How I See It

I've found that pictures don't always match reality. This is especially true when it comes to using the images in bird field guides to identify a species I've see in the wild.

Many times, I've struggled over identification because the bird I saw seemed to have significant differences from the ones in the book. Now, I think I know why: The still images on the page capture the birds from an ideal perspective, unobscured with key identifiers in plain view, while the real-world encounter is usually brief and from a tricky angle.

As this entry from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Round Robin blog suggests, help is on the way for bird-watchers. Birder and photographer Richard Crossley is taking a new approach to bird guides by providing many images of each species from different angles and distances against a more natural backdrop. The pictures even present the species at different stages of its life.

Guides like this represent a great advance in bird identification. I wonder if e-books will be able to take it further by including motion.

Stepping up Our Game

When it comes to the health of the environment, you have to play to win, and more and more sports teams are embracing that idea.

Partnering with the Natural Resources Defense Council, many leagues and teams, including the Pacific Northwest members of the Green Sports Alliance, are working to minimize their environmental impact. Check out the following video about the NRDC's 2013 game changers for environmental stewardship (that's "The Natural," Robert Redford, narrating):



As a sports fan and environmentalist, it makes me happy to see these teams helping advance the ball on environmental sustainability.

Drop it Like it's Hot

Mark Twain said, "If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." However, when it comes to the truth about global warming, remembering (or at least, having access to) key pieces of information is crucial to countering deniers.

Luckily, a new Web site called Reality Drop identifies deniers' claims and provides the scientific evidence that refutes them. Reality Drop comes from The Climate Reality Project, which was founded by Al Gore. For more information about it, click here. It looks like a great resource for the truth about global warming.

Seek and Report

Fulfillment is doing what you love and having it make a contribution to the world.

For bird-watchers, doing what they love is pretty easy because birds usually aren't too far away. However, technology is even making it easier to find birds, and that same technology is providing birders with a chance to add to science by reporting their sightings.

BirdsEye is a bird-watching app for Android, iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. It is the work of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and is dedicated to providing birders with resources that help them do what they love. Through the lab's eBird program, which collects information about bird sightings around the world, BirdsEye allows bird-watchers to find places where birds are congregating. Birders who want to share their sightings can purchase the BirdsEye companion app, BirdLog.

For more information on these apps click here and discover the potential of using and contributing to the science of bird-watching.

Classroom Environment

Schools give us a lot, but we often forget that we can bring a lot to our schools in return.

Looking back, school gave me many great opportunities to learn about and experience the environment. This was particularly true from kindergarten through middle school. However, it never occurred to me then that I might help improve my school's environmental connection.

This year, students in K-12 will have that chance. Global Green USA is giving students the opportunity to enter its Green School Makeover Competition, in which students propose projects that will help their schools become healthier and more environmentally friendly. Projects include energy-efficiency upgrades, reduction of water use, and minimization of waste. The winning proposal will receive $75,000 in funding. For more information about the competition, click here.

By empowering students to make a difference at their schools, the project takes learning to a whole new level, and in the process, it benefits the environment.

Slam Dunk

Connecting with nature and playing sports are great ways of improving our health, but our sports can also improve the health of some of nature's other creatures.

As I have discussed many times before, a lot of my time growing up involved experiences of nature. However, another major part of my early life involved sports, so it makes sense that the following video of a sea otter playing basketball to live a healthier life at a zoo in Oregon leaves me with a smile:



Because sea otters are known for their intelligence and playfulness, I think this idea is a great form of enrichment for Eddie and represents the perfect mix of human and nature.

Eddie's certainly got game.

Fun Facts

Science lights up my brain. It always has.

I remember feeling enthralled by scientific facts as a child. To me, they were like the pieces of some great story that I could put into place. At the time, most of that information came from books, videos, or television shows about nature. However, with increases in digital media, children are finding new ways of collecting science facts.

Recently, the National Wildlife Federation reviewed several apps that help children learn facts about animals.

These apps are enough to make me want to learn this stuff all over again--not that I ever needed extra incentive to listen to the stories told by science facts.

Love in the Open Air

It may be my Finnish roots, but I think cross-country skiing would make a great activity for a date.

That is the thought I had today after reading about some outdoor date ideas from Tales from a Mountain Mama (Family). The site focuses on ideas for interacting with nature as a family. It also contains reviews of products that can make those experiences better.

One of my goals is to learn to cross-country ski, and I think that kind of skiing would make for a unique shared experience of the outdoors with someone.

Talk about putting a Nordic spin on romance.

Throwing a Line

Scientists have estimated that in the not-so-distant future, technology will exist that allows us to talk to dolphins, but it appears as though dolphins already understand us.

The video below shows a dolphin seemingly asking divers for help in untangling from a fishing line:

What is most remarkable is how the dolphin appears to know and trust that the divers can help it. First, it approaches them, and then, it positions itself to make removal of the line easier for the diver.

This example of the connection between people and other species may preview the type of interaction that we will have in the future. Interestingly, we are the ones having to develop the technology to understand dolphins while they seem to know us pretty well.

Mom Knows Best

We're told to listen to our mothers, so it makes sense that we might turn to them for advice on experiencing the environment.

In a number of posts, I have focused on providing information to parents, and many of those tips have come from Debi Huang, the mom at Go Explore Nature. As part of her 31 Days of Backyard Nature Fun, she shared a link to a site called OutsideMom.com, which is run by another nature mom.

OutsideMom.com contains recipes, crafts, and tips for getting outside with little kids. I really like the recent entry about helping kids track animals in the snow.

Web sites like this add support to the idea that moms really do have all the answers.