Randy's Naturalist History and Profile as iNaturalist randy135

Randy Puckett the person behind randy135 on iNaturalist 

Randy is a true "Nature Nerd"

Just read the sign

Nothing will keep him 

FROM getting outside and 

CLOSER to NATURE.....

2012 Dolly Sods Wilderness, West Virginia

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As a child I loved being outside and roaming the rural farm of five acres I grew up on as well as the adjacent farm woods just across the fence. Early fond memories of childhood were numerous camping trips in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park which is only about 15 miles from my childhood home. Cub Scout insect and leaf collections started my path to become a Naturalist later in life. As a kid I always wanted to be a scientist and after taking Biology my sophomore year of high school I was hooked.

I entered Tennessee Wesleyan College (TWC) in the fall of 1973 with plans to major in Biology. My Freshman year during the interim term in January 1974, I took a Field Ecology Course for a one month immersion in the Pearl River swamp lands in Mississippi. There were three male students and we lived in a small cabin and conducted research and collected Natural History specimens for the Zoology lab at TWC for three weeks. Before returning to TWC we visited a Gulf of Mexico coastal research facility ran by Mississippi State University. 

TWC being a smaller college allowed the students in Science to get experiences in the field and laboratories with research and hand’s on training in many science areas. I graduated from TWC with a BS in Biology in 1978.   

 

I later studied at Tennessee Tech University (TTU) in the Graduate Program of Environmental Biology with a minor in the Environmental areas of Civil Engineering.  

While at TTU, I assisted with field research in the North River watershed in the Cherokee National Forest which was impacted by road construction pollution with low pH, heavy metals, sedimentation, and other negative water quality issues. I did pH profiles of effected tributaries, chemical water quality tests, benthic aquatic insects bio-indicator studies, and in-stream fish bio-assay’s in this watershed. 

One of our control areas not impacted by the road construction in this area was the Citico Creek watershed and Wilderness area. We hiked into this remote area to do the same field studies as North River.

Although I finished all my graduate classes with a 4.0 average, as well as my Thesis research, I never received my Masters, which is another story.

I am more of General Ecologist with Environmental Issues interests, but I also know the value of Biodiversity studies which require accurate species Taxonomic identifications. iNaturalist is a great tool in order to acquire these identifications and generate research quality data of species range and population numbers. 

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iNaturalist Getting Started

Here are two screenshots of iNaturalist observations with common and scientific names from a photography exploration in Cades Cove in the Smokies during September 2