STEM Nova Award, BSA

Wild Wednesday - July 24 - Too Close

Respect wildlife and give them space.

Keep the wild in wildlife.

If I followed the “Wildlife Rule of Thumb”, I was TOO CLOSE to these Bighorn Sheep along the road above Georgetown, Colorado.

My extended thumb should cover an animal. Otherwise, I am TOO CLOSE.

See the math explanation in our Wild Wednesday of 14 April 2021.

I believe the sheep were licking the salt leftovers along the road. They seemed to be used to people.

For both your safety and the safety and wild of the wildlife, don’t get TOO CLOSE.

This throwback to 2021 shows the math of the Rule of Thumb. Look for some Bighorn Sheep in the next few hours on this page.

Wild Wednesday - July 17 - Tiny Toads

Although it is mid-summer and we think of spring as young animal time, we might see many young animals out in the wild.

Leave them alone unless they are definitely injured. Parents are probably nearby if they are supposed to be nurtured.

We have seen tiny toads on different trails. They were in grass and woodland rather than near water. We had observed toad eggs and tadpoles in ponds. These tiny toads were about an inch long. I didn’t try to pick them up because oil on my hands might bother their skin.

I’ve also seen pictures of young fawns and possums carrying young. I’ll try to post a so-so video.

Insects might have adults but also larva or instar forms. Animals like crayfish and snakes just get bigger.

Explore. Respect nature. Stay curious.

Wild Wednesday - July 10 - Weather Observations

Most of us are experiencing weather. It's hot. It's cool. It's wet. It's dry. How hot and steamy is it? How much rain fell yesterday?

We can have our own weather station. Or we can look at a nearby weather station's data. How do we do that?

One way to find your local data is to go to the National Weather Service main map and click on the map or search for your ZIP code. From the page that comes up, there is a list of "More Information" which include "3 Day History" and "More Local Wx". Explore.

Encourage your scouts to learn more about something that interests them. Older scouts might explore through a merit badge. Foster curiosity. It might be the beginning of a career or a hobby.

Wild Wednesday - July 3 - Cloud Shapes

It has come to my attention that young people don’t idly stare at the sky imagining shapes (and especially animals) in the clouds.

Sitting idly. No devices. No purpose. Just soaking up nature. Maybe noticing things. Maybe not.

I took this photo of the lake and kayaks and noticed a sort of rectangle above the mountain. Maybe it is a flag for celebrating Fourth of July tomorrow? A photo in the comments has a cloud looking sort of like a chevron (or a greater than sign).

Enjoy relaxing and soaking up the wild. It doesn’t always have to have a purpose.

Wild Wednesday - June 26 - Vanishing Point

The Vanishing Point is where two or more parallel lines appear to converge in the distance. That point is often at the horizon as is seen in the post photo with parallel clouds.

The most common way to see this concept is parallel railroad tracks that appear to converge.

But we might ask Scouts to consider other examples and what is happening. I looked at lines in a parking lot. We know they are parallel - talk about what parallel means. But if we look between them down the path between them, they seem to be further apart close to us and closer together far from us. What do you observe if you look at those lines sideways?

When hiking, how wide does a path look close to you? Does it look narrower further ahead?

"Perspective" is not one of the terms included in the Art merit badge. However, getting perspective right matters in sketching. Having the lines appear to converge provides depth to a sketch or painting.

Analyzing the vanishing points might help in detecting objects in a scene using computer vision.

But once again, encourage the Scouts to notice the world around them. Maybe something will spark their interest so that they want to learn more.

Wild Wednesday - June 19 - Fireflies or Lightning Bugs

Have you seen fireflies on summer evenings? They flash in various ways to attract mates. They can teach us lessons as well.

There are thousands of species of fireflies worldwide. Their distinguishing feature is that they can emit light at some stage of their life. Most species have specific light patterns that help them find each other. They want to find mates of their own species and avoid others that may harm them. Some are synchronous in that they seem to flash in unison. See the synchronous link in the comments.

