date: Monday 16 march 2009
today wardlis' 4 and 5 went snorkeling and it was really cool. there were many things to see and before we even got into the water there was a sting ray right at the place where we were getting into the water and it was really cool. Before we went snorkeling we went out and cleared out some weeds from the surrounding area and we also made a path that was some kind of shortcut that meant that you didn't have to walk around the corner of the road.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
history tour 2
On this history tour we went to a local museum in Warooka that had been converted from an old troopers station and it was really cool. I got to hold and pretend to fire a real shotgun from the ????'s and there was also a and it was really cool because I got to draw it from its sheath and have a look at it. There was also an old wind-up phone that generated its own electricity. When you held the wires in each hand and got some one to wind it up electricity would go through you body because you completed the circuit. In another room of the building there was a kitchen and it was filled with all this old food packaging and stuff like that. There was even an old tin of weetbix and lots of tobacco (roll your own). There was also and old jail there (remember it was a troopers station) and Moff took pictures of people in the jail. There were some machines and there was even a tractor wth caterpillar tracks on it! After we left the museum we went to some old house and there was alot of this old machinery that was really valuable and there was a pig that lived there. There were also some ferals that lived there but they werent there when we went there or we just didnt see them.
community service-hardwicke bay
the community service involved pulling out plants and weeds that weren't native and that were killing other plants and animals.
scientific reaserch- reef watch
On the day we went reef watching we also did some snorkeling but that's not what I'm supposed to write about in this post. The reef watching was really cool we went down to a large bunch of rock pools and had a look around and recorded data. Some of the data was about the type of surface and how many moving animals that were in a certain area. It was really cool and I saw four starfish that were blue and only just bigger than your thumbnail. What you'd do is get a tape measure and go to different lengths of the tape and then get a grid and see how much of a certain material covered a certain amount of grid intersections. After that you'd see how many animals were in that grid area and record that down. You'd also get a depth peg and see how deep the surface was and if it was under water or above.
community service-leisure options
The community service-leisure options involved working with mentally disabled people and planting trees and just making friends with them. When we got there we all met up and got partnered up with a buddy and we would work with them planting seeds and working with them. After we had done some work we stopped for lunch and my lunch was a Vegemite sandwich and then we had some conversations with all the people there and got to know them better. after lunch we went back to work and started doing the same thing again which was planting seeds. after we had finished and went back we had some free time and then we did chill out time. after that we had dinner.
We met with the leisure options people on Friday and we
We met with the leisure options people on Friday and we
scientific reaserch- hooded plover
Hooded plover, by Will James.
Synopsis:
The hooded plover (Thinornis rubricollis) is a small bird about 10 cm tall and 20 cm long ands weigh90-100g and are endemic to South Australia. These birds live and nest on the beach and it is because of this situation that they are going extinct. The males and females have the same appearance while the juveniles are basically just grey versions of their parents. The birds live on the beach and also nest and feed on the beach. These birds are dying out because they are being killed by predators and are not adapting to their changing environment. Their nests are run over by cars and they do not produce rapidly enough to keep their numbers in the clear. Some ways of helping these little birds is by banning driving on certain beaches and by sealing off areas where they are nesting so that people don’t walk over them.
Aim and introduction:
What we are trying to do with this research is to save these birds from extinction and to help them come back from the brink. The habitats are being destroyed by humans driving their cars on the beaches and by dumping rubbish on the beach as well as predators eating them. These birds nest on the beach by scraping a small hole in the sand, this leaves the nest open to attack from predators and with them being on the beach cars and people can destroy the eggs by driving and playing beach games such as cricket.
Method:
When we did our research we walked along the beach and tried to see if there were any hooded plovers on the beach. If there were any plovers on the beach we would write down wether there were any threats to the plovers such as cars and people on the beach. We also recorded the weather conditions wind strength as well as he coordinates of the place where we found the birds. When we did our research we had five different jobs that were done. One person was the scribe and that person wrote down all the info that needed recording. The second person was the GPS operator and they told the scribe all the coordinates of the different sightings and nests that we saw. The third person was the threat observer and they told the scribe of all the threats to the plover that were around the nesting sights. A fourth person was the photographer and they took pictures of the plover and the environment that they were living in. And the fifth person was the video operator and they took videos of the bird walking around and of what their actions were.
Results:
The results that our group collected were of no surprise at all to me. I knew that there would be almost no hooded plovers at the two beaches that our group went to and there was in total only about 4-6 hooded plovers at both sites combined. The two beaches that our group went to were Pondalowie and West Beach. At both of theses site it was very cloudy and windy and the temperature was high at times. We didn’t see many things and we only saw a few hooded plovers and didn’t see any nest eggs chick or juveniles at both beaches and so there wasn’t much to write about.
Found
Other plovers: 30
Foot prints: many
Fox prints: 0
Horse prints: 0
Tourists: 19
Vehicles (various sizes):12
Pacific gulls: 4
Sea gulls: 25
Fishermen: 4
Discussion:
I think that what we have discovered will go towards helping he hooded plover survive. It may not have made a big difference but every little thing helps and I have done my part to help this little bird survive and continue to live. The major cause f the reduction in the numbers of the hooded plover is because there are to man y people driving along the beach in their big 4x4’s and crushing the birds nests and eggs. The birds also have very little chance of becoming adults. The eggs only have a 22-24% chance of becoming chicks. The chicks only have 20% chance of becoming juveniles and then the juveniles only have a 55% chance of becoming adults.
