Category: Updates

Blog Post #8

by nnicholson3

As I begin to wrap things up with the Atlanta Coyote Project, I can say that I’ve enjoyed my time with the organization. All my work was completed virtually which wasn’t what I had planned for, but it turned out to fit well with my busy schedule this semester. My primary task involved reviewing submitted coyote sightings through the project’s website. The organization is run by two college professors with busy schedules of their own. They haven’t been able to thoroughly look through these submissions in several years, so my task of going through the submissions was the top priority. 

There were hundreds of submissions that I had to read with varying experiences and attitudes toward coyotes. Negative feedback often stemmed from concerns about the safety of pets or children. Positive perspectives typically came from people who had familiarized themselves with coyotes through the project’s website or other sources, expressing curiosity and fascination about local wildlife. The Atlanta Coyote Project’s website has valuable insights on coyotes and strategies for coexistence, yet the abundance of information available may be overwhelming to digest.  

For my final project, I aim to create straightforward infographics with concise information for easy reference based on the seasons. Coyotes exhibit different behaviors throughout the seasons, and as the weather gets warmer, coyote pups tend to be more active and branch out. Concurrently, humans and pets also spend more time out when it’s warmer. Through my infographic, I hope to provide important seasonal information and address common public concerns, so people can be better informed about coexistence with coyotes. Ultimately, this infographic could serve as a resource on their website, social media platforms, or used as a flyer for presentations. 

Wrapping Up

by rmuslim1

My work with the Dunwoody Nature Center has been an enlightening experience overall. I mainly helped them prepare for their programs in terms of organization. I also helped during field trips and the Fairytale Forest Festival. The most satisfying experience was removing knots from bird houses in preparation for the festival. Holly wanted the bird houses to look more like fairy houses, so she also widened their doors with a small saw.

The most shocking experience was witnessing the behavior of five-year-olds during a recent field trip. While I know that kids fight each other for no particular reason, I was still shocked when they did so during one of our field trips. This was a filed trip for kids around five years of age (basically, babies). There was an indoors component where the kids colored cut-outs of snakes and played with toys. The outdoors portion was more or less a hike because there was no educational component, it was full of site-seeing and playing “The Floor is Lava”. I was not interested in playing “The Floor is Lava”, but the kids kept yelling at me out of concern that I was standing in lava, so I started to play along. At some point we made it to the Tarzan swing that had a platform on either side. The kids stood in line waiting for their turns, but one kid skipped line which caused a fight to break out and the kids started pushing each other. This made me nervous because anyone could have fallen off the platform and gotten extremely hurt. The teacher did not seem phased with their behavior. Besides that incident, I witnessed the kids bullying each other and one even got bitten. It is important to state that all the kids were sweet, even the ones that were fighting. Out of the thirteen kids, only two caused trouble, and one of them had just turned five.

I do believe that I played a part on furthering Dunwoody Nature Center’s mission. Not only did I help prepare for programs, I also gave Holly feedback on how to improve them next year. I also believe that the final project will be useful to the organization because they can use our product to enhance their advertisements.

Week 2 at Chattahoochee Riverkeeper

by tle148
 

This week at Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, I went to go sample some more water from the river. Recently, R.M. Clayton Water Reclamation Center had released large amounts of untreated wastewater into the Chattahoochee river causing the E. Coli levels to reach 340 times greater than the recommended limit. R.M. Clayton Water Reclamation Center treats a large portion of the Atlanta’s wastewater, however the untreated wastewater polluted the river and affects the population that lives downstream of the sewage spill. I went to sample the water that was being directly released from the water treatment plant. Although I did not get the result back from the lab, news articles online state that it may take months for the e.coli levels to go back down. 

Although the drinking water from our tap is not affected, it is still unfair to the plants and communities downstream of the Chattahoochee that also have to deal with the highly contaminated water. Additionally, the wastewater being discharged back into the river will release foul odors in which communities living near the river will have to endure the consequences. It is scary to think about the individuals who are not aware of this incident. Exposure to E.coli is a risk in exposure to pathogens, therefore individuals who are not made aware of the situation and who also have a poor immune system become more vulnerable to sickness. 

I went to collect a water sample from this water treatment facility and it was definitely an experience. I went directly to the water discharge area to collect a sample but it was kind of scary since the water that is being released back into the river was splashing everywhere. Of course I was wearing proper PPE but nonetheless, being splashed with untreated sewage water was not the best scenario to be in.. More importantly, it was an eye opening experience. I only did it once, though, there are individuals who do this for a living. It really gave me a chance to be grateful to those who are willing to put themselves in uncomfortable positions to help the environment as well as the community. 

