STEM at Wellesley College: Zealandia

Showing posts with label Zealandia. Show all posts

Monday, 30 May 2016

Maud Island Frogs

One of the more unusual, but also the most interesting things I've done while at Zealandia, has been to help count Maud Island Frogs.

photo courtesy of www.nhc.net.nz

They are nocturnal, so 9.45 one evening, I met up with Raewyn and we headed in, armed with our headlamps! Obviously, it was rather difficult to take photos but the link to the Zealandia blog about the count has a wonderful photo of the frog.

I learnt that NZ native frogs don't really have a tadpole stage, when they are born they are little frogs with a tail which later drops off. The frogs are kept in enclosures that are full of leaf little so I couldn't work out where the tadpoles swam. It was wonderful to be with Raewyn as she was able to fill me in about these frogs and their history at Zealandia.

Please click on the link below to find out about the frog count I helped out with!

Maud Island Frog Count

Autumn in Zealandia

When you spend every day outside walking around the valley you start to notice the little things.

Now that autumn is here I've begun to notice that this is the time of the year that fungus and mushrooms appear. I love walking through the valley and just looking all around me, it's very easy to get sidetracked and often my morning bike ride into the valley is slowed when I have to stop and check out something new. Over the past few weeks I've taken a number of photos of fungus. Below are some of the ones I've photographed. They are amazing!

Monday, 14 March 2016

Tracking and Trapping

I was fortunate to go along with two of the Zealandia educators to Glenview School in Porirua.

The students had already spent some time in Zealandia getting to learn all about the birds around the valley and what had happened in order for them to flourish within the predator proof fence.

The school's wonderful surroundings

The school's vege patch!

When we arrived, it was wonderful to see the kids come out to greet Anne and Kerry. They were very proud of their school and were excited to show us around and point out their amazing vege garden and incredible school grounds. They were a lovely bunch of kids.

Once the bell rang, Anne and Kerry were teaching the students all about tracking pests within their school grounds and why we should first monitor what pests they have. The students then got to help construct the tracking tunnels and ink up the sheet of paper.

The next stage was to learn that rats and stoats love food like peanut butter so the students then placed some peanut butter in the tunnels to attracts the pests.

Then, using their new knowledge, in groups, the class worked out where they were going to put their tunnels.

We then gathered back together and Anne showed everyone a simple trap to use in their school grounds. Once they had gathered some data about what types of pests they have, there were then going to put the traps around the school grounds. We talked about where might be the best place, how often to check them and what to do if the trap caught a rat or stoat!

I'm looking forward to going back to see how the students are getting on.

Thank you Glenview School for having me to visit.

Saturday, 25 May 2013

Wellington Open Day Sunday 26th May

This weekend, various sites around Wellington are holding Open Days. Anyone can visit and just pay $2 per person. It's a fantastic opportunity to visit somewhere you wouldn't normally go to.

The Weta Cave, Miramar

Thinking about science opportunities I'm off to visit Zealandia, The Karori Wildlife Sanctuary. We'll be packing morning tea and heading off early as last year the place was very popular and very crowded! Usually for a family its quite an expensive day out but tomorrow will be a great opportuntiy to revisit the place. I think the last time I was there was with a class from school about seven years ago! I still remember seeing real baby tuatara basking in the sun on a grassy bank!