The Cutest Faces of Nature

Because there is nothing better than a cute little animal to brighten everyone's week! Check out these cute baby species, most of which are endangered. Learn more about each one and what is being done to preserve these poster children for the undeniable cuteness of nature! When you’re finished – let us know which ones were your favorites, or if you think you've got a species that is even cuter – share it! Tweet the hashtag #CuteSpecies!

American Pika

Credit: Steve Torbit/USFWS



The American pika's big round ears and chubby cheeks make them one of the cutest species ever! They are extremely sensitive to heat and need to live in temperatures under 77.9 °F

Scientist Says: Though the American pika appears to have no tail, it actually has one of the longest tails of any lagomorph (member of the rabbit family) buried in its fur.

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Black-footed Ferret

Credit: Kimberly Tamkun/USFWS

These baby black-footed ferrets (called "kits") can brighten anyone's day. They are definitely one of the cutest species but they are also one of the most endangered species. Over the past years, these cute critters have been reintroduced to 17 different sites across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Scientist Says: The black-footed ferret was once considered extinct until 1964 when a small group was found in South Dakota.

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Fact sheet

Pacific Lamprey

Credit: Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife

Can you find the cute baby species in this handful of dirt? This cute baby might look like a worm, but it is actually a fish. What you see here is a baby Pacific lamprey – or an ammocoete. These little creatures are the cutest babies you will ever find in Pacific Northwest rivers!

Scientist Says: Pacific lamprey can remain in the ammocoete stage for up to seven years, during which they are deaf and blind!

Learn more via our friend Luna the Lamprey!
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Red Panda

Credit: Jessica Kordell/Smithsonian

The red panda has one of the cutest faces and especially cutest tails out there! Due to deforestation within their natural habitats, these loveable critters are also considered endangered.

Scientist Says: The red panda only grows to the size of a housecat, but their bushy tails grow up to 18 inches and help keep them warm in winter conditions.

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Northern Spotted Owl

Credit: Tom Kogutus/USFWS

  

Two cute and fluffy Northern spotted owl chicks. These adorable babies are threatened on the Endangered Species list and a top priority for U.S. Fish & Wildlife. They can be found in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California.
Scientist Says: Spotted owls have an opaque third eyelid called the nictitating membrane which helps clean and moisten their eyes; this is especially helpful during flight and to protect their eyes from broad daylight.

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Sloth

Credit: Ken Mayer/Flickr CC

The happiest species on Earth, this baby sloth might never stop smiling at you. What a treat it must be to get to "hang out" with a sloth!

Scientist Says: International Sloth Day is on October 20^th (did you celebrate this year?)

Learn more

...And Just for Kicks

And because this was far too cute not to share for Halloween! One World One Ocean’s “sealiest costume ever!”

The Outdoor Experience

"Must we always teach our children with books? Let them look at the stars and the mountains above. Let them look at the waters and the trees and flowers on Earth. Then they will begin to think, and to think is the beginning of a real education."  - David Polis



Finley NWR biolgist, Nate teaches the kids how to identify different
species of birds using their physical markings.
Credit: Meghan Kearney/USFWS

Birds, berries and bobcats! Outdoor Experience is a summer event that welcomes 550 students over the course of two weeks to explore the world of nature at William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). With the help of enthusiastic community volunteers, the 5,300 acre refuge was set with stations, each focused on a different aspect of the nature and wildlife of Finley. I spent my morning traveling from station to station with each vibrant group of kids as they moved excitedly around the grounds.


The kids get a close-up look at some of the waterfowl that can be spotted
throughout the refuge.
Credit: Meghan Kearney.USFWS

Five thousand acres of activity

As we approached the first station, the kids were quick to notice a small cotton sack attached to a table. It seemed to be pulsating with what you could almost make out as flaps of tiny wings eager to escape. Our station host, refuge biologist Nate, carefully removed a small and adorable bird from the pouch, pointing to the bird's fluffy white belly. Physical markings such as these, he explained, could help identify different types and sexes of birds.

