SWRS Cribs by Kayla Peña

This past week my new friends and I have been living at the Southwestern Research Station (SWRS). All of the staff and volunteers were unbelievably nice and kept the station running smoothly. We got to experience the beauty that SWRS held and I wanted to make this video so that everyone at home could experience it too. Due to our busy schedule I was not able to film every part of the station or an end to my video, but I tried to include the main parts of the station. SWRS also had a beautiful pool and a large classroom where we held our lessons in the mornings.

As I laid in bed in New York editing this video it made me miss Arizona and SWRS even more. This trip really did change me. I made friends with people that I never would have talked to in school and they quickly became like another family. I love all of our inside jokes and was able to get closer with some of my favorite teachers. This was an experience of a lifetime and I am so thankful that I was able to be apart of this Earth Watch family. I never thought learning could be this fun. Major thanks to Mrs. Lock, Mrs Mancebo, Ms. Calabrese, Dave, and Nikki for making this trip absolutely amazing.

Party on the Airplane- Song written by Asianna

This takes on the melody of party in the USA by Miley Cyrus. Do note some word are dragged to fit. I wrote because I wanted to be cool (lol). 

I hopped on a plane at LGA with my suite case and soon to be friends. 

Welcome to this new experience 

Woah am I gonna fit in ? 

Jumped on the plane, 

Here I am for the first time

Look to my right and All I see are plot lines 

This is all so crazy 

Everything seems so different 

My tummy's turnin' and I'm feelin' kinda home sick

Too many bumps and I'm nauseous 

That's when the piolet turns on the seatbelt sign 

And then my seatbelt was Buckled 

And then my seatbelt was Buckled 

And then my seatbelt was Buckled 

So pulled the strap tight

The light still on 

And the plane is starting to land 

Noddin’ my head yeah movin my hips like yeah 

I got my belt on 

The light is still on 

And I know we’re gonna land okay 

Yeah yeah yeeeahhh 

 I know we’re gonna land okay (x2) 

Get to the hotel with really big bags 

Everybody’s looking at us now 

Like “whose those kids with those three chicks ?

They gotta be from outta town “

So hard with my family not around me, this definitely not  like in New York City. 

Cause all I see is dirt now 

I guess I’ve never got the memo. 

My tummy's turnin' and I'm feelin' kinda home sick

Too many bumps and I'm nauseous

That’s when we land and I see my favorite food 

And I order to take it out 

And I order to take it out 

And I order to take it out 

So I put my cash down 

And I’m paying for food

And I know I’m gonna be okay 

Nodding my head yeah movin my hips like yeah 

I got my food now 

They called my name 

Yeah I know it’s gonna be really good 

Yeah  yueeahhh yeah it’s a party in my tummy (2x)

Feel like hoppin' on a flight (On a flight)

Back to my hometown tonight (Town tonight)

But something stops me every time (Every time)

The Phone plays my song and I feel alright 

So I got my bag now 

We’re heading out now and I know we’re gonna have some fun 

Noddin’ my head yeah movin my hips like yeah 

I got my hopes up 

We’re all in a car and I know I’m gonna fit in okay 

Yeah yeah yeahhhhh it’s a party in SWRS all day 

(2x)

OWL MISS YOU- Posted by Asianna

 OMG today was the last day of the trip which sucked since it was such like a second home to all of us. The trip was amazing and was a fantastic team bonding experience. Honestly at first I didn’t think I was going to get to be as close as I am to the people that I’ve jut traveled with the first day. Making new friends that I would’ve never thought of or never bump into in the hallways is a great feeling.  It was really the great since I’ve got to expand my horizon, as well as interact with different strangers that I can now call my friends. We’ve also met DAVE and NICKEY(I think that’s right spelling) which were practically another set of parents for us, leaving them was the one of the hardest things to do right behind leaving each other since we all have different schedules. The sarcasm and the love they gave was making them the best “parents” in the world. Traveling with them was a great experience. They gave us so much knowledge on something I’m sure none of us would’ve predicted to get out of the trip. The teachers were the best part of bonding. As a group of students getting to know their everyday teachers was not as awkward as you’d think, they were the most chillest people out there. The best part about it is they have an amazing sense of humor, from the corny jokes to  karaoke in the car in school experience is going to be such a big change to make. Oh and the meals with everyone was just so “life changing”, which may sound really dramatic but there’s so much comfort and happiness between us that it was great to just be relieved all the time because we’ve all enjoyed ourselves without the stress. Overall we’ve developed not only as friends but as a new family.

