Nominate an Environmental Educator!

"Greetings members and friends of EENC,

We are now accepting nominations for the 2014 EENC Awards. These awards will be presented at the 2014 Annual Conference/Regional SEEA Conference this September at Caraway Camp and Conference Center.

Use this link to reach the nomination form: https://iyha.wufoo.com/forms/eenc-2014-award-nomination/

The awards are separated into two categories, those available to the general public, and those available to EENC Members only. The descriptions of the awards are listed below, as well as on the nominations form.

The following awards are open to all organizations and the general public.

Environmental Educator of the Year recognizes an educator who stands out among environmental educators as a professional who exemplifies excellence in environmental education and lends credibility to the field. Through valuable contributions and professionalism, the environmental educator is regarded as an ideal example that other EE practitioners should strive to emulate.

Exceptional Environmental Education Program recognizes a program, education center, organization, partnership or educational system that exemplifies excellence in environmental education. The program reaches far beyond the usual magnitude and degree of scope and scale to create: a sustainable commitment to environmental education, a more environmentally literate public, a stronger profession for environmental educators, and otherwise supporting EENC’s mission and objectives.

Outstanding Partner recognizes a business, non-profit, or governmental agency that have partnered with EENC to support the mission and growth of EENC.  This organization has made significant contributions to EENC by providing in-kind contributions; donations of employees’ time, talent, and materials; monetary support to the EENC Board or Board Training; or by providing significant funding or services to EENC’s annual conference. This partnership enables EENC to experience a growth in professionalism and/or membership, which may not have been possible without this contribution.

            Membership in EENC is required for the following awards.

Outstanding Newcomer recognizes an Environmental Educators of North Carolina member of five years or less who has made significant contributions to EENC during his or her short time with EENC.

Outstanding Practitioner recognizes a member of the Environmental Educators of North Carolina who works regularly as an environmental educator, lending their skills to the growing body of environmental education as a profession. The individual will have made significant contributions to the Environmental Educators of North Carolina through statewide participation, leadership in their region, and being an advocate for high quality education through how they teach, live, and do.

Outstanding Service recognizes an active member who has served in several key leadership roles making a significant contribution to further the mission of EENC. This individual has given many hours of dedicated service to help shape EENC into a viable statewide professional organization.

Melva Fager Okun Life Achievement recognizes member who has served EENC in key leadership roles for over three years on the Board of Directors. This individual has made very significant contributions in furthering EENC’s mission to serve as a leader in building a statewide network of EE practitioners, providing excellent professional development, strengthening EE throughout North Carolina, and serving as an active state affiliate to the North American Association for Environmental Education.

Please reply to this email if you have any questions.

Thank you so much for your support of EENC!"

(from Michelle Pearce)

Paean to a Walnut Tree

In a North Carolina neighborhood, constituting one small portion of a corpulent suburban empire, a young walnut tree bows to the wind. The rain pelts its leaves, but those leaves hardly quiver. The rain is not the walnut’s king. The walnut kneels like a courtier only for the wind, and when the wind decamps, the walnut stands tall again, the master of its domain.

In its front-yard fiefdom, the walnut must wage war. At first the walnut unwittingly welcomes its enemy. When the walnut caterpillar moth lays its eggs, they appear small and harmless. In ten days, the eggs explode with hundreds of larvae that live to devour. Soon the writhing mass of young caterpillars disperses, attacking the food stores of the tree. The walnut struggles to survive until its powerful ally – the weather -- arrives. With one hard freeze, the long war ends.

The walnut also craves conquest. It aggressively ferrets out new territory, dispatching long roots to pilfer resources from its neighbors. The walnut fights without mercy, using chemical warfare to vanquish its enemies. Lively columbines and gentle lilacs succumb quickly to the poisonous exudate; the spice bush fights back, but in the end, the walnut stands victorious.

The walnut courts and conquers, but it also gives generously to its neighbors. Each year, the walnut doles out rich nuts to squirrels and raccoons. It offers shelter to nervous Carolina wrens and boastful bluebirds. Without recompense, the walnut encourages every passerby to revel in its shade. Without shame, the walnut tempts voyeurs to contemplate its trials and tribulations, its annual cycle of dieback and growth.

Black Walnut (Juglans nigra), photo by Alicia Lamborn available at http://baker.ifas.ufl.edu/Arboretum/BlackWalnut.html

Pettigrew State Park (Creswell, NC) & Pocosin Lakes NWR (Columbia, NC)

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Each Spring, I make my way to Pettigrew State Park (Creswell, NC) to explore the rich vernal wildlife around North Carolina’s 2^nd largest natural lake, Lake Phelps. Lake Phelps is one of the Carolina bay lakes – elliptical lakes aligned on a northwest-southeast axis of uncertain origin, hypothesized to have been carved out by ocean currents, wind or comets.

Highlights of this year’s visit, included the installation of new boardwalk, plus large singing choruses of Southern Toads, blossoming Pawpaws, and Zebra Swallowtails.