Next, the group moved on to the waterfowl identification station where they were asked to first observe a display of birds from afar before moving in to get an up-close look at the birds' physical features. Taking notes in their field guides, the children discussed the similarities and differences of each of the different birds.

Elk bones spotted nearby Woodpecker Loop Trail.
Credit: Meghan Kearney/USFWS

Hitting the trails

The rest of our day included two trail hikes, one through the refuge's upland forest along Woodpecker Loop Trail, and the other around the large wetland area - Cabell Marsh. Along Woodpecker Loop, our guide, volunteer Mike, explained the history of the refuge using folklore-like stories dispersed with references of the local rivalry between college football teams the Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers. Halfway in, we took a detour to a recently discovered elk skeleton found just off of the path. "He must have been a Beaver fan," Mike joked. It took about three pokes at the university rivalry before the kids caught on, but when they did, connecting football and nature seemed to make learning even more exciting.

Taking a pit stop along the trail to check out the nature
surrounding us. We even spotted a beaver dam!
Credit: Meghan Kearney/USFWS

Invasives: harmful and smelly

After a lunch in the sun, our next stop took us along a path scattered with remnant fruit trees before reaching Cabell Marsh. Luckily, the kids got plenty of fresh fruit before arriving at the marsh, which I will soon explain was no easy task for our stomachs.

As we entered the currently dried up marsh, enough so that we could walk along its base, our new guide, volunteer Lowell, explained the reasoning behind this occurrence. Every few years, invasive carp overpopulate the marsh, destroying habitat for migrating birds. During the off-season, the marsh is drained to kill off all of the inhabiting carp, as well as invasive bull frogs. This allows the marsh to flourish and provide nutrients for numbers of different bird species; although in time the carp and bull frogs will likely make their way back and another draw down will be needed.  

One of the many animal tracks we discovered in the damp basin of Cabell
Marsh.
Credit: Meghan Kearney/USFWS

Tracking the marsh
Our visit to the refuge was just in time to witness with our eyes, but especially our noses, the piles of dried up carp along the shore. Some of us pulled our shirts up over our noses, while others, eager to brave the stench moved in for a closer look. "Oh, come on! It isn't that bad!" one of the kids yelled at his friends as he bent down to notice a giant pile of scurrying tadpoles on the surface of a small carp-saturated puddle, the last of the marsh's water supply. The smell alone was enough to help us all remember the harmful nature of these invasive fish! The drained-out marsh also provided a wide haven of slightly wet ground; just wet enough to assure any passing animals would leave behind beautifully defined tracks.

We also spotted a number of different frogs still inhabiting parts of
Cabell Marsh. The kids were eager to catch some and get a better look.
Credit: Meghan Kearney/USFWS

Through the eyes of pioneers

After scooping baby frogs, noting elk and beaver tracks, and later spotting a beaver dam, we headed off to our final stop of the day; an  historic pioneer house. Gail, refuge volunteer and organizer for Outdoor Experience took us room-by-room through the house, explaining its history and its need for preservation. Looking at old family photos lining the walls, the kids pictured themselves as pioneer children living off the nearby fruit trees that we had earlier indulged in. Our full-circle tour of Finley NWR had come to a close, leaving us with memories of up-close and personal encounters with elk bones, berries, and a few smelly fish. We left, most importantly, with a new appreciation for the natural world at our fingertips.

Fun related links:

Find out more about scary invasives like carp, just in time for Halloween!

Some amazing wildlife photos from Finley volunteer, Mike

A Damselfly in Distress?

Anela, out in the field collecting damsefly eggs from local vegetation.
Credit: USFWS

Anela Wisenhunt is a student at University of Hawaii, Manoa, but unlike most students her age, she spent this summer on the island of Oahu catching tiny Orangeblack damselflies for translocation.

The damselfly story

Though common on other Hawaiian islands, this damselfly, a candidate species for Endangered Species Act listing, is only found on one part of Oahu. After almost five years of planning and funding, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service began translocation of these damselflies, a project which Anela was eager to participate in.

