Field course day 5 - Coon Lake Bog

The first week of field course concluded at Coon Lake Bog and with the students being tested on their plant identification skills at a "secret" site.

In the morning, we first went to the Ecology Park in the city.

Lupine flowers in the park.

Field course day 3 - Black Oak Savanna in Alderville

We went to Alderville Black Oak Savanna on the third day of the field course.  The different habitats (tall grass prairie, savanna, and woodland) support various types of flora and fauna.  Furthermore, the practices of prescribed burn and research on Karner Blue Butterfly and Wild Lupines offered the students different perspectives on the applications of their learned knowledge, such as ecological restoration, conservation, and pollination studies.

There were many Calico Pennant (Celithemis elisa) dragonflies flying around us.

Photos with captions

One day, a juvenile White-throated Sparrow hit our cabin window. We quickly took it off the ground and put it in a small cloth bag (for birds), waited for it to gain conscious, then my co-worker Kat released it back to wherever it belong. It didn't want to fly away right away but did soon afterwards.


It was always strange to see a woodpecker hanging on a Mullein looking for insects.

Howdy - more photos to share

On my last off-days, I went to the Mariposa Folk Festival. It was quite an amazing experience - lots of interesting things to check out, great new bands and musicians to discover and the weather was just fantastic.

This was one of my favorite musicians at the festival - Catherine MacLellan.

After my off-days, it was back to work. Here are more photos from the field site.