Birds seen:

• pileated woodpecker
• red-bellied woodpecker
• blue jay
• Carolina wren
• northern cardinal
• white-throated sparrow
• mourning dove
• common grackle
• boat-tailed grackle
• Carolina chickadee
• American crows
• laughing gulls

• American robin
• blue-grey gnatcatcher
• eastern meadowlark
• yellow-rumped warbler
• white-eyed vireo
• turkey vulture
• eastern bluebird
• brown thrasher
• purple martin
• northern mockingbird
• American goldfinch
• brown-headed cowbird
• European startling
• eastern towhee

Birds heard only:

Silver-spotted skipper at Pettigrew State Park (Creswell, NC)

• yellow-throated warbler
• northern parula
• eastern screech owl
• grey catbird
• tufted titmouse
• red-shouldered hawk
• red-eyed vireo

Other wildlife encounters:

• zebra swallowtail
• tiger swallowtail
• falcate orange-tip
• silver-spotted skipper
• southern toads
• Fowler’s toads



Zebra swallowtail at Pettigrew State Park (Creswell, NC)

• southern leopard frogs (heard only)

• bullfrog (heard only)
• yellow-bellied slider
• eastern box turtle
• eastern musk turtle
• redbelly turtle
• eastern grey squirrel
• cotton rat
• opossum
• eastern cottontail
• raccoon (tracks only)
• clearwing moth spp.
• phantom craneflies (mating)

Jack-in-the-pulpit at Pettigrew SP (Creswell, NC)

Pawpaw (Asimina spp.) at Pettigrew SP (Creswell, NC)

Sensitve fern at Pettigrew SP (Creswell, NC)

American sycamore at Pettigrew SP (Creswell, NC)

Southern toad at Pettigrew SP (Creswell, NC)

Eastern box turtle at Pettigrew SP (Creswell, NC)

Eastern musk turtle at Pettigrew SP (Creswell, NC)

Redbelly turtle at Pettigrew SP (Creswell, NC)

This year, we also visited the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Columbia, NC. The short boardwalk, which starts at the visitor center, allowed for close encounters with Red-bellied Watersnakes, Eastern Musk Turtles, and Spotted Turtles.

Spotted turtles at Pocosin Lakes NWR (Columbia, NC)

Birds seen:

• American robin
• European starling
• boat-tailed grackle
• purple martin
• red-bellied woodpecker
• yellow-rumped warbler

Birds heard:

• yellow-throated warbler
• laughing gull

Other wildlife encounters:

Red-bellied watersnake at Pocosin Lakes NWR (Columbia, NC)

• eastern painted turtle
• eastern musk turtle
• redbelly turtle
• spotted turtles
• yellow-bellied slider
• red bellied water snakes
• northern watersnake
• cabbage white
• falcate orange-tip

Watersnakes (possibly Northern) at Pocosin Lakes NWR (Columbia, NC)

Braving the Bitter Cold for the American Bittern

On my birthday, in mid-December, I dragged my entire family -- parents, husband, and 4-year-old son -- to find an American Bittern. We drove to Prairie Ridge Ecostation in Raleigh, NC, following a trail of eBird and list-serv sightings of this bulky brown and tan bird in the Heron family (Ardeidae).

On a crisp, clear winter's day, we slowly walked around one cattail fringed pond, stopping every so often to carefully eye the reeds. We knew that the American Bittern was a camouflage expert: its brown and tan vertical stripes help it fade into the winter-bleached cattails just as much as its awkward stance, with its long beak pointed into the air. The first pond yield no bittern. We walked on to the next. Eventually, fingers chilled and faces frozens, we walked back across the stark field to our car, heads hung with the weight of failure.

Over a month later, I saw another posting about the American Bittern at Prairie Ridge Ecostation. Again, I dragged my family back out. This trip ended in failure too. I was devasted because I knew the bittern wouldn't stick around much longer. American Bitterns will spend the winter in much of North Carolina, feeding on crayfish and frogs without having to bore through a thick layer of ice. But in spring, the American Bitterns leave North Carolina, and head to their breeding grounds in the northern United States and Canada. Lamenting another lost opportunity, we ate away our sorrows at the local Ben and Jerry's.

Yesterday, I saw another posting about the American Bittern. A lady, much like me, had visited the site three times before finally seeing it. I decided to drag my family out to Prairie Ridge Ecostation one last time. As we walked around the first pond, my heart began to sink. Nothing. We headed to the smaller, cattail-filled pond. We walked halfway around this little pond when I saw a strange bit of dark brown mixed into the pale cattails, my eyes finally focused in on the elusive American Bittern.

At first it seemed frozen in its strange beak-up pose. Then it was comfortable preening in front of us, and the bittern even ate a little something it grabbed out of the shallow pond. The bittern moved with great speed and precision, each movement efficient and graceful.

I had finally found the American Bittern at Prairie Ridge. And I even got to take it home with me. When we discovered the bittern, my son magically transformed himself from a little boy uninterested in birds into a keen mimic of the American Bittern. Later he told me that "the bird" was the most beautiful thing that he had seen today.

Eastern Garter Snakes: Mating Balls & Sex in the Trees

Last week, Duke Forest staff photographed Eastern Garter Snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) intertwined on the forest floor. They had a discovered a "mating ball" of small males vying for the chance to fertilize a mature female.