What makes them fireflies is that they use bioluminescence. The larval stages of all fireflies glow. How? A chemical reaction happens in their abdomens creating light with very little heat. The light-emitting compound is a luciferin, and it interacts with oxygen to create the light. The fireflies might control this with airflow through their abdomens.

Protecting habitat matters. Like many insects, fireflies go through complete metamorphosis from egg to larva to pupa to adult. These stages may take years. Disturbing the ground can harm them. Insecticides can harm them.

In addition to the normal loss of habitat, they are also harmed by light pollution. Too much light and artificial light interferes with their courtship light signals. The fireflies are like people at a star party. It is polite to not interfere with their ability to see at night. If you are going someplace to observe fireflies, use a red filter on any flashlights and use them sparingly.

Scouts learn the principles of Leave No Trace. Capturing fireflies and observing them briefly may be okay. But hold them only briefly and release them where they were found. This is their time to find their mates and continue their species. Some of them do not eat while adults. Do not interfere with their lives.

Finally, are they fireflies or lightning bugs? This is an example of regional language dialects. About 29% of the people in the US say "lightning bug", about 30% say "firefly" and about 40% use both interchangeably. Studying dialects is not "wild", but it is science applied in other fields. Finding intriguing connections and interests is part of scouting. Check out the map from the 2003 Harvard Dialect Survey in the comments.

The image is from my yard in Pennsylvania and has stars because the Moon was close to new on June 6, 2024. 13 second exposure at ISO 800. Camera was on a tripod with a 2-second shutter delay to avoid bouncy blur.

Wild Wednesday - June 12 - Radial Symmetry

We were looking at examples of the updated Cub Scout program adventures. We considered Balancing Bears and briefly talked about bilateral symmetry and radial symmetry. The description notes "you’ll look to nature and discover a world of mathematics called symmetry in which things are balanced."

Dandelion seed heads have radial symmetry around the central point. The handbook has pictures of a sliced orange. Snowflakes often have radial symmetry.

What other examples can you find?

When we were looking at other adventures (Rolling Tigers), we noted that a bicycle wheel has radial symmetry.

The updated adventures have example activities. You can do other activities that meet the requirements. Encourage your Cub Scouts to work on elective adventures during the summer.

Oops! This was the topic of my planned Wild Wednesday for today. I need to come up with something else. It will be later today.

Wild Wednesday - June 21 - Milkweed

Many of us are planting milkweed to support monarch butterflies. The monarch caterpillars eat only milkweed - Asclepias. It is their host plant. There are many species of native milkweed that the monarch caterpillars will eat. But the caterpillars want only milkweed. They are picky eaters.

If you are planting milkweed, choose a species native to your area.

The "milk" in the milkweed name refers to the sticky white sap in the leaves. That sap is toxic to many animals. Insects that have adapted to eating milkweed taste bad to predators. They often have bright orange or red warning colors.

A wide variety of bees and butterflies visit milkweed flowers. The flowers do not have the sticky white milkweed sap.

But other insects do eat the leaves, seed pods, or stems. The milkweed tussock moth caterpillar eats it (often in large fuzzy swarms). Milkweed stem weevils attack the stems. Large and small milkweed bugs are red and use the seed pods. Red milkweed beetles eat the leaves. Milkweed leaf beetles also eat the leaves.

The monarch butterflies are bright, familiar, migratory, and not as prevalent as they once were. Planting milkweed plants is something scouts can do as a conservation project.

Remind the scouts that they should wash their hands after handling milkweed. Be careful to not get the sap in eyes.

Planting native milkweed is something we can do to help the monarchs. And such plantings will support other insects as well.

Wild Wednesday - June 5 - Mass Emergence

Sometimes animals have large population changes. In 2024, there has been much hype about cicada emergence. Note that I said "hype". When you look deeper into the details, it isn't the huge event you might have heard about. But the normal mass emergence of 17-year and 13-year cicadas is an awesome event.

