Red Cedar Middle School Students Send Postcards from Summer Travel

E-Postcards from Patrick and his family. Patrick has been spending time
this summer hiking throughout the Green Mountains. Patrick sprouts wings on Camel's Hump.

Patrick muscles his way to Silver Lake overlooking beautiful Lake Dunmore.

Patrick and Parker at the Montreal Museum of Archeology and History Point-a-Calliere.

Parker and Patrick at the John Brown Farm in Lake Placid, New York.

Red Cedar Science Teacher Spends Summer Studying Rare Mountain Thrush

Waking before dawn amongst the clouds and mist of New England and New York's highest peaks has become a way of life for biologist and Red Cedar science teacher, Brendan Collins. For the past seven years, Brendan and a team of biologist from the Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE), have been visiting these montane forests in search of the elusive Bicknell's Thrush (Catharus bicknelli). The Bicknell's is considered one of North America's most rare and range restricted songbirds and thus has become the focus of Brendan's avian research.


Sadly, nearly a third of the nation's 800 bird species are either endangered, threatened or in significant decline due to habitat loss and fragmentation brought about by human development, invasive species and climate change. The Bicknell's is no exception. Being considered somewhat of the canary in the coal mine when it comes to the health of Vermont's high elevation forests, the Bicknell's Thrush is a harbinger of the ecological shifts brought about by climate change. The Bicknell's Thrush has come to represent VCE's commitment to understanding and protecting high elevation forests as well as conservation across political boundaries.

The focus of this summer's research has been the attachment of solar geolocators to adult male Bicknell's Thrush across its breeding range. These tiny light gathering devises are harmlessly attached as backpacks meant to collect geographic information over the course of a full year.

The technology is actually pretty old in that researchers are simply using time and day length to geolocate the bird's position in relation to the sun. They do not work in real time but instead collect and store the data such that when they are recovered next year, VCE researchers will be able to calculate where the bird has been on any given day. The research promises to shed important light on the timing and location of Bicknell's Thrush migration as well as connecting breeding populations with discrete wintering sites in the Caribbean.



Brendan has spent the majority of his time working on the summits of Mount Mansfield in Vermont and Slide and Plateau Mountains in the Catskills of New York. He has seen many beautiful sunrises and sunsets but has also been soaked to the bone on more than a few occasions.

Sunrise from the summit of Mount Mansfield, Vermont July 2009

Brendan releasing male Bicknell's Thrush on Slide Mountain in the Catskills of New York on July 9th.

For more information and details of Brendan's summer research visit the Vermont Center for Ecostudies webpage:

http://www.vtecostudies.org/

and Blog:

http://vtecostudies.blogspot.com/2009/07/bicknells-thrush-bonanza-on-slide.html

Red Cedar Chickens Move into Five Star Coop

Greetings Red Cedar School community. I am pleased to announce that the 22 chicks we hatched this past spring are doing exceptionally well and have moved into their new coop at Brendan's house. While the coop was being built they took up temporary residence in the garage. Brendan's son Quinn adores the chicks. He spends lots of time with them each day. Please feel free to swing by and say hello at some point this summer!

The initial pen set up in Brendan's garage.

Coop while under construction. The coop is located under the barn with a ramp leading to the run.

The chicks quickly out grew the first pen. Yes those are baby gates!

Chicks exploring the new coop for the first time.

Peeking in through one of the three windows. All accounted for and safe for the evening.

The chickens are free range and secure from predators...(aka. the dogs)!

Ramses thanking Brendan for building such a nice coop and run.

The outside of the coop is complete with access to the nesting boxes, feed bins, chicken folk art, and Red Sox calendar.

Most of the chicks have undergone a molt and begun showing signs of being either male or female. At last count it seemed as though we had 10 hens and 12 roosters.

"Hello Red Cedar Students. Thank you for doing such a great job of raising us when we were just little chicks!" Scarlet and Gonzo.

Quinn with the rooster Ninja.