Blog Post #7 – Diane Kong

by dkong3

Reflecting on my experiences at Wild Nest Rehab as I near the end of my required hours with them, I have developed sympathy for these vulnerable creatures in our modern, industrial society. This journey has been full of unexpected discoveries, challenges, and moments of deeper understanding. Overall there is an issue about the lack of knowledge about avian species among the general population. Many of these incidents could have been prevented if people were more knowledgeable about bird behavior and nesting habits. It’s a reminder of the importance of education and awareness when it comes to coexisting with wildlife in our increasingly urbanized environments. For instance, one of the most surprising revelations has been the extent of bird injuries caused by collisions with windows and other structures—an issue often overlooked in the hectic schedule of everyday life. Another example of this was when an individual brought in baby house finches whose nests had been inadvertently removed by a pressure washer worker, leaving them orphaned. Although Wild Nest Rehab is about treating and rehabilitating injured birds; it’s also about preventing these incidents from happening in the first place through informed action and respect for wildlife. 

I highly encourage others to volunteer with this organization; the supportive atmosphere and meaningful contributions make it a truly fulfilling experience. Looking forward, I find myself considering further involvement with this cause. Throughout this experience, I have admired the organization’s dedication to caring for injured birds. I was able to have first-hand experience with avian care from thorough injury assessments to precise treatment administration.

Service Blog Post #8

by gbrawn1

In my time with Wild Nest Bird Rehabilitation I have been able to help with baby birds, juvenile birds, and adult songbirds. I have learned how to feed baby birds worms and formula, how to catch an escaped bird, and about the diets of the many species of songbirds that are in our city! I think seeing firsthand how many species of songbirds are in our city has been extremely interesting. As baby season is now upon us, I have definitely found being in the baby room to be the most satisfying and fun task. The baby birds are on 15, 30, and 60 minute feedings and there are so many of them! It can be very tiring to feed all of them because as soon as you finish feeding them you have to start the entire process over again, but I really enjoy it. It is very calming to be in a silent room with only the sound of baby birds chirping. I did unfortunately witness a Blue Heron get put down. It was definitely the sad part of volunteering with Wild Nest. Unfortunately not all the birds can be saved and putting suffering birds down is the most humane thing to do. Rounding on all of the birds is also very interesting. Everytime I have gone into  volunteer something is different. Birds grow up so fast and this makes it so you can follow a birds journey to recovery, which is extremely rewarding. 

I do feel that my time with this organization has made an impact. Wild Nest is such a busy organization, so I feel that every volunteer that is able to contribute any amount of time is absolutely helping with the mission of Wild Nest. There would truly be no one to do what is done everyday at Wild Nest without volunteers. This has made it so I feel that I am actively helping with the mission of Wild Nest everytime I am there volunteering. I am very hopeful that our project will contribute to Wild Nest. Bird collisions are such a major contributor to bird deaths nationally. While it can be easy to blame the big glass buildings in our cities there are far more houses that have glass. Raising awareness of the windows and glass in our homes and how they harm birds can hopefully have a dramatic effect on reducing the amount of birds that die because of these windows. Allowing access to our powerpoint, that will include important statistics on window/bird collisions and the things everyone can do to prevent bird deaths from window collisions, I believe would further Wild Nest’s mission. This would hopefully reduce the amount of deaths and injuries from window collisions and allow for our bird population to improve. I wish I could include images of all the beautiful baby birds, but I am not allowed to. We have as of Wednesday baby woodpeckers, nuthatches, mockingbirds, blue birds, cardinals, and robins to name a few. They are also so tiny and so amazing to be around!

Service Blog Post #5

by kclarke22

Hi Everyone,

I hope your semester has been going well. This blog post will discuss the event preparation details my classmate Sheryl and I completed to host an awareness seminar about Native Plants with guest speakers from the Georgia Native Plant Society that we hosted at the Honors College. This was a great event we hosted and all the participants were able to learn more about local native plant species. 

