Service-Learning Blog

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! 

Service Blog Post #6

by nnicholson3

This is my first blog post since the first introduction, and I’ve had a few updates. Initially, I was matched with the South River Watershed Alliance and had planned to create an educational video to share with the public. Unfortunately, those plans fell through, and I had to explore other options for a new partnership. I decided to work with the Atlanta Coyote project.  

This organization, led by two biologists who are also professors at local universities, aims to study the presence of coyotes within the Atlanta metro area. They mainly focus on understanding how coyotes adapt to urban and suburban environments, their impact on local ecosystems, and strategies for peaceful coexistence between humans and coyotes. This work involves a collaboration among scientists, volunteers, and the public who collect data through camera traps, GPS tracking, and public sighting reports. 

My interest in the Atlanta Coyote Project was sparked earlier this semester after I attended a presentation by their organization at Trees Atlanta. Going in, I knew nothing about coyotes, let alone that they were living around us, and some have even been spotted in Piedmont Park! Dr. Mowry talked about their work and shared valuable information about coexisting with coyotes. He also shared an interesting story about a melanistic coyote named Carmine, who became known for his unusual friendliness towards neighborhood dogs. Reports of a black ‘dog-like’ animal playing with pets in people’s yards circulated, bringing attention to the possible interactions between urban wildlife and the community. With assistance from the public, Carmine was eventually captured by the Atlanta Coyote Project and rescuers and transferred to a wildlife sanctuary. Some pet owners were uneasy about his friendly demeanor, and given his presence in busy areas, relocating him was considered necessary for his safety.

Carmine’s story emphasizes the challenges of managing wildlife in urban areas. As part of my involvement with the Atlanta Coyote Project, I’ve been reviewing the tracking reports submitted by the public, focusing on the comments regarding each sighting or encounter. So far, I’ve learned a lot about the perception the public has towards these animals, both positive and negative. My plan is to use the data from these reports to create a project that explores the nuanced interactions between humans and coyotes in the city. Ultimately, I hope to dispel some of the misinformation that may cause people to perceive coyotes negatively.

Here’s a short clip about Carmine: 

 

Blog Post #6

by serickson11

Howdy everyone! Since my last time posting, not a whole heck of a lot has changed from what I was doing before but I’ll give a few smaller updates. For starters, we have continued to do the weekly trash trap cleanouts and do the standard ETAPs for what we collect (ETAPs are forensic litter audits using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Escaped Trash Assessment Protocol—in simple terms it is just categorizing what was collected into subcategories like take-out boxes, shopping bags, water bottles, etc. and marking brands that show up repeatedly).

One location we did, we ended up collecting nearly 30 full manicure/pedicure kits as well as roughly 10 half-to-full cans of yellow spray paint (an odd collection of items if I do say so myself). Our assumption for the spray cans was that someone was fixing certain parking and road lines up by the nearby road and purposefully disposed of the rest of the cans for reasons unknown. For the manicure/pedicure kits, we guess since they were prepackaged and seemed undamaged that a truck delivering the product had a shipment fall off and land somewhere in the river. Either way, both acts come from a place ignorance and since both ended up in the river, they both should be held accountable for their faulty choices. 

Another thing that I noticed is that one of the reasons it takes extra time to clean out each trash trap is the sheer amount of sticks, leaves, and general parts of nature that end up making their way in amongst all of the collectable trash and recycling. I talked about this with Jordan and it seems there is no real effective way to sort out the items that CRK seeks to collect out of the river and distribute the natural items back into the stream, but I would love to see some type of advancement in that area sometime in the future because it definitely adds another level of difficulty for those who have a kind enough soul to clean those traps for a living. 

I am coming up on my last time volunteering with CRK in person but I can definitely see myself helping them out with larger river clean ups in future and I can truly say I have appreciated the opportunities I have had to work alongside them this semester. 

Blog # 6 – Wild Nest Bird Rehab

by dkong3

Engaging in voluntary service at the Wildnest Rehabilitation Center has been both a privilege and an educational journey. My experiences there have provided unique insights into avian diversity, notably through encounters with drastically different bird species such as the American woodcock and waxwing. At first glance, the American Woodcock seems like an unusual bird, notably due to its prominent beak and ground-dwelling nature, often requiring a pile of leaves for comfortable rest. In stark contrast to the peculiar appearance of the American Woodcock, the waxwing emerged as the most striking bird I encountered at the rehabilitation center. Its silky-looking feathers, adorned with vibrant yellows and bright reds make it stand out from the other birds. 

The beginning of April marks baby bird season and has presented invaluable opportunities to actively participate in the care and rehabilitation of vulnerable avian populations. Engaging in tasks such as hand-feeding and nurturing these fledglings has given me a sense of stewardship and responsibility toward wildlife conservation. Conversely, challenges have also arisen, serving as a reminder of the threats faced by avian species in the wild. The majority of birds that have been admitted to the rehabilitation center have suffered injuries due to window or car collisions, resulting in neurological damage that impairs their ability to stand or fly properly, often with devastating consequences. Last week, I encountered a bird so severely injured that it could barely move, prompting the rehab team to make the difficult decision to euthanize it, recognizing that its chances of recovery and survival in the wild were slim. Witnessing such heartbreaking situations has been a sobering reminder of the fragility of wildlife and the importance of conservation efforts to mitigate human-induced threats to their well-being.

*The following image is found on Google Images and not taken at the rehab facility*

Cedar Waxwing | Audubon Connecticut

^ Waxwing 

American Woodcock - eBird

^ American Woodcock

Service Blog Post #5

by khira1

This week for our time at Blue Heron Nature Preserve, we were putting up our weathering stations that we made for the woodlands and Riparian/Wetlands. To make the signs, I painted them with both the GSU and Blue Heron logo as well as the descriptions of all the measurements we were required to track in these upcoming weeks. I learned a lot about weather implementations and what Denise wanted us to track which were things like hygrometers which measure humidity and anemometers which measure wind speeds. It was very interesting researching all the elements of weather and correspondence of areas of more moist environments like wetlands, having a higher or lower chance of wind speeds than dryer areas like woodlands. Then my partner Kaden, put the signs together and we took them to the preserve and put them up one at a time. It was such an amazing experience seeing our creation actually be a part of the Blue Heron Nature Preserve because it is us showing a difference that we care about the environment how important weathering tracking is to the environment and the different ways the community can regulate it. In these upcoming weeks, we will be periodically going to the preserve to track the wind speeds, rainfall, humidity, and other forms of weather tracking for our final project.

While we were there this past week, Denise was planting some more native plants in the preserve and let us help in planting them. The plant in question was a Fringed Champion (Seline Polypetala), which is a rare species of flowering plant that is native to Georgia and is becoming more and more endangered. Denise explained to us that these were on the High Priority list of plants in the Georiga Department of Wildlife and Natural Resources which means they are at a high risk of becoming extinct in their natural habitats. The main reason that Fringed Champion is on the high-priority list is because of degradation and loss of suitable habitats. With the increasing gentrification and urban areas, a lot of native plant species in Georgia have been killed or are on the cusp of being extinct, which opened our eyes to the fact that we need to help spaces like preserves and natural from being ruined.

This is a photo of one of our weathering stations!

 
This is a photo of the Fringed Champion we planted!