The insects emerge to find mates and reproduce in huge numbers so that their species survives. The huge numbers overwhelm the predators' ability to eat them all. And with a lot of individuals emerging, it is easy to find a mate. The species survives. And they are loud. Hear video in a comment.

Periodical cicadas do this in multi-year cycles that are prime numbers of years. Perhaps that prime number cycle developed as they were the successful species that managed to avoid cycles of predators.

Another theory is that mass emergences of somewhat small populations help the individuals find mates of the same species. Cicadas may be loud, but they don't travel far unless they hitch a ride on your car. And then wherever you went, they possibly won't find a mate. Most of them stay close to home. They don't spread out much. Some named broods are extinct. Local populations can be eliminated when development destroys old trees where the nymph cicadas are growing on the roots. There are multiple species of Magicicacda (the long period cicada). Perhaps the prime number cycle helped them find the right mates and not create hybrids between the species.

See the "Evolution of periodicity in periodical cicadas" article in the comments, but note that it is dense reading.

Other insects also emerge en masse to find mates. Locally, we have a huge mayfly emergence every year. For about a month, huge numbers of these insects emerge as adults, find a mate, and reproduce. They don't eat as adults.

Encourage your Scouts to explore the reasons but mostly to soak up the experience of your local mass emergence.

Wild Wednesday - May 29 - Purple

Today on our hike, we looked for purple. The first two rows of the image show what we found. When you go on a hike, encourage the Scouts to notice the color differences. Notice textures and shapes. Look carefully.

Although all of the plants and animals in the graphic have scientific names using binomial nomenclature, the lists here give common names. For some of them, I don't know species. List is by row top to bottom and left to right within row.

More discussion of comparisons below identifications.

Top row: Ground ivy / Creeping Charlie, Tufted Vetch, Venus Looking Glass, Spiderwort

Second row: Poison Hemlock (purple on stems), Creeping Thistle (with yellow-collared scape moth), Mulberry

Third row: Queen Anne's lace (purple center), Thistle with weevil, Pokeberry

Fourth row: Silver Crust Fungus, Violet Damselfly, Tiger Swallowtail on Thistle, Lobelia

Bottom row: Violet-toothed Polypore, Viscid Violet Cort, Purple Aster, Violet with frost

That second line of photos are things we found today that we can compare to the purple items below them.

Poison Hemlock and Queen Anne's Lace have similar lacy white flowers. The purple on the stems of the Poison Hemlock are part of identifying it. The purple central flower on Queen Anne's Lace is one way to identify it. That central purple part may be quite small.

Thistles are just starting to bloom here. They often attract insects. The purple we notice may help us notice other things. Encourage the Scouts to look closely.

We may start encountering berries that may or may not be edible. We ate the ripe mulberries. But we would not eat the pokeberries. We also saw elderberry flowers; their berries are not edible raw.

Be EXTREMELY careful foraging. That is especially important with fungus. You may think you know what something is, but you might be wrong. I do not eat any wild fungus.

As I'm working on tomorrow's Wild Wednesday, I'm checking on what topics we have already covered. Green! Maybe it's time for purple.

Wild Wednesday - May 11 - What is Green?

There are so many shades of green. Looking at just the trees as they leaf out shows a multitude of colors. Note that some of your scouts may be red-green color blind and may have trouble distinguishing between them.

This is the time of year to remind scouts about poison ivy/oak/sumac and other irritating plants. There are two examples of poison ivy in the graphic.

But plants aren't the only things that are green. There are insects and a frog in the graphic.

When you go on a hike, encourage the scouts to notice the color differences. Perhaps they can look for white or yellow or purple. Notice textures and shapes.

Although all of the plants and animals in the graphic have scientific names using binomial nomenclature, the list below gives common names. For some of them, I don't know species. List is by row top to bottom and left to right within row.

