My parents taught me to respect nature, to get out and enjoy the outdoors and that created a passion for nature. A passion which over the years I have come to not only enjoy but see the importance for others to find joy in the natural beauty within our communities and in so doing realize the importance of conservation and living in relationship as good stewards of that community.
I have been able to work in and around the natural world for a number of years, starting off working in a nature center, working for conservation authorities, at camps teaching families, children and interest groups, working with non-profit groups, and at certain points runnig a maple sugar bush.
Interacting with people and nature through much of what I've done, I have found that I definetly can take my passion for nature and use it to help others see the awesome side of the natural world.
The above picture is a great example of interactions of community, the farmer stacks his hay in parts of the field which brings the rodents in as they nest in and around the hay bales. This in turn brings predators such as these Red-tailed Hawks, along with other hawks, falcons, and owls and coyotes, foxes, weasels , bobcats, and reptiles to feed on the rodents.
The food web in action, which is a great learning tool about biology, but on top of that, for those who like to get out and view nature, especially those with a camera it again brings another form of interaction as naturalist meets photographer who works to capture a story to share.
These stories begin the process of identifying the importance of an ecosystem and how all the parts link of to create interactions on both biotic and abiotic or living and non living systems. The grass is cut, made into hay bales, the hay bales are used to feed farm animals but also create habitat for the bottom of the food web in rodents, insects and worms which are then bring larger creatures to feed , and this continues till the apex (top of the food web) creatures show up and they in turn leave the remains for the decomposers such as maggets, worms, beatles, scavengers to feed on and the circle of life continues.
Who knew that a hay bale can be such an exciting and wonderous place filled with an entire life span of creatures. Only through education and knowledge to we become aware of all that is going on within the areas in which we live.
To experience this, we need to know what to look for, how to view it without much disturbing the natural order of things and being able to identify what we are looking at. This is where the naturalist comes into play and how to bring it to the average person to view.
I hope to help others find out what's out there, get to see the interactions and film it when possible.
Won't you come along with me and we can learn together?
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