Early October 2024
“We’ve come this far, let’s take some time to just enjoy and explore,” Shannon wisely instructed us once we arrived at the water at Savage Neck. Like school kids getting some extra recess time, we clapped and gleefully headed off in a few different directions.
Week five and we couldn’t have asked for better weather, or a better experience. Now past summer’s brutal heat, today’s sunshine felt warm and delicious and welcome. We were enjoying true postcard weather, with a clear blue sky containing just a few puffs of cumulus.
Back on the trails, we walked two by two to avoid the very healthy (and native!) poison ivy edges, creating a long train of naturalists with daypacks on and binoculars out. Many of us trying to capture our observations in field notebooks:
juvenile little blue heron
red-bellied slider
praying mantis egg sacs
blue jay calls
ground skink
adult black rat snake
ant lions
native morning glory
Week five and we’ve recently learned about soils, barrier island dynamics, and invasive species. Ask us the difference between reptiles and amphibians or perhaps between zoo- and phytoplankton, and we can thoughtfully answer. We’ve measured salinities, and helped each other out of the low marsh muck.
Week five and many of us are already logging volunteer and continuing education hours. Others are planning what initiatives they’d like to pursue.
Week five and we are unbelievably halfway through the course.