She discovered the internship opportunity through a school colleague and shortly after found herself in the field using giant nets to capture and tag damselflies. She also helped collect their eggs via samples of vegetation. After the flies were collected, they were translocated to the Waimea Valley. This area is a historic site for damselflies and after working with landowners it was determined to be a suitable habitat to begin a second population.

Close-up of the tiny Orangeblack damselfly species.
Credit: David Eickhoff

A fulfilling summer

Spending days exploring the natural islands of Hawaii sounds like a pretty great gig for a student. "My favorite parts were just being out in the field capturing the damselflies. Sometimes it would take a while before you would see any, and being in the serene quiet parts of the stream away from everything else and concentrating on finding something so small was awesome," she describes, but there were some challenges too. Aside from strategically planning the  time of day, sunlight and wind so it is just right for capturing damselflies, "the stream at Tripler has many mosquitoes," Anela states.  It seems about right that a summer internship spent outdoors could only get as bad as a few mosquito bites.

Anela finds the perfect time of day best for
capturing damselflies.
Credit: USFWS

Passing along her story

When Anela wasn’t out in the field, she spent her days connecting others with the efforts of the Refuge and damselfly translocation project. She expressed her happiness to explain her project to curious visitors, some from all over the world, in an effort to pique their interest in nature. She even gave her own presentation to a group of visiting students from Chaminade College.

At the end of her summer internship, Anela looks back with hope that the damselfly translocation project will prove successful. And when asked about her overall experience as a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Intern, Anela shares, "The experience alone was wonderful. Having the opportunity to work alongside some amazing biologists such as Lorena Wada was a benefit for me in itself. She really showed me the amount of hard work and dedication it takes to undertake these projects. I’m looking forward to seeing how the damselfly translocation project plays out in the future. Hopefully we will have been successful in our efforts and I hope to see the rewards of our hard work by seeing more damselflies at Waimea. The work we did was an experience that I will always remember and one that I am very happy to have been a part of."

For more information on internships like Anela’s and other volunteer opportunities with the Service, please visit here.

“The Best Field Trip Ever”

Students and teachers on the Chehalis River sampling freshwater mussels
and recording data along the shore.

Credit: Meghan Kearney/USFWS

“This is the best field trip ever!” is what I heard just minutes after arriving to the Chehalis River, before the hunt for freshwater mussels kicked off. Mussel Academy, as this exciting Connecting People with Nature/citizen science program is officially referred to, brought five student groups from Grays Harbor and Thurston County, Washington area schools, both middle and high school. The premise was for class representatives to learn about freshwater mussels and take their new knowledge back to school as “field experts” for their classmates.  

  

One student uses an "aquascope" to help him search for mussels
underwater.
Credit: Meghan Kearney/USFWS


The Scientist in Us All

Citizen science is an idea that has been adopted by a number of conservation and scientific organizations that allows for citizens, just like you and me, to participate in and contribute to scientific research. On paper it sounds formal, but when taken into the field with a group of intelligent, curious and energetic 12-18 year olds, the idea ignites a passion for natural science that future generations can depend on.

Keeping Science Exciting

On this day, our citizen scientists helped to survey freshwater mussels in the Chehalis River, a biological hotspot for three types of Pacific Northwest freshwater mussels – Floaters, Western Pearlshells and Western Ridged. These freshwater mussels have become a growing interest to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service because they serve as a long term environmental indicator species, or in other words – when they start to go, it’s a sign that other aspects of that environment will follow.  

Kicking off the day, Teal Waterstrat gives an exciting presentation to
the visiting students about the importance of freshwater mussels in
their local river systems.
Credit: Meghan Kearney/USFWS

To start the day, Teal Waterstrat, Washington Fish & Wildlife Office Fisheries Technician, gave a presentation on freshwater mussels and their importance. With a natural knack for teaching, Teal had the students captivated within the first few seconds. A follow-up presentation offered the students some hands on-training to identify the different local freshwater mussel species, and randomly select plots in the river where they would be collecting, measuring and returning their finds. This classroom away from the classroom was not to be a boring one.



