Tag: nature (page 1 of 2)

“An Ode to the Sky” by Catherine Clark

September 25th

It did not rain today like the weathermen predicted. 

At least not enough to be a “light shower,” 

yet each drop felt like the pinprick of a kiss on my skin – 

a million little kisses from the sky 

to let me know that she was misty eyed too.

Continue reading

“Honors Wildlife Research” by Shayna Demick

I am fascinated by studying plants and animals. I am an Environmental Science major with an Ecoscience concentration and am especially interested in the biological components of the environment. A class about the interactions between wildlife and the environment is the perfect intersection of my interests; luckily, I am in such a class. 

I am enrolled in the Honors section of ENWC201: Wildlife Conservation and Ecology. For the Honors extension, students have been conducting wildlife research in the woodlot on South Campus.  I am very grateful that this class is a part of my major requirements, particularly because of its hands-on Honors section. My research group chose to study the effects of lures on attracting wildlife. We wanted to see which lures were most effective and which lures appealed to different species. The lures that we used in our research were “Obsession” by Calvin Klein, fatty acid tablets, and “Gusto” (mouse guts and skunk, ew!). 

Continue reading

“A Letter to My Freshman Year Self” by Alex Stone

Dear Freshman-Year self,

On a beautiful and sunny September day during the start of senior year, I decided to take a bike ride. I have always wanted to explore the trails around UD. But it wasn’t until senior year that I discovered the trails by the train tracks on South Campus extend way beyond North Campus as well. So, on that fateful day in September, I rode along those leaf-strewn trails, under the shade of the towering trees, and beside the rushing sounds of the river. Since it did take me four years to happen upon these trails, I couldn’t help but think: what would it have been like if I found them freshman year? 

Continue reading

“My Wildlife Research Era” by Shayna Demick

This semester, I am taking the Honors section of ENWC201: Wildlife Conservation and Ecology with Dr. Kyle McCarthy. The other section of ENWC201 is for Wildlife Conservation and Ecology majors and is taught by Dr. Angela Holland. 

For the Honors class, we attend the combined lectures twice a week and have a separate meeting on South Campus after our Thursday lecture. Something that I especially enjoy about the Honors section is that it consists of just 10 students and two professors, as compared to our combined lecture of over 200 students. 

I’ve gotten to know the professor and my peers much better because of this opportunity.

The Honors section is fascinating. For an Honors credit, we are conducting wildlife research in the woodlot forest on South Campus. There are three groups of students working together to answer various questions about wildlife. My group’s question is “How do different species respond to lures?” and the lures my group chose to study are fatty acid tablets, Gusto, and Obsession by Calvin Klein. The professors provided the lures and six game cameras to set up throughout the woodlot.

Each group will have four control cameras to reference throughout the research project. In three weeks we will be looking at the footage from our cameras to see the types and frequencies of animals approaching the cameras. I am personally most excited about seeing the animals who stick their face up to the cameras. These animals are going to take the most adorable selfies, which I will definitely be printing and framing. Maybe I’ll send them to National Geographic too just because I can. We are expecting to get photos of deer, skunks, raccoons, foxes, and possibly wolves. 

Before starting our research, we set up a methods sheet that included a table for camera data as well as step-by-step instructions for the research. Theoretically, future students would be able to conduct research using our methods. I have never written methods, so this experience has been valuable practice for the research that I conduct in the future.

Then, this past week my group members and I went to the woodlot to set up our cameras. We spent an hour in the morning doing the first three cameras (one for each lure) and we returned in the afternoon to set up the last three cameras. We encountered many spiderwebs, poison ivy, bees and mosquitos. I had failed to consider that the forest would be muddy and humid. This was unfortunate, for I had decided to show up to the woodlot wearing two pairs of pants, a jacket and sneakers. Let’s just say that I now have a lot of muddy, sweaty clothing to wash. 

The woodlot is a never-ending maze. If I was left alone, I would never be able to find my way out. I would just become one with the trees and maybe befriend some squirrels — that sounds pretty nice, actually. Thankfully, I was not left alone. However, my professor asked me to lead the group to find open game trails, which was easier said than done. Open game trails are the trails that don’t look like man-made trails, which is confusing because woodlot appears to have mostly human trails. We can’t put the cameras on the human trails because they are motion sensor cameras, so we would end up having hundreds of strangers on our hard drives instead of animals. We would learn nothing about the lure and we would be deprived of cute animal selfies. 

I was embarrassingly bad at identifying game trails. Eventually, my group identified six different game trails to place our cameras. At each game trail, we fastened a camera to a tree and placed the lure across from the tree. I ended up begging my group members to set up the lure because I learned that “Gusto” is mouse guts and smells exactly how one would expect mouse guts to smell. I had too sensitive of a stomach to take one for the team. Additionally, I already reeked of the Calvin Klein cologne which smelled like a combination of bug spray and urine. Fortunately, the team took one for me. I set up the cameras and they set up the lure and we took test photos with each camera. Our professors asked us to pose like the animals we would see, so I’m very excited to see how silly we look in the photos. 

One of the other groups is studying visual deterrents and using scarecrows, glitter tape and pink boas. Here are some photos from their set-up process!

I can’t wait to see the results of everyone’s research! I am so glad I was able to take this Honors class. 

“Values” by Jenny Gloyd

Last week, I had an experience in one of my classes that really challenged me to think. Not about science or math, but introspectively. My professor asked me to write a 5-page essay about what I value and why. At first, I didn’t think I would ever be able to fill 5 pages–this is my usual fret when it comes to longer essays. Then, after a few minutes of deliberation, I was suddenly worried that I would not be able to fit my thoughts into the given constraint. 

To start, there are a lot of different categories of things that can be valued. For one, I value a lot of what has been given to me in my life. I value, maybe not most importantly, small material items, like a well-made latte, or a new, brightly-colored sweater. Little items like these add a bit of joy to everyday life. I value things in my life supplied by nature, like forests to hike through or the sounds of birds chirping in the morning. I also, at my core, value people. I think highly of the time I spend with my friends and family. Continue reading

Older posts

© 2023

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑

Skip to toolbar