During March, Sheryl and I have been in conversation with Dr. Amy Lederberg, Vicki Mann, Leslie Mann, The Honors College Staff, and Dr Shannon Finck, to host an awareness discussion after learning what SMPP, local partner with GNPS needed as a request for raising awareness. When we were looking at completing our class project proposal, we asked our coordinators what their biggest concern was regarding native plants, the volunteers, and the vision for the organization. After speaking with Nicki Belmonte, (Executive Director for GNPS) we learned that they needed more awareness. Their concerns stated they wanted more appealing centers consisting of messaging for marketing needs – why people who don’t own and manage property should care about native plants (and be a member/supporter/follower). They wanted to broaden their audience for education and awareness. They also wanted us to create infographics displaying these messages that could be posted either on Facebook, Instagram or potentially their website. This allowed us to think of the idea to host an awareness seminar on campus at Georgia State University so we can make students more aware and help broader our audience.

This consisted of communication with all parties and we coordinated a day, and time for our guest speakers to come and speak to students. Our guest speakers created a presentation, brought brooks and Dr. Finck sponsored food as well. We made sure a room was available in the Honors College, coordinated parking and made sure the technology was available for our speakers. The event allowed for great conservation and allowed students to become involved as well. Thus in return, we were able to get everyone’s contact information and send out the PowerPoint that our speakers designed and discussed. Additionally, we got the Honors College to post our event on the weekly Honors College Newsletter and we printed and posted flyers around campus and the Honors College. This was a fun learning experience because I learned more about how to take care of native plants, and it helped with our event planning skills. Sheryl and I enjoyed hosting the event!! 

 

 

Service Blog Post #4

by kclarke22

Hi Everyone, 

I hope everyone is doing well. During my volunteer experience, my classmate Sheryl and I were working during different service shifts associated with the mission statement from the Georgia Native Plant Society. For my most recent update, I volunteered on Friday morning with the Atlanta Trees from 9 am-3 pm. This volunteer project focused on sorting, organizing, and moving Native Plants for their plant sale held at the Carter Center for the following day. Additionally, while I was volunteering there was a group of 8-9 employees from Delta Airlines who were also volunteering and a few other college students with us. Our group had roughly 20 volunteers plus 5-6 Atlanta Trees workers.  

During this project, I arrived at the Carter Center around 7:45 am and I signed in with the coordinator for my shift. Then, we began unloading several native plants from a large truck to the parking lot. This consisted of us sorting the plants into several categories in the parking lot. We unloaded 3 trucks of different native plant species. There were printed label signs for each species, and we lined our plants up one by one into each category. We had over 30 categories of plants sorted. These pants consisted of flower pots, native trees, and seeds. After moving all of the plants, we had to organize their plants into different categories for purchases. This included adding a specific color of duck tape to each group of native plants. This would determine the price each group would be sold for. This consisted of us cutting and pasting a piece of duck tape onto each flower pant. Afterward, we organized signs and displays for each plant to be added in front of each plant species. We cleaned up each flower pot that may had leaves or trash inside each pot to make each area look neat and organized. 

After completing this project, it was nice to see how this empty parking lot looked very organized and became a learning classroom. As we were moving the signs, I was able to learn more about each plant we were displaying to sell. Each description stated 2 fun facts about each plant, the prime time to grow (April to November) or (June-August), and how long it would take to fully blossom. I enjoyed speaking with the other volunteers as well and I learned that the Delta Employees have a proud connection with Atlanta Trees and that they normally volunteer with them often. The other 2 students I met went to Emory University and they were also volunteering for one of their academic class as well. They Emory students completed the second shift with me as well and I ate the lunch I brought with them inside the Carter Center during our break. The Delta Employees left after the first shift and there were new volunteers with us during the second shift. Overall, this was a great volunteering experience and I’m glad I was able to expand my knowledge of beginning to grow native plants and making them more available for people to buy and grow. 

Service Blog Post #7

by kmelton6

Hey, everyone. Unfortunately, this week I do not have any major updates. The previous week, Kayla and I discovered that the director, Denise, was sick, so we could only take measurements from the weather station. Also, this week I could not go to the preserve due to conflicting obligations, so I have no personal updates. However, Kayla told me that she once again recorded measurements from the weather stations. Even though these past two weeks have not been ideal in terms of what we were able to do, I am looking forward to our remaining time with Blue Heron Nature Preserve and creating our presentation, which will include our i-Tree Canopy survey, weather station results, and what these results could mean for protection against climate change. 