Two students carefully make their way down to our sampling site
on the Chehalis River.
Credit: Meghan Kearney/USFWS


“Today we are Scientists”

Next, a short, but slightly rugged trail took the group outdoors to our mussel survey site  “Can we skip stones?” one student asked while waiting for a pair of waders to keep himself dry across the 20 yard stretch of river water that would lead us to the survey site. “Today, we are scientists,” answered Kathy Jacobson, Chehalis Basin Project Coordinator and co-lead for the day’s trip. Skipping stones would have to be for after work. What I soon observed, however, is that skipping stones quickly became an afterthought; this didn’t seem much like work at all.



A team effort between students and teachers to collect baseline data
 will help future freshwater mussel research.
Credit: Meghan Kearney/USFWS



From Student, to Teacher

There wasn’t an absent smile on the river as students one-by-one splashed their arms down into the water, triumphantly pulling out palm-sized mussels for sampling. I watched as they marched piles of mussels retrieved from their plots back and forth to their classmates who were busy measuring and recording data on the shore. After a couple hours of searching and recording, counts of about 400 total freshwater mussels coincided with the days end. Students, sad to leave the river, carefully returned the mussels to their plots, ready to take what they learned back to their schools where they would then become the teachers. This day, acting as scientists on the Chehalis River gave students the opportunity to have fun in nature, but also helped create baseline data for future freshwater mussel monitoring. Best field trip ever? I’d sure say so.

From Interpretive to Interactive

A view of Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge. This will be
one location for an interpretive sign on the medial trail.
Credit: Meghan Kearney/USFWS

I hope after my recent blog entry on technology and nature (for those of you who missed it), you are all feeling a bit more confident about the future of technology and our connection to the natural world. For one U.S. Fish and Wildlife National Wildlife Refuge this connection is about to reach a new level. Through a Connecting People with Nature grant, Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge, home to the endangered Columbian White-tailed Deer, is about to pioneer an all new interpretive media trail which will transform guests’ visits into interactive journeys. This past week, my supervisor Nancy and I took a trip west along the Columbia River to the refuge and learned a little more about this new innovation.

Reviewing one of the old signs, where a soon to be interactive media sign
will be placed.
Credit: Meghan Kearney/USFWS

A New Era of Learning

Upon our arrival to the refuge, we met up with the masterminds behind the operation, Nancy Holman, Visitor Services Manager of the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge Complex and Blu Chaney, summer intern with the Student Conservation Association for a crash course overview on the media trail project. Still in the drafting stages, they explained that QR codes (barcode like images that can be scanned by smartphones to send users to specific links) would be included on interpretive signs in five locations around the refuge. A scan of each QR code with a capable device (like iPhones or Android phones) would send users online to varying virtual sections of the trail, allowing them to interact with photos, videos, links, or narrations from refuge workers and biologists. These supplemental media guides will allow users to learn about the refuge and its history, while gaining an overview of wildlife they could potentially spot through a vibrant and exciting angle. In addition, "Wanderer Packs" which include tools like binoculars and hard copies of the QR coded presentations are available for check-out from the refuge and nearby businesses for visitors to use! This evolution from a single standing interpretive sign to a more engaged interaction will open up new windows for education and provide an opportunity for visitors to achieve a refuge experience like never before.

A Sneak Peak

After learning about the interactive signs, we hit the trail to get a feel for the potential locations of the 5 signs. Each location offered a pristine view of the refuge, while each media “chapter” focused on a different aspect of the refuge from significance in the journeys of Lewis & Clark, importance of the Columbian White-tailed Deer, and a celebration of women in conservation through the life of Julia Butler Hansen.

