Earth Day Hikes at NKU's Field Station...
m_whitson just alerted me to some earth day hikes being offered this Saturday at NKUs Research and Education Field Station. It might be a good chance for some of us to meet each other if any of you would like to. I'm going to try to go to the one at 2:30. As always... no pressure. If you'd rather stay in the umbrella but keep your participation online only, that's fine too.
Email me if you plan on going to the one at 2:30 and we'll come up with an elaborate noise or hand gesture to alert our presence to one another.
Here are the details...
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/st-anne-woods-and-wetlands-flora-fauna/journal/78151-earth-day-hikes-at-refs-saturday-april-22-from-2-pm-4-pm
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I'll be helping lead hikes, so I'll be the one in a NKU REFS t-shirt. I'm a botanist, so I don't have elaborate animal call skills, but I can do a signal "Fweeeee!!" using a grass leaf. :)
I think we can make the 2:30 tour. Would be me, Ildi, and our 12yr old, Summer.
I've been curious to see the St Anne's side also. Reforest NKY did a 2 acre sapling tree planting there a decade ago. I heard the sisters eventually mowed it all down..
Yah, so... I'm realizing something about myself. Apparently I've become a sunny day pretend naturalist. "Pretend" because I'm completely untrained. "Sunny day" because I don't own muck boots. This is funny to me because a grew up near something of a wetland. At the time I would have gone barefoot... something I generally avoid nowadays for a variety of reasons.
@gray-jay what are you guys wearing on your feet? If the answer is muck-boots, any idea where I can buy a pair... the fashion aesthetic I strive for is cheap, disheveled, but sincere.
We won't be wading, but mud is likely. I just wear a crappy old pair of sneakers and leave my better shoes and a dry pair of socks in the car.
Gotcha. I'll probably do the same.
Yeah we'll have decent hiking boots but not waterproof, change of shoes is a good idea.
I'm doing quite a bit of conservation work the last 5 years tho I went to NKU for media arts..
Barefoot in my wetland - 1979. Thanks for the tour m dubya. Really enjoyed it :).
@stockslager @gray-jay Thanks for joining the REFS Earth Day hikes! It was such fun hang out with some iNatters in the field rather than just online.
If you posted any observations from the hike -- or would just like to see what others found -- they should pop up in the project Flora & Fauna of St. Anne Woods & Wetlands: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/st-anne-woods-and-wetlands-flora-fauna
Despite the fun amphibians and colorful wildflowers we saw, in accordance with Murphy's Law of Critter Observation, one of the best sightings came after almost everyone had left. A lovely barred owl flew over and landed in a tree just along the fence. Jensyn got a great photo if you'd like to enjoy it vicariously: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/156125562
Agreed, that was an excellent tour and a great thing to do on Earth Weekend, and thanks for the St Anne project link. We'll definitely be back!
Btw, we did checkout the attempted reforest site to the back right of St Anne's Convent and it is surprisingly wooded! It has not been mowed. :)
Excellent! I'm glad the reforestation patch is still wooded. Considering the cicada "bloom" we had a couple of years ago, it's particularly impressive that the little trees are still hanging in there.
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