Service Blog #7

by svarghese5

I have had several things going on with the Georgia Native Plant Society. As there are different “mini-organizations” within GNPS or other partners, I kind of get the opportunity to volunteer with many of them. First of all, I returned to the Stone Mountain Propagation Project to separate the growing native species into smaller pots. In a way, it is quite stress-relieving. These species, commonly known as river oats, were placed into small cells to grow first. As they had grown since August and were becoming too big for their cells, we took them out and separated the roots to put into other containers, doubling the amount of river oats. This took some hack job as we used scissors and even a saw at one point to separate the roots. This taught me that I seriously underestimated the strength of plants. Kelley, who is the manager of SMPP allowed volunteers to take home some flowers as well. I planted them in my frontyard and hope to see some wonderful plants soon!

I next volunteered at the Trees Atlanta native plant sale. All the funds from this event go to funding classes hosted by Trees Atlanta. I helped find plants as cars pulled up with the list of what they had ordered online. One of the buyers bought 250 plants. It took two days to get all his plants into his minivan; he lived 70 miles away and he was willing to drive almost 300 miles for all these plants. The last two pictures were some of the plethora of plants being sold. The last one in the crate was a foam flower that was a special order for someone.

Lastly, I volunteered at the Herbert Taylor Park last Saturday. I got to shovel out invasive species next to a walking trail. Most of the patch was already cleared out by a 90-year old man who lived next to the park. Seeing his work was amazing as I saw yellow flowers from a native species sticking out throughout that cleared-out patch; our goal was to continue to clear the patch to allow trail walkers to see the stream that ran through the park. When we first started digging, I saw many small invasive plants and a couple of growing trees. However, two hours into shoveling, I came across tall trees with large roots that we had to remove. I was able to use a tree wrench to dig the tree roots from the soil. I got to carry many trees as we threw them to the side for birds to use as nesting material.

Finally, speakers from GNPS came over to the Honors College to discuss with students about native planting. It was a great educative event. Even I learned more things than I was expecting to. Did you know that leaving the lights on outside negatively affects plant growth?

Volunteering with GNPS has been a great opportunity. I have learned a lot about native species that I will keep in mind for a long time. I hope that I can continue to teach other members of my community, friends and family the importance of planting native.

P.S. These are some photos I sneaked in (with permission). The first one is from SMPP; this is one of the species that I separated into other pots. The second and third are from the Trees Atlanta plant sale. 

Picture of small plants that were potted into small pots.
 
Two rows of vines with a red flower that were set up to be sold.
Foam flowers that were sticking out of a crate to be sold.

Blog Post #6

by gbrawn1

I have been volunteering with Wild Nest Bird Rehabilitation and have already learned so much in my short time with them! On a normal day volunteering we round on the birds in both the juvenile room and adult room as well as any birds that may be in the outdoor aviary. We check to make sure each bird is well and has adequate amounts of food and water. Some of my favorite birds to see up close and personal, so far, have been the hummingbird and the American crow. It has been very eye-opening to see how many birds are brought in because of injuries sustained from cats, window collisions, and car collisions, to name a few. Window collisions are the third leading cause of death for songbirds and learning this information prompted our interest in doing a project about this topic. 

In addition to volunteering with Wild Nest, I have also been able to speak and learn more about the issue of window collisions from Adam Betuel, who is the director of Conservation with Birds Georgia. He told me how window collisions cause 365 million to 1 billion bird deaths each year. He also went through different factors of glass that can make them more likely to confuse birds. As more and more buildings are being built with large amounts of glass this issue is becoming ever more pressing, but more details on this will be shared in Diane and I’s project :). 

I was also able to attend the event at Legacy Park called “Humans and/as Animals”. The event was very interesting! We walked around the lake where Wild Nest is located and heard from several professors from Emory University, Georgia State University, and Morehouse College as well. The panel discussion was about how we can all be more in tune with animals and essentially be grounded and reminded of the fact that we too are animals. Carolyn, Professor Finck, and I also shared our stories of volunteering with Wild Nest at the end of the event. I have attached pictures that Professor Finck took from our walk around the lake. I would include pictures of the birds as well, but we are not allowed to do this. 

So far, I have been able to hold a few birds such as the American crow and several mourning doves. I really enjoy being in the exam room with the new intakes and seeing how different, yet similar treatment of birds is to human treatment. I have also been able to help prepare a lot of the foods and formulas that are needed for the different types of songbirds that Wild Nest helps. I even witnessed several birds being tube-fed!