At first I was a bit nervous of how this trip would go. Would I fit in? How would it feel to be away from family? Would this trip change who I am? It’s day 7 and I don’t want to leave, we’ve just meet each other, but we quickly grew onto one another. From long hikes of enjoying the breath taking scenery to just being around each other laughing to the point of where we’ll start crying especially Ms. Lock. It made me feel so good to see her happy for the reason which she has put so much effort into this trip including Ms. Mancebo and Ms. Calabrese. It was truly a pleasure of being part of this expedition, and thanks to Nikki and Dave I have received an experience of not only learning about owls or as Dave refers to these spectacular animals “the pinnacle of evolution”, but also I feel like I changed as an individual. There’s more to life than just being indulged with social media I was a bit skeptical of being involved in a group with people I don’t know besides my buddy, Terrance. That quickly changed when we decided to go hiking after lunch which I must say the food was the best home cooked meals of all time, but anyways we took a picture of us on a bridge, now keep in mind there’s 9 of us and we were on a bridge that felt like it was ready to break. However, that didn’t really matter it was a moment we simply cherished together and that’s how I’ve meet my fellow friends. They’re all so amazing and it’s true some took more time to get used to, but now we’re on the plane back to New York as friends that feel as if we knew each other forever. They all have there own different personalities from Jacob constantly correcting my grammar to Kayla as she in a way reminds me of myself. I thought all Carl Sagan’s students were nerds, yet when I meet Kayla she showed me how amazing they are. Also, how can I forget the rest of our group including the adults as we taught them new slangs such as “in our bag” or “in our cavity.” (Credits to Asianna) Nikki is truly a spectacular individual; she taught me so much about science, owls, and most of all life itself. I’m going to miss our car rides of Terrance singing your country music which I don’t really hate as much...I already miss it. 

"In Dave we trust" - Posted by Shivani Patel

“In Dave we trust” was our motto for a majority of this incredible, life changing trip. It started when we drove up the mountains and we were about five inches away from the edge, and it stuck with us ever since. However, yesterday I thought to myself “In Dave AND NIKKI we trust” because while setting up our 50 m plots we hit a rock wall and one of our teammates got stuck up an extremely steep hill. We yelled to Nikki to come save her and she was there in under a minute. I got stuck up there myself, but Terrence and Nikki guided me down because they know how terrified I am of heights. We truly are “all in this together.”

We worked hard all day with minimal breaks and went back to 8 points that night and went to bed at 1 am. It was very tiring but extremely rewarding at the same time just to know how much you’re contributing to the science community even though our legs were sore, our toes had blisters, and our arms had scrapes by the end of the day. In the end it was all worth it and although we encountered some challenges, we faced them head on.

The car rides are always my favorite part of the day because we blast music and try to come up with lyrics that are applicable to the work we do here. Some of my favorite include:

1). Breaking Free from High School Musical Parody (By Shivani)

They’re soaring, they’re flying

There’s not an owl in Portal that we can’t reach

Yeah we’re trying, but they’re breaking free

Oh they’re breaking free

Can you hear they’re hooting

Like a ghost is boo-ing they refuse to come to

The nets are high up there oooo the night is gone, night is gone

2). Single Ladies by Beyoncé Parody (By Jacob, Nishi, and Kayla)