A Columbian White-tailed Deer spotted on Tenashillahe Island!
Credit: Blu Chaney/USFWS

Hitting Tenasillahe Island

Later in the day, after lunch at a local pizza shop in the small town of Cathlamet, Washington, we met up with Refuge Manager, Joel David, for a boat trip along the Columbia River to Tenasillahe Island to visit the last potential media trail stop. This was, believe it or not, my first time actually on the Columbia. A number of Columbian White-tailed Deer are transferred to this island to allow them a more private and safe habitat. Joel, however, informed us that the deer have been known to make the swim to and from the island without human help! After a bit of wandering, a single deer finally peeked its head out of the brush to assess what we four humans were doing snooping around their island. It made its getaway well before we were able to get close, but it was a great sight to see nonetheless.

Departing by boat from Tenasillahe Island, along
the Columbia; where deer have been known to swim.
Credit: Meghan Kearney/USFWS

The First of Many

With our overwhelming dependence on technology these days, this media trail represents the perfect balance between tech and nature. Visitors can come to the refuge and use technology to learn much more than they would be able to on their own, tech-free. And to offer a similar experience to those who do not have the proper technology – the media trail will also be virtually accessible online for visitors to check out from home or public computers before or after visits to Julie Butler Hansen NWR! Though this media trail is still in the planning stages, I am positive this interactive and wonderful use of technology will soon be seen incorporated into National Wildlife Refuges across the nation! An anticipated completion date for the media trail is in January of 2013, so stay tuned for your chance to make a visit to the beautiful refuge, spot some Columbian White-tailed Deer and pioneer this exciting and unique use of technology and nature!

On the Right Path

Marjay snorkeling for fresh water mussles
Credit: USFWS

Marjay Taylor discovered his love for nature in fourth grade. As a student at King Elementary School in Portland, his class took a trip to The Oregon Zoo for a sleepover and was given the opportunity to also feed the animals. When asked about his favorite part of nature, Marjay states, “interacting with wildlife and the outdoors.” This summer, Marjay has done all of this and more as part of his internship with U.S. Fish & Wildlife’s Fishery Resources division.

The Field Experience
Before his senior year at David Douglas High School, Marjay was offered this summer internship after a job shadow with USFWS Assistant Regional Director, Mike Carrier. Though Marjay understands that the “office side of work” is just as important to his future, he feels his internship with the Service has given him a chance to gain hands-on experience and find an even better insight into his future. As for his chance to get outdoors, Marjay says with a smile: “it made this internship one hundred times better than being in the classroom. It showed me that being in the field is the greatest thing in the world.”

Spawning at Little White Salmon National
Fish Hatchery
Credit: Meghan Kearney/USFWS

In the few weeks Marjay has been working with Fishery Resources he has spawned steelhead salmon at Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery, where he also worked with a United Cerebral Palsy group during a fishing day; he snorkeled for freshwater mussels, and took on the role of the National Wildlife Refuge System’s famous Blue Goose at the 100^th Anniversary Girl Scouts Celebration in Albany, Oregon.(Check out Marjay as the Goose!)

A Day-in-the-Life
Marjay is no stranger to a fast-paced and active lifestyle. In addition to his time spent in the field with the Service, a typical day in Marjay’s summer involves waking up at 6:00 a.m. to spend some time in the USFWS Regional Office before heading off to football training from 3:00-6:00 p.m. After training, which sometimes requires him to run 8+ miles, or wear four layers of clothing to work out in a 100+ degree room, he heads home for dinner (and has been known to eat as many as three chicken teriyaki sub sandwiches to stay energized). The following day his routine is much the same though he transitions between his Service internship and another with The Oregonian.

Showing Pacific lamprey ammocoetes at the Girl Scout
100th year anniversary celebration.
Credit: Meghan Kearney/USFWS

Career Pathways
After high school, Marjay hopes to attend college, but his extreme adventurousness drives him to also attend school abroad at James Cook University in Australia studying and swimming with Great White Sharks. He also hopes to travel to South Africa to see Great Whites breaching.  

With a warm and outgoing personality, strong work ethic, and passion for nature, Marjay has been a great addition to the Service this summer. We are all hoping to one day find him in a career with the Service, getting to do what he loves – interacting with wildlife.