Top row: May apple; rhododendron, hemlock, and mountain laurel; katydid nymph on milkweed; milkweed flower buds

Second row: pawpaw; greater anglewing katydid; green gentian flower; poison ivy

Third row: intermediate wood fern and fishing spider; green coneheaded planthopper

Fourth row: polypodiales fern with frost; bullfrog; ground pine; toothed spurge

Bottom row: poison ivy; pineapple-weed; fiddlehead of an emerging fern; pale green assassin bug on sassafras

Wild Wednesday - May 8 - Molting

Note that collecting feathers is illegal in the US. A Scout is Obedient.

These feathers seem to be from Turkey Vultures. Many of the vultures currently have spaces in their wings as they replace their worn feathers with new ones. They are molting.

Often the feathers are shed symmetrically so that feathers in the same location of each wing fall out and are replaced. This helps the bird retain its ability to fly efficiently. A photo in the comments shows symmetric and asymmetric (not symmetric) examples.

In researching this Wild Wednesday, I found a detailed yet readable 7-page PDF study from the Wilson Journal of Ornithology (study of birds) from 2010 titled "Flight Feather Molt of Turkey Vultures". Link in the comments.

Look for a long explanation of molting from All About Birds in the comments.

Also look for a picture comparing birds of prey (eagles, vultures, and osprey) in the comments.

There are many opportunities for Scouts to learn while looking at birds. The Birding merit badge is one opportunity. The Animal Science merit badge has an Avian option. But other ranks have them note local animals.

Wild Wednesday - May 15 - Flipped

While I was watching these Tiger Swallowtail butterflies, I saw them as the same color yellow as they fluttered around. I hoped to get all three in one photo. But that didn’t happen. I took about 20 photos in a few minutes.

When I was at home looking at the photos, I noticed one of the butterflies was not the same. But I knew that they were all looking similar. What had happened?

And then I realized that in one picture, the butterfly had flipped over. We are seeing its ventral or under side. If you look closely, you see its fuzzy yellow body.

I was sure this wasn’t a different butterfly species. My first thought was the lighting. But then I investigated further. I know the some female Tiger Swallowtails are black. Then I realized it was upside-down.

Encourage the Scouts to be curious and notice things and question what’s in pictures.

Aurora alert for Friday May 10. Yes, even further south than you might imagine.

Wild Wednesday - May 8 - Snakes

As the weather warms, we may encounter more snakes when we are outdoors.

As Scouts, we learn to appreciate nature and protect wildlife. For snakes, this means that we do not harm them unless truly necessary. We walk around them without disturbing them. We might herd them off a street or trail so that they are not hurt.

Learn which snakes in your area are venomous. This garter snake was not. It was stretched out on a trail until I needed to walk around it. Video of it sensing with its tongue in the comments.

Consider sharing the "Snake Bite" Safety Moment with your Scouts. One action not mentioned there (but in the first aid video) is removing rings if the victim is bitten on the arm. Their fingers may swell. That also applies to bee stings. Also take a picture of the snake if possible.

Older scouts should learn which snakes are venomous and how to treat a snakebite (pages 129-130; Tenderfoot 4a; see the Safety Moment details).

The Reptiles and Amphibians merit badge provides an opportunity for learning more about them.

The Den Leader resources for the Lion through Wolf ranks of the updated Cub Scout program are now active. The resources for Bear through Arrow of Light will be available by June 1 when the updated program takes effect.

Scan the QR code in the handbook to access these resources.

This is the Tiger (engineering elective) Designed by Tiger. Although the activities in the resources are examples, leaders and Scouts could choose other projects. Those are examples. Reflection on what worked and what didn't is an important part of the Scouting program.

The QR-code would take you to:
https://www.scouting.org/cub-scout-adventures/designed-by-tiger/

Wild Wednesday - May 1 - Lift Subject from Background

My iPhone (and I believe Android phones as well) provides a feature to touch a substantial "subject" in a photo and "lift" it away from the background. It offers to create a sticker of that subject, but I can also just save the image. The images might lose some details around the edges and won't be as artistic. But they let us focus on the subject.