All the Portal owls, all the Portal owls, all the Portal owls

Now put your nets up up

Up in the tree tree, looking at me me

Doing just what I should

Decided to swoop swoop

Now they wanna hoot hoot

Trying to fly away

 If you like it then you should put a band on it

If you like it then you should put a band on it

Don’t be mad if you can’t get an Elf owl

If you like it then you should put a band on it

Oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh ,oh

Oh, oh, oh

Oh ,oh, oh, oh ,oh ,oh

Oh ,oh, oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh ,oh

3). Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus Parody (By Ms. Calabrese)

We have our nets up

We’re playing those calls

The chattering fades away

Watching the skies like yeah

Listening for calls like yeah

We got our headlamps and all of our gear

We’re working the night away

Yeaaaaaaahhh we’re conducting an owl survey

All jokes aside, this has been an amazing trip, and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend my spring break than meeting new people, making incredible friends, and eating dinner outside while the sun is setting, and lemonade is coming out of our noses because we were laughing too hard. I am extremely grateful for this memorable experience and a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Teamwork Posted by Olivia Perkowski

Today was a day like no other. We learned to work together in a way that none of us have ever experienced before. Sure, we’ve worked in groups in school or played on a sports team, but teamwork like that is different. Working out on the field and stepping out of our comfort zones is new for each and every one of us. 

Today was about being aware and prepared. We each had a different role in every situation and staying focused and alert was very important. Our day started out with a scavenger hunt after breakfast. We broke off into teams of three and began to search. The goal was to identify the five different species of trees that our teachers had flagged, write down the coordinates of where the tree was located and explain how we knew the species. Considering how new we all are at being botanists I would say we all did a pretty good job. 

To many people field work with owls may seem a little simpler than it really is. Personally before this trip, I thought how hard could it really be. I didn’t realize how much equipment and further knowledge was needed. For example we learned how to use a spherical densiometer today. We learned the formulas for counting vegetation and for sky and how to fill all that information onto the data sheet. Once we finished practicing that we realized that we now had all the information to practice filling out the entire data sheet including calculating the dbh, finding the UTM, the type of cavity and tree, and so on. Later, in the afternoon we went out further into the field and practiced setting up a 50 meter cavity plot. Doing this requires a team effort and every one of us had a different role to accomplish. We split up into two teams half of us with Nikki and the other half with Dave. The two teams together made one whole cavity plot and although it wasn’t all perfect we were proud of what we now knew how to do. After dinner we went out for our daily night hike which resulted in us catching a whiskered screech owl and listening to two other different species. At the end of the day we all discussed how working together and working efficiently is beneficial for everyone and although we already knew how important teamwork and communication was, today we reached a new level of understanding.

Becoming Botanists For a Day

     "Botany,-the science of the vegetable kingdom, is one of the most attractive, most useful, and most extensive departments of human knowledge.  It is, above every other, the science of beauty" (Samuel Griswold Goodrich).  This quote accurately describes our third day at the Southwestern Research Station.  We learned the importance and relevancy of botany in not only our days doing field research, but our daily lives.  Living in New York City, we are surrounded by more buildings than trees, so they aren't major parts of our days.  We know the trees are there, but never care to observe them or recognize what they are.  Being in Arizona for three days so far has showed us the variation in plant and tree species as you go from desert to dense forests.  I think we were too mesmerized by the insanely beautiful mountains to even look at the difference in vegetation on our way here.  However, today we became botanists and our viewpoints on trees were forever changed.

     The day began with an activity set up by our teachers to write ideas and questions about the following categories: Owl Research and Fieldwork, Teamwork, and Classroom Connections.  This led to discussions on what our teamwork should be like in the field and how what we have learned in these short few days connects to either our past or present science classes.  We discussed topics like aerodynamics of the owls and how that relates to the curriculum of physics, the importance of good communication and trust in teamwork, and how often data we collect is uploaded.  It was interesting to hear the different ideas some of us had, but also how similar we thought for many things.

