The Junior Master Naturalist are proud to be one of 17 groups chosen to receive a Celebrating Urban Birds Mini Grant from The University of Cornell Ornithology Lab. The JrMN are preparing for their event, the Bird Bash. During the event children (and adults) will learn about urban birds like the starling, house sparrow, barn swallow, etc. through the arts, games, and study. Children will be able to play Bird BINGO that has been arranged to contain the birds that we will be looking for and counting later in the event. We'll also have a station for making bird houses and feeders. Everyone will learn how to be a Citizen Scientist, to observe and collect information, for the Ornithology Lab. The JrMN have practiced observing already by going out in the colonia to watch for birds. (The children saw many active birds in their colonia that they had never noticed before: sea gulls, great tailed grackles, and mourning doves.)At the Bird Bash children will also have the opportunity to help plant native plants in order to attract more native birds and butterflies. The group is looking forward to teaching other kids what they have learned over the past months. We are proud to have this opportunity to work with Celebrating Urban Birds at Cornell. For more information about Celebrating Urban Birds and how you can become a Citizen Scientist go to: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/celebration

Texas Junior Master Naturalist continue to study throughout the fall. Our studies included a presentation from Tony Riesinger on Red Tide, a lesson from Jimmy Paz on Bats, and 4 classes on insects from Dodie Greely. The Jr. N. were able to go to a local resaca to study the habitat and fish.

Juniror Master Naturalist Class in the Rio Grande

The Texas Junior Master Naturalist Class began last May with Chapter 1 (of 8 Chapters to complete). The group of students from Cameron Park studied the Rio Grande River, the environment of the Rio Grande Valley and learned about birds of prey.
Students went to Boca Chica Beach with County Extension Agent, Tony Reisenger, to see where the Rio Grande ended and flowed into the ocean. We saw a lot of birds: pelicans, a Crested Caracara, an oriole, tri-colored heron, great egret and a red-tail hawk... The students saw mangrove trees for the first time and we think we saw a cuckoo! We also caught many small fish in the estuary by fishing with a large net. The local fisherman showed us their catch and loved the attention of the kids, who were amazed by the fish.
The students who finished the work of Chapter 1 received a red tailed hawk pin. All continued onto the next chapter which primarily focused on butterflies. Our first classes we planted native plants (turk's cap, heliotrope, and tropical sage) that attract butterflies. Hopefully, in the weeks to come we will be able to discover butterflies as they discover the plants.
The Jr. Naturalist have begun to do some service work by picking up litter in our community.