How might we use this with Scouts?

We could create a matching / concentration game with pictures of wild things. Print two copies of a page of pictures on card stock and cut them out like cards. Shuffle. Place them face down but spread out. Take turns trying to find matches.

Look for a sample page in the comments. Scouts could make their own.

The Scouts could take pictures of wild things and do the lifting process themselves. Technology. They could explore which kinds of images benefit from the lifting. What details are retained? What are lost? Do different lifting tools give different results? How do you test that?

I took all of these pictures. We might discuss copyright. That is a topic in the Digital Technology merit badge.

Encourage the scouts to explore features but do so responsibly.

Wild Wednesday - April 24 - Dandelion Diffraction

Play with the dandelions. Last night I pulled up a previous Wild Wednesday about dunking dandelions to start my Cub Scout meeting.

A few days ago, I took advantage of the multitude of dandelions in my yard to explore the diffraction of sunlight through the fluff.

There are many little barbs on the fluff stems that help diffract the sunlight breaking it into its different colors. This is best photographed without focus. Diffraction of sunlight is also seen in spider webs, milkweed fluff, and hair.

With our recent experience with the solar eclipse, Scouts should know not to look at the sun. But they might explore whether they can catch some colors with sunlight through the fluff.

Perhaps next time we will look more closely at the fluff using a magnifying glass or a microscope.

Today is Earth Day - April 22.

Have your Scouts BSA Scouts considered the BSA Distinguished Conservation Service Award Program? More details at ...
https://www.scouting.org/outdoor-programs/conservation-and-environment/conservation-awards-and-recognitions/bsa-distinguished-conservation-service-award/

In the updated Cub Scout program which starts June 1, each rank has a conservation-related elective adventure titled Champions for Nature. In the current program, Wolves, Bears, and Webelos can still earn the World Conservation Award. See ...
https://www.scouting.org/awards/awards-central/world-conservation/

Wild Wednesday - 2021 April 21

The first official Earth Day was in 1970.
Since BSA's founding, conservation has been part of our program.

There are many ways, both large and small, to help the planet.

The World Conservation Award (available for most Scouting youth) includes a unit conservation project and age-appropriate additional requirements.

Wild Wednesday - April 17 - Unfurling

Unfurling is opening up and stretching out.

Ferns are unfurling their fronds throughout our woods. The fiddlehead spirals are intriguing shapes. Can you find some in your woods?

Unfurling is applied to sails on a sailboat as well as flags.

I'd also like to apply unfurling to the updated Cub Scout program and the handbooks that were released for sale on Monday, April 15. Although the den leader resources are not yet available, we can explore the many new adventures. In particular, there are adventures for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math at each rank from Lion through Arrow of Light. Many of the other adventures (Outdoor and Champions of Nature in particular) also have STEM aspects. As Scouts and their parents and leaders look through their handbooks, they see STEM as part of the Scouting program. And it's fun.

The updated Cub Scout program is unfurling. Check it out.

After our Moon Shadow Wild Wednesday yesterday, here is NASA's view from further out in space than the International Space Station. These are views from multiple satellites.

Total Solar Eclipse Darkens North America Satellites gathered striking views of the Moon’s shadow from above as observers on the ground were awed by the Sun’s corona.

Wild Wednesday - April 10 - Moon Shadow

Hopefully you had an opportunity to view Monday's total solar eclipse. Did you at least see a partial solar eclipse? The Scout Life Eclipse Live broadcast was live as it happened. There is a link in the comments.

I had clouds (and some light rain) throughout the eclipse despite being positioned in totality. No need for eclipse glasses. No need for the blanket to observe shadow bands. No need to project crescents with various means. No need to get great pictures of the corona. No sighting of planets beside the sun.