     After the morning activity, we learned about how UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) works and its use in the field.  When we collect cavity data for specific locations, the northing and easting are extremely important.  They can be found using the GPS devices we have been using. We moved onto identifying trees based on the samples of leaves and branches we collected, using books about plant species.  This took up a lot of our afternoon because of the difficulty we had trying to match the descriptions or pictures of trees to the samples.  Before even starting, we went over the difference between single and cluster needles and the types of leaves, like simple, compound, alternate, and opposite.  We learned the different types of trees such as oaks, conifers, and sycamores.  Overall this was a fun and challenging experience that I know I will take with me outside of the field research this week.  I think it's safe to say none of us will be able to look at trees the same way again.

Second Day Adventure - Posted by Jacob Zalot

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Thursday, April 6th, 2018

The Morning Net Training

After our first sleep in the SWRS (South Western Research Station), we got up for breakfast and got ready to learn how to put up capture nets. First used the night before, we didn't have much experience with them, especially due to it being at night and hard to see, so it was decided that we will practice putting them on and taking them down during the day, so when the time at night comes, when it is hard to see, we will be able to quickly and efficiently put them up.

 

We used a "mist net" (as shown Above) a hair net like object designed to trap flying animals in it without injuring them. The animal would fly into the net then fall into a sort of pocket, holding the animal in place. There were 2 net setups we went through, the first one being a "by hand" setup, where it would be held up on poles by 2 people, each on either side. Simply, you extend the poles with the net on them, moving away from each other to keep enough tension on the net so it will stay up (as shown Below).

The second setup was a hands-free setup, by driving threads into the ground to mount the poles into. They would be held up with two counterweights on each end, holding the poles from falling down. This could be used to setup sneaky traps for some of the smarter birds, where we don't have to be near the net while it still being functional (shown Below). This setup takes longer to setup, but can be very useful to catch birds that can be hard to see or hear.

The Mountain Tree Research Trip

As one of our tasks for the day, we had to take a trip after lunch up to the top of the mountain, getting samples of trees for research. We drove about half an hour up the mountain, with narrow roads and steep cliffs, all the way to the peak about 8000 feet high (shown Below)! 

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Walking around the top of the mountain, we could see far in the distance, and every other mountain and desert looked back. We got many tree samples from the partially burnt down forest on the peak (shown Above), then proceeded to move halfway down the mountain to where we followed a small river up to some more tree samples (shown Below). On our way back down, we spotted a couple of deer, and even a cow grazing in the grass!

Once back, we stored away the bags of leaves, getting them ready for organization tomorrow.

Nighttime  Captures

Last night was a pretty successful night, where we caught 2 different types of owls! Slowly moving down the road, we lured in the first owl being a Whiskered Screech Owl. This owl was not tagged, meaning it was the first time we've seen this particular owl. After putting a small harmless tag around the owl's ankle we did some measurements, took some pictures (shown Below), then let him fly away.

The second bird was caught about 20 minutes later further up the road. Being a Western Screech Owl, it was a bit bigger than the first bird. Being already tagged, this means it survived the year and will hopefully survive longer. He was a bit more aggravated than the first bird, flapping around at the beginning, but soon calming down. We did some measurements, took pictures (shown Below), then let him go off into the night (which we got a video of)! 

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(Video of owl Taking off!)

Final thoughts

Yesterday was a very fun and successful day. We did a lot of hiking and research, marking the first real day being here. We hope that the following days are just as successful, for a fun and educational trip. 

- ☺ -

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Starry First Night - Posted by Terence Chow

"Starry starry night, paint your palette blue and sky. Look out on a summer's day, with eyes that know the darkness in my soul. Shadows on the hill, sketch the tree and the daffodils. Catch the breeze and the winter chills, in the colors on the snowy linen land." - Vincent by Don McLean

Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. I looked at the fluorescent-lit pointers slowly creeping towards 9 on my watch under the starry night of the Grand Canyon State, wind breezes to the point where it feels like we never even left New York, and everyone said we are in a desert? Definitely feels odd as a high altitude and low humidity region, to have such aggressive crosswinds that sweep dust into our face. Snapping back, we have been standing here for a good 10 minutes; quietness took over our breath, solitude took over our movement. I stare into my watch once again: tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, and I took off into blank space..

