Donnelley Wildlife Management Area

On Saturday I visited the Donnelley Wildlife Management Area in South Carolina. I moved from Wisconsin to Charleston, South Carolina (about an hour east of the Donnelley reserve) in the fall of 2006. My first fall in Charleston, I learned that a few Whooping Cranes from the eastern migratory flock were wintering in South Carolina. I was excited to learn this, and during a late fall trip to the Donnelley reserve last year, I saw two of the wintering cranes.

My husband and I headed west last weekend to see if we could see the Whooping Cranes that spent this winter in and near the Donnelley reserve. Unfortunately, we didn't see the cranes (they may have already started their spring migration north), but I wanted to share some images with you of the beautiful landscape that surrounds the cranes (and me!) during their winter months in the south.

As we entered the reserve, we noticed that some of the upland areas were recently burned. Land managers do burns like this in the late winter in South Carolina to improve the health of the forest and to help control the risk of dangerous fires (the burns remove fuel - pine needles, leaves and branches - on the forest floor). The reserve also includes a natural stand of longleaf pine - a species of tree that needs fire for its life cycle.

The Donnelley WMA is a wintering area for many different types of waterbirds. We saw many ducks during our visit, including the two mallard ducks pictured below in a tupelo swamp.

Cabbage palmettos (the green, fan-shaped plants below) and live oaks are found in the remaining maritime forests along the coast.

Rice field trunks (below) were historically used to manage water levels in rice fields along the South Carolina coast. Today, staff continue to manage wetlands within the Donnelley reserve using this same method. The trunk (a long hollow box) is built into a dike (an earthen wall surrounding a pond) and doors on both ends of the trunk control the amount of water that enters or leaves the pond. One end of the trunk faces a river or tidal creek, and the other end faces the pond. When the tide rises, water flows from the river or creek into the pond, where it is trapped when the tide recedes. The staff can lower the water level within a pond by simply opening the trunk door and allowing the water to exit between high and low tides (when the water will flow back into the creek or river).

We also say MANY alligators during our visit! In the second image below, the lines in the water are alligators.

Late winter and early spring is when the pine trees release their pollen. In the picture below, the yellow in the water is pollen.

Two signs that spring is near - the live oaks loose their small waxy leaves in the spring (below), and we found these small flowers (violets?), growing in the shade of the oaks and pines.

Poyang Lake

The following posting is an excerpt from a story by Zhang Juan, an educator with Beijing Brooks Education Center. Zhang Juan describes her visit to Poyang Lake in Jiangxi Province, China. Click on the link below to read more from Zhang Juan's visit to Poyang Lake and click here to download a fact sheet and PowerPoint presentation on Jiangxi Province and the Poyang Lake Nature Reserve (the first of our spring 2008 field updates for Three White Cranes classrooms).

...Wild Siberian Cranes are watchful. Once they are aware of us, they will fly over more quickly than any other kind of waterbird in the lake. Their flight is very beautiful…Such a magic moment when Siberian Cranes are flying all over the sky – it catches the observers’ breath and fixes their attention.

There are more shorebirds, which look like black and white laces. They are thickly dotted along the edge of the lake. When they fly in groups, it seems a thick cloud flies in the air…

The soft ground and ponds near the road easily make people think a wetland is just a waste land, which is waiting for other uses. But, it is such a wild environment to be a habitat for birds....

PoyangLakeNatureReserve.pdf

Xianghai students received mail from Wisconsin students

It was exciting! At last, Xianghai Students received mail from their American friends! At the beginning of the Crane Project, we hoped students and teachers could learn crane knowledge and share their experiences through the Tracking Cranes website. However, Xianghai Middle School and many other Chinese Crane Flyway schools have not the equipment for the Internet, so they couldn't visit our website. So I and American teachers hoped students from China and USA could communicate through regular mail. Because Chinese students learn English since they are 10 or 11 years old, they can write a letter in simple English.
How wonderful it is! It is turned to truth!

Chinese and Russian Teachers Visit Hawley Environmental School

On February 8th two teachers from China and one teacher from Russia came to our school for the day. They were part of the Three White Cranes, Two Flyways, One World grant. This summer, Mrs. Fare our science teacher went to China to teach students and other educators about environmental lessons.
The three visiting teachers, Hu Yabin, Zhang Juan and Marina, came to talk to our fourth and fifth graders about what they do to help cranes in thier country. They also spoke to our second and third graders about life in their countries. Our students had lots of interesting questions for them!

Here are a few thoughts about their visit from some of our students: "I thought thier visit was special because they showed us pictures of what they do in China and Russia." -Zoey Kuenning
"The kids from China create amazing paper-cut art work. I wish I could paper cut like that!"-Alfreemon Flowers "We made neat crane cloth print banners with the visiting teachers. They got to take two banners back with them and we got to hang three banners in our school." -Malcolm Gregory "They game Zhang Juan taught us was very unique and tricky because you cannot use your hands!" -R'Teja Lopez "It was neat to see Chinese and Russian money." -Victoria Poindexter "I liked watching Marina sing and dance." -Dane O'Donnell "I think thier visit was a great learning experience because we learned more about cranes and it was a fun day." -Cameron Cotton

The staff at Hawley school also had the opportunity to meet them during a pizza luncheon held for them in the teacher's lounge. They got to sample lots of desserts! Yum!

Hawley Environmental School is very honored to be a part of this outstanding grant project and host part of their visit to Wisconsin. We thank them for their visit! It was a memorable day that sparked cultural connections and awareness for our students that could last a lifetime.