A few weeks ago we had a reporter and photographer from Wyoming Public Radio come out to visit our banding station. They were gathering material for a few different pieces, both about bird banding and also about Teton Science Schools education programs. There might be something more about banding coming out in the future, but for now here’s a radio segment they did about one of the summer camps. You can listen to (or read) the radio segment here:
Teton Science Schools Summer Camp Builds Life-Long Bonds
However, the best part is the slideshow. Click on the picture of the smiling happy campers, and the slideshow will pop up. Check out the second picture (of three, it’s a short show) in the slideshow.
First, I love the expression on the girl’s face.
Second, that’s me and a PISI! (Pine Siskin, for those that don’t use bird alpha codes in their daily life. Though I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t.)
Had such a great time with this group! They were all very engaged, and asked really in-depth questions about the banding process. I love it when groups do that, because then I can really go all bird-nerdy on them, and who doesn’t want to talk about cloacal protuberances* at 7 a.m.?
Mostly unrelated fun fact:
If you Google TSS, Teton Science Schools is the 9th item to come up, under Toxic Shock Syndrome and stock market information on Total System Services. I perhaps find this more amusing than it actually is.
A more related fun fact (more related to the caption of the picture, not the main subject of this post):
* the presence or absence of a cloacal protuberance is one way we determine the sex of a bird. All birds have a cloaca, which is where the poop comes out. If you are a female bird, this is also where your eggs come out. If you are a male bird, this is also where your sperm comes out. If you are a male who is interested in making babies, then during breeding season your cloaca gets swollen with sperm.
Yep, I spend my days telling kids about bird sperm. We talk about the birds and the birds. Not the bees, because usually once bees are mentioned kids start freaking out about getting stung. And then I have to convince them that being outside with us for an hour won’t kill them.