Conclusion:
I think that there are many things that people can do to help the hooded plover and that they just need to get organised and figure out some solutions that will help the plover to survive. I think that the people that will help with the projects that are trying to save the plover will the environmentalists and those other types of people. There are many threats to the hooded plover such us foxes, gulls, cars, people, lizards and feral cats and these threats must be contained if the plover is to survive. I think that they should seal off some beaches or just area of beaches during the mating and hatching season of the hooded plover so that the birds will have a bigger chance of surviving. They should also try to remove animals and predators or at least protect the birds so that they have a bigger chance of reproducing and continuing the cycle.
Synopsis:
The hooded plover (Thinornis rubricollis) is a small bird about 10 cm tall and 20 cm long ands weigh90-100g and are endemic to South Australia. These birds live and nest on the beach and it is because of this situation that they are going extinct. The males and females have the same appearance while the juveniles are basically just grey versions of their parents. The birds live on the beach and also nest and feed on the beach. These birds are dying out because they are being killed by predators and are not adapting to their changing environment. Their nests are run over by cars and they do not produce rapidly enough to keep their numbers in the clear. Some ways of helping these little birds is by banning driving on certain beaches and by sealing off areas where they are nesting so that people don’t walk over them.
Aim and introduction:
What we are trying to do with this research is to save these birds from extinction and to help them come back from the brink. The habitats are being destroyed by humans driving their cars on the beaches and by dumping rubbish on the beach as well as predators eating them. These birds nest on the beach by scraping a small hole in the sand, this leaves the nest open to attack from predators and with them being on the beach cars and people can destroy the eggs by driving and playing beach games such as cricket.
Method:
When we did our research we walked along the beach and tried to see if there were any hooded plovers on the beach. If there were any plovers on the beach we would write down wether there were any threats to the plovers such as cars and people on the beach. We also recorded the weather conditions wind strength as well as he coordinates of the place where we found the birds. When we did our research we had five different jobs that were done. One person was the scribe and that person wrote down all the info that needed recording. The second person was the GPS operator and they told the scribe all the coordinates of the different sightings and nests that we saw. The third person was the threat observer and they told the scribe of all the threats to the plover that were around the nesting sights. A fourth person was the photographer and they took pictures of the plover and the environment that they were living in. And the fifth person was the video operator and they took videos of the bird walking around and of what their actions were.
Results:
The results that our group collected were of no surprise at all to me. I knew that there would be almost no hooded plovers at the two beaches that our group went to and there was in total only about 4-6 hooded plovers at both sites combined. The two beaches that our group went to were Pondalowie and West Beach. At both of theses site it was very cloudy and windy and the temperature was high at times. We didn’t see many things and we only saw a few hooded plovers and didn’t see any nest eggs chick or juveniles at both beaches and so there wasn’t much to write about.
Found
Other plovers: 30
Foot prints: many
Fox prints: 0
Horse prints: 0
Tourists: 19
Vehicles (various sizes):12
Pacific gulls: 4
Sea gulls: 25
Fishermen: 4
Discussion:
I think that what we have discovered will go towards helping he hooded plover survive. It may not have made a big difference but every little thing helps and I have done my part to help this little bird survive and continue to live. The major cause f the reduction in the numbers of the hooded plover is because there are to man y people driving along the beach in their big 4x4’s and crushing the birds nests and eggs. The birds also have very little chance of becoming adults. The eggs only have a 22-24% chance of becoming chicks. The chicks only have 20% chance of becoming juveniles and then the juveniles only have a 55% chance of becoming adults.
Conclusion:
I think that there are many things that people can do to help the hooded plover and that they just need to get organised and figure out some solutions that will help the plover to survive. I think that the people that will help with the projects that are trying to save the plover will the environmentalists and those other types of people. There are many threats to the hooded plover such us foxes, gulls, cars, people, lizards and feral cats and these threats must be contained if the plover is to survive. I think that they should seal off some beaches or just area of beaches during the mating and hatching season of the hooded plover so that the birds will have a bigger chance of surviving. They should also try to remove animals and predators or at least protect the birds so that they have a bigger chance of reproducing and continuing the cycle.
community service-aleppo pine removal
The Aleppo pine removal project is done by every one at the camp and has been done by PAC boys for around 2 years. What my group did was we removed some wire fences so that the people could access some big trees next to the side of the road so that they could chop them down and then burn them. Once we had removed the wire from the fence we had to roll it up into loops of wire and dump them into a trailer. While we were doing the fence we got to wear some high visibility clothing which was cool because I really like high visibility clothing because it looks cool. After we had done the fencing we went down the road and chopped down some smaller trees with saws and It was really cool. After that we went to the IGA at Warooka to pick up the bread and milk order and while we were there we got to buy 2 items for ourselves. I bought a bottle of Red Bull and a packet of M&Ms which were all yellow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
