Botany ISLE 2014

We had a fantastic 10 days with students who came from out to Hurricane from as far as New York City to learn about the wildflowers, trees, vines, and shrubs on Hurricane Island. The week started off by looking at Hurricane’s gardens and the difference between domestic and wild edible plants. Students learned about soil health and compost, how to manage a straw bale garden, and the difference between linear and sustainable farming and gardening practices. They also learned how crop rotation can keep plant pests at bay as well as contribute to the overall health of a garden.

Students key into leaf characteristics to help identify the difference between quaking and big-tooth aspen trees.

We also challenged students to plan out the meadow garden plot for next years garden. They did a fantastic job and adhered to crop rotation practices as well as suggested a few new plants that we should try to grow. Students took an afternoon to get their hands dirty in our gardens and helped turn over the adjacent plot to the meadow garden to expand it for next year. They also planted seedlings in new rows and put fresh compost in our flower garden. This focus of farming and gardening during the beginning of the Botany program led to a field trip to Turner Farm on North Haven Island, where they were able to explore and learn about what a large scale sustainable farm looks like.

After domestic plants we moved on to wild edibles and students learned to identify and forage for sorrel, cattails, beach peas, orach, elderberry flowers, and raspberries, which they concocted into a Hurricane sourced meal, which was also supplemented by the vegetables and herbs grown in our gardens.

Each morning featured a different category of plant and students learned all the vocabulary and identification techniques to properly key out the most common wild flowers, trees, and ferns on Hurricane.

As a fun final project students collaborated to create a botany themed rap song, which featured some of their favorite plants that they learned about over their ten-day stay.   

Register for our 2015 Botany ISLE program here! 

Ornithology ISLE 2014

For our first ISLE program of the season we had five boys join us for a week of ornithology themed activities including bird-house building, bird bingo, and morning bird hikes. By the end of the program students were able to identify by site and sound the top 25 birds that call Hurricane home during our summer season.

Students also enjoyed some silly moments trying on bird costumes (like the Osprey in this photo) to learn more about how different birds are adapted to the environment that they live in. 

Some of the birds that we were able to see during the week were Cedar Waxwings, Bald Eagles, Ospreys, Yellow-Rumped Warblers, and Winter Wrens. We helped students visualize bird songs by looking at spectrograms and they were challenged to come up with their own mnemonics to remember the unique songs for each bird. Some standard mnemonics that professional birders use are “witchity-witchity-witchity” for the Common Yellowthroat Warbler, and “Oh Sam peabody-peabody-peabody” for the White-Throated Sparrow.

The Red-Billed Tropicbird flies next to a Tern

One of the highlights of the week was a special day trip out to see offshore nesting seabird colonies on Seal Island with local naturalist and ornithologist John Drury. John took us around the perimeter of Seal Island and then we were met by Nicole, a researcher with Project Puffin, who is living on the island this summer monitoring puffin and tern chicks at their nesting sites. Birds that nest on Seal Island during the summer include Razorbills, Puffins, Great Cormorants, Common and Arctic Terns, Eider Ducks, and Black Guillemots. We were also lucky enough to see a Red-Billed Tropicbird, an out-of-range visitor to the area, which usually is found along the Baja Peninsula on the West Coast of Mexico.  John Drury believes that this bird followed some Terns and has been happily nesting in the area since.

On our final evening we enjoyed a cookout on the south end of the island and a spectacular view of the full moon rising over the water. It was really fun to watch these students get excited about birding and become talented amateur ornithologists!

Students enjoy a quiet moment as the full moon rises over Heron's Neck lighthouse

Register for our 2015 Ornithology ISLE program here!