4r Resources – biotas

Module/Week 4 Species

Resources

Additional activities, a behind-the-scenes gallery, recommended books, and more.

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About this Guide

Close to Home

This is the view just down the road from where we live; Mary’s Peak, the highest point of the coastal range is on the horizon. Many people in the area use it as a symbol of home. Even though we’ve lived in this area for over 30 years, we are still finding new organisms every week. It is terrific to travel to distant locations, but don’t miss the amazing life close to home.

Lesley

Lepidopteran Gardens

Butterfly Rest Stops

The decline in well-known butterfly species gets a fair amount of news attention. Setting up gardens with water and specific food resources may be the only way to prevent extinction, similar to many bird species. Learn more about the Monarch butterfly and recommendations to try to save the remaining populations.

Not just for the birds & the bees

When you see a sunflower garden during the day, it is usually covered with bees when in flower and with birds when the pollinated flowers have produced seeds. What many people don’t realize unless they have sat quietly in the garden at dusk, is that the large glowing yellow flowers attract moths like lighthouse beacons. Planting flower gardens can benefit a variety of species.

Art-Science Connections

Collect small pieces of your art work and arrange them into a collage. There is less pressure to produce a single “perfect” large piece, and the smaller pieces can combine to produce a new, richer perspective.

This piece incorporates photos, notes, and sketches about insects that are covered in this course.

Another option is to collect and organize “found” objects: magazine ads, wrappers, fabrics, small objects. Animals are well-represented in media.

This is a Lepidopteran journal packed with found objects all related to the theme.

Behind-the-Scenes

Insect Ephemera

Some of the insect species in our ephemera collection have declined significantly in population size, primarily due to reduced habitat. When these cards were produced in the 1950s, the illustrated insects were abundant.

Ready for Action

Some of the photos were made by temporarily placing insects and their plants in a small container to control lighting and reduce wind impact.

Vertebrates

Winter Feeders

Keep track of how many birds you encounter in a single day: wild birds, food, decorations, movies, cultural references… It is quickly apparent that we interact more with these animals than most others.

Squirrel!

If you want a reliable animal source of data, find a squirrel’s territory and watch it at different times of day and from one season to the next. For some reason, we do not have a squirrel population on our 10 acres, even with an oak grove and plenty of nesting spots. It could be the fox or feral cats in the neighborhood. So we live vicariously through everyone else’s squirrels.

Seed Study

Set up different seeds in different feeders and record bird preferences. See if it correlates with beak shape and size.

Winter Energy

Some birders put out suet blocks in the winter as a calorie source for birds. Suet is a hard white fat made from the kidneys and loins (area on both sides of the spine right above the hipbones) of cows and sheep.

Learning Experiences

It never really gets easier working with recently dead organisms, but we try to turn them into educational opportunities whenever possible.

Replicas

For those species that are protected and uncommon, we use replicas of bones and fur. Some are so well made, they are difficult to distinguish from the real thing.

Close Inspection

We shoot a lot of our course video at home, and can count on Tanji checking out the materials in advance. We kid that he is our “safety inspector.”

Eager Subjects

We were worried the ground squirrels wouldn’t show up, but they came right up to us in the National Forest parking lots. We suspect they’ve been snacking on the refuse.