My name is Terence, one of the fellow Earthwatch explorers who are spending their spring break into the depth of Arizona to follow and study owls, one of the most majestic animals there is, "A pinnacle of evolution." I love to travel, I love to stargaze, I love to study animals and I love to question and explore the blue planet that we call home; this trip is pretty much a perfect match for me and I have been loving it as we are 2 days into the Copper State. We spent the first night in Tucson to settle into the roughness of mountains, as we are totally in awe of how gorgeous and breathtaking the sceneries are around us. Day 2, we met Nikki and Dave, the trip project staff at our hotel in the morning, really passionate and amazing people to talk to and I'm already looking forward to the trip to study owls with them. We grabbed our luggage and started our 3 hours road trip into the research station in the town of Portal.

- Road tripping across the desert with Nikki (Left), Ms Mancebo (Right) with my fellow trip buddies: Asianna, Jacob and Ridwan (Background)

I always love a good road trip, always leads to places I never been before especially in this vast and beautiful land of the United States. As I look down towards that open road, I see cars, I see dust, I see vast emptiness, I see infinite amount of destinations that the road can lead to: from Tuscon to Montana, from Los Angeles to New York, from nowhere to everywhere. Though everyone has one clear destination in mind: Southwestern Research Station. As the interstate highway ends. the convoy slowly drives into the state park's mountainous terrain, things started to get bumpy as gravel paved road shocked and awoken the car's suspension to absorb that buoyant, our back starts to scream pain and begging for the bumpy condition to stop. But the breathtaking nature calmly control the entire situation as we are mesmerized by the scenery passed by our dirt-covered cars, we took out cameras, phones, tried to capture the best moments of the mountains, of the creeks and of the forest. 

The jaw drop didn't stop there. As we arrived at the station, two things took over us: the jaw actually dropping and the solitude of the environment. It is honestly one of the most quiet and alluring environments that I have been, dust covers the ground around the station as water-lacking trees surrounds the narrow creek that slowly and quietly runs through the station. One of the things that catches my attention is the mountain ranges that sits comfortably at the backdrop of the station, it reminds me of the Californian Yosemite a little bit, with a similar landscape and shadow spots on the surface. I wonder who dared to conquer such devilish altitude?

- The mountain ranges behind the station

    

- Sunset Reflection on the clouds, the finest of atmospheric optics in Arizona.

After we quickly settled in our dorm rooms, we swiftly proceeded to our intro course to the entire expedition. Dave and Nikki gave us a detailed yet simple lecture on different types of owls we can find around the area and the uniqueness of the region on biodiversity. 

- Dave (Left) explaining why Owls are the pinnacle of evolution in science.

The lecture was knowledge-filling and interesting as we get to know more why scientist do what they do with owl studying, though I'm really eager to actually go to the field and see an owl, so were my trip buddies and teachers. So we decided to head off to one of the field study areas nearby by hiking, during nighttime. A lot of us were excited and anxious at the same time as they never venture into the dark and see some starry nights, I have seen it before in numerous places around the world, though never one in desert. One of the most alluring things about stargazing is that every starry sky you see is different, it's ever changing when you are in a different time looking at it or different location studying it. As we walked down the gravel road in the dark, we turned on our headlights and look around: Everything is still, like time stopped for us to look around. It's vastly different from daytime as there are animals running around and people doing activities, but during the nighttime it's like a painting depicting the world standing still with the starry night surround and hug us. At this point in my train of thought I decided to pull out my earphones to listen the only song I had in mind: Vincent by Don McLean, depicting the beautiful starry night and giving it to Vincent Van Gogh, the painter of "The Starry Night" as a homage, I instantly felt relaxed and merge one with the nature as the guitar soothes my ears like a lullaby.

Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Pointers slowly creeps away.

Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Dust aggressively slap our face.

Tick, tock. Tick tock. The Orion moves towards the Polaris.

Time slowly went away as we waited the owls to appear and fall into our net, solitude slowly took over our senses and slowly we felt disappointed, frustrated. Why wouldn't it appear? Are we doing something wrong?

Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. I looked at the fluorescent-lit pointers slowly creeping towards 9 on my watch under the starry night of the Grand Canyon State, I slowly space out into the blank space as the dust piled up in my ear canal. It's so quiet I can only hear my clock slowly ran with the iconic sound:

Tick, tock. Tick, hoot. Tick, hoot. Hoot, hoot. Wait..

The net slowly moves and we found ourselves a cute little owl struggling in our net. All of us rushed forwards and start to admire how cute the little fella is, Dave and Nikki immediately record and hush the little owl into calmness to let us obverse the owl. It's an adult Whiskered-Screech Owl, known for their cat-like whiskers on their face, it's also one of the more common owl species we will find in the area. Everyone start to take pictures and in awe with how amazing nature is that we normally won't encounter back in the New York City. I think my eyes were more wide open than the freaked-out owl that was staring at us as Dave holds him firmly, it's my first time seeing an owl with my own eyes and I couldn't be more amazed by it. We pet him for moment then we let him go back into the wild.

As Henry David Thoreau once said, "All good things are wild and free." As we let owls back into the wild we also never forget why are we here in the first place. To learn more about owls and to experience the nature, and the free spirit of wild west. Maybe after we leave Arizona we won't be able to see these owls again for a long while, but as long as their spirit runs in the nature and that we connect with the nature more, we can always be with them in the wild. At this point in my train of thought, I decided to pull out my earphones once again and listen to the only song that I have in my mind right now as I wrote this, and once again stare into blank space under our starry first night.

"I'm a light sleeper, but I'm a heavy dreamer. Do you believe in endless miracles, do you believe in the impossible? Do you believe, sleep is a time machine? Do you believe in curiosity, do you believe in what you cannot see? Do you believe, life is a lucid dream?" - Lucid Dream by Owl City

Get it? "Owl" City? Sigh, nevermind me.

  

Arriving in Arizona - Posted by Shabiha Nishi

Today is the day! The day that we travel to Arizona to study tiny forest owls. I have been waiting for this week since last year. My name is Nishi and I am in 12th grade. As soon as I heard about this opportunity, I knew I wanted to be part of this amazing trip. I love traveling, doing photography, and learning science. What other way would I have spent my last spring break in high school? Nothing beats traveling to a beautiful state with the teachers and friends that you love.

Our team assembled at LaGuardia Airport and took a 5 hour flight to Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) Airport. At first I was a bit nervous as I haven’t been on a plane in over 6 years, but I was fine. However, when we landed in Dallas, almost every team member was complaining how they felt nauseous. I thought to myself “Wow, I’m glad I’m not the only one.” As always, airports aren’t reliable, so our flight was delayed 4 times! I wasn’t complaining though because that gave me extra time to eat frozen yogurt (yummmm). The flight from DFW to Tucson International Airport (TUS) was much better. I woke up from a nap only to witness one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen. The pinkish/orangey sky is something a picture can’t do justice for. It’s just one of those things you have to see in real life to truly appreciate it. I also saw these huge circular areas of land from the plane. I Googled it and found out it’s a center pivot irrigation, which is a circular area centered on the pivot that is irrigated, often creating a circular pattern in crops when viewed from above.

As soon as we got out of the Tucson Airport, I saw huge cacti triple the size of me. You could definitely tell we weren’t from Arizona because we were all looking at the cacti in awe. We got a little lost on the way to our hotel. A man in a van pulled up out of nowhere to help us reach our destination and all I hear in the background is Kayla going “uh uh”. We were all dying of laughter because as New Yorkers, a van pulling up to you never means good business, but we forgot we were in Arizona and people are here to help (lol).

After a long day of travel, we finally checked into our hotels. The best part was that we all got free cookies. I am so happy to be here and this is the coolest way to spend my break. As a photographer, it is a dream to be somewhere as beautiful as Arizona. I’m having a great time capturing pictures and I can’t wait for the rest of the week!