine, including how the sap of the species serves as a conduit for lightning strikes which
tend to ignite fires and burn off the forest understory which otherwise crowd out or eliminate the more
valued pine saplings.

He next drew attention to a tent caterpillar-infested persimmon tree and explained the related whys and ways
of photosynthesis-how it relates to natures food chain. This fall I have especially noticed that the caterpillars
have been steadily denuding at least a dozen tree species in the Big Bend. The Yellow-billed cuckoo feeds on
such worms and one wonders if it's pending southbound migration will be delayed well into November by
such abundant food supply.

A third project seining and identification of vertebrates, invertebrates, whatever, taken from a brooklet along
the way. No telling what resides in or near such ecological niches - cicadas, wolf spiders, other critters, many
of which were collected for further study.

Again I noted well how plant life varies markedly with the various elevations of a given forest path (therein lies
another field study), and on October 1 I was especially impressed by a spectacularly large growth of purplish
colored American beauty berry, a valuable food source for certain of the larger song birds.

A morning well spent. And thank you Mr. Matt, chaperone Marie, bus driver, Keith, and you delightful CLC
fourth-graders. I learned a lot.

Apalachee Audubon Society

http://www.apalachee.org