Eastern Garter Snakes mating in the Duke Forest, February 20, 2014; Photo courtesy of Sara Childs.

Other garter snake species are better known for their mating balls, including the Red-Sided Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis). In Manitoba, as many as 25 male Red-Sided Garter Snakes will compete for the chance to fertlize one female, with hundreds of snakes congregating in spring outside their hibernacula or winter dens. The females release a pheromone that drives male Garter Snakes wild (video link here).

Both Eastern Garter Snakes and Red-Sided Garter Snakes have been documented to mate in the trees, a full yard off the ground. Researchers believe that Garter Snakes are driven to arboreal mating by their thermoregulatory needs -- it's easier to make sweet snake love while warm. Typically, Garter Snakes are only seen mating in trees after a rain. The rain cools the ground, but the trees and shrubs remain warmer at air temperature. On sunny days, the ground tends to be warmer than trees, and Garter Snakes are more likely to be seen mating there.

American Beech

“[The] Beech is identifiable by the gleam of its wondrously smooth bark, not furrowed even by extreme old age. Here it will be free of branches for full half its height, the sturdy boughs then gracefully down-sweeping. The gray bole has a further beauty in the way it flutes out at the base into strong feet, to the shallow, wide-spreading roots. And the luxuriant growth of mosses on the north side of such a tree, together with the mottling of lichens, add to the look it ears of wisdom and serenity.” – Donald Culross Peattie, 1948, A NaturalHistory of Trees of Eastern and Central North America

Beech nut

The American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) is never more beautiful than in winter, with its slender branches outlined in ice, their downward sweep extended by stubborn leaves that refuse to fall. It's beauty has been noted by both eminent naturalists and giddy couples seeking to etch their love permanently into its smooth gray bark.

Found across eastern North America, west to Minnesota and south to Texas, the American Beech populates hardwood forest and well-drained bottomlands. It can be recognized by its alternate, elliptical leaf with sharply incurved teeth, its lancelike pseudoterminal buds, and its small nut encased by a prickly husk. 

Two varieties of American Beech are known to occur in North Carolina. Fagus grandifolia var. caroliniana occurs in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain, and it is recognized by the fuzzy hairs on the underside of its thin leaf. Fagus grandifolia var. grandifolia occurs in the mountains and is hairyless or hairy only on the midveins of the leaf. 

Scorias spongiosa on Beech in Durham NC

In many forests of the Piedmont, the beauty of the American Beech is marred only by the Beech Blight Aphid and the dense black fungus (Scorias spongiosa) that grows on the aphids' honeydew. Yet, with dense snow covering the ground and base of the trunk, even this cannot detract from the grace of the American Beech.

What is the coldest environment birds can tolerate?

A Triangle Naturalist reader recently asked: "Is there a temperature limit past which birds can no longer withstand the elements?"

While many bird species migrate to avoid to the chill of winter in temperate climates, some species, like the Emperor Penguin live year-round in frigid Antarctica, where temperatures can dip below -76°F and winds roar at 100 mph.

Emperor Penguins maintain their body temperature through a number of adaptations. While cozying up en masse, Emperor Penguins also rely on their specialized circulatory system, a thick layer of blubber, and densely packed feathers to stay warm.

Emperor Penguins huddle to stay warm. Photo from Warner Bros at http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/science/cold_penguins.htm

Birds in the Piedmont of North Carolina, and the upper Midwest, stay warm using similar adaptations. Some species will huddle together, with the birds at the end regularly switching places with the birds in the toasty middle. Ducks and gulls, for example, have specialized circulatory systems in their feet allowing for counter-current exchange, where warm blood leaving the body heats up the cold blood coming back into the body from feet sitting in icy water. Downy feathers also provide insulation against severe cold.

To return to our reader's question -- is there a temperature limit past which birds won't survive? -- my reply is that there must be, but of all the vertebrate taxa in the world, birds have managed to endure cold the most successfully.

Where do birds go when it snows?

On days like this, when the snow drifts down steadily in large, dense clumps, where do all the birds go?

Many birds species spend the winter in the Piedmont of North Carolina. Some species, like Carolina Chickadees and Tufted Titmice, spend their time in mixed foraging flocks, searching for food sources as a group. Other species, like the American Robin, will spend their time in groups of their own species.

During inclement weather, like a snow storm, most birds will huddle in the crevice of a tree branch, trying to find shelter from the cold and wet. Some species will hang tight to the trunk of a tree. Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers use their special, zygodactyl feel (i.e., 2 toes facing forward, 2 toes facing back) and stiff tail feathers to brace themselves tight again a large pine or hardwood.

In this photo, naturalist Will Cook has perfectly captured the zygodactyl feet of the Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker. If you'd like to see more of Will Cook's fantastic photos, visit his website at http://www.carolinanature.com/birds/.

If the birds are hungry enough, they will come out of their relatively warm resting spots for a high quality food source, like the shriveling fruits of the beauty berry bush or seed offered by a bird-loving homeowner.