But that let me concentrate on the darkness of being in the Moon's shadow for a little over 3 minutes. I created a time-lapse video. This post's picture is three images from that time-lapse as the Moon's shadow moved away from us.

So many of us tried to get under the Moon's shadow. We looked up and around. Being in the shadow was very different from being outside the shadow. Had you thought about the "being in the Moon's shadow" perspective?

Astronauts on the International Space Station saw the shadow from above. But they weren't in the shadow. Link to those photos in the comments.

As they shared their eclipse expereinces, one of my Cub Scouts asked why there aren't eclipses every month. I answered briefly about the tilts of orbits that don't line up. I'm including a link to "Why Aren't There Eclipses Every Month" from minutephysics.

The next eclipse for the contiguous United States will be a partial lunar eclipse where a small part of the Moon will go through the Earth's shadow. That will be on September 17, 2024.

Keep looking up.

About 3pm EDT today (2pm CDT), go outside and check your equipment. Glasses, sun location, projection paper, waffle hands. Do you get nice circular projections? How bright is your sky?

Clickable eclipse map noting duration of totality for April 8 eclipse. Part of the BSA eclipse patch requirements is finding a location. What is the maximum percent of the sun covered at your location? Can you reasonably get to 100% - totality?

Eclipse Map - April 8, 2024 - NSO - National Solar Observatory Explore the path of totality of the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse in this interactive google map.

Some citizen science opportunities during the eclipse. There are other non-eclipse opportunities, too.

Citizen Science April is Citizen Science month and NASA invites you to follow on X@DoNASAScience on Facebook to learn about all of the wonderful opportunities for peole of all ages and skill levels to participate in legitimate scientific research with NASA.

Wild Wednesday - April 3 - Aquatic Animals

April 3rd is World Aquatic Animal Day. We know that fish, whales, penguins, beavers, and frogs live in the water. But that leaves out the aquatic insects, manatees, corals, and so many more.

Earth's surface is mostly water. Water is essential to our existence. That water must be clean. Keeping it clean for the animals helps keep it clean for people.

In Scouts BSA, various merit badges address aquatic animals and their habitats.

Fish & Wildlife Management MB addresses resources and threats as scouts "learn how animal diversity impacts the planet and the longevity of communities across the globe."

Environmental Science 3.c.2 and 3.c.3 involve effects of oil spills and biomagnification.

Insect Study 12 considers how insects fit into the food web.

Reptile and Amphibian Study 4 involves "how reptiles and amphibians are an important component of the natural environment."

Mammal Study 3c has Scouts "from study and reading, write a simple life history of one nongame mammal that lives in your area. Tell how this mammal lived before its habitat was affected in any way by humans."

In the updated Cub Scout program effective June 1, some of the Champions for Nature elective adventures will involve water sources and pollution as well as habitat. Champions for Nature is replacing the World Conservation awards and making them more visible in the Cub Scout program.

What do you observe in the water?

Eclipse viewing from National Park Service.
Totality is brief, but partial time to use these techniques is relatively long.

https://home.nps.gov/jeff/blogs/april-2024.htm?

April 2024 - Gateway Arch National Park (U.S. National Park Service) As I write this, it is now the end of March and we are getting very close to Eclipse Day, Monday April 8th. In the two previous editions of this blog, I discussed “Why the Magic Happens” and “Where the Magic Happens.” For this last eclipse posting, I am going to give some suggestions on how ...

The 2024 solar eclipse is less than a week from now. Do you have plans for observing it? Have you discussed safety?

Total Solar Eclipse Safety Eye Safety During a Total Solar Eclipse Except during the brief total phase of a total solar eclipse, when the Moon completely blocks the Sun’s bright face, it is not safe to look directly at the Sun without specialized eye protection for solar viewing. Viewing any part of the bright Sun through a...

Something extra to look for just before and after totality.

Just before and after totality, look at white surfaces and see if you can see shadow bands, a rippling of light caused by the thin sliver of sunlight in a turbulent atmosphere.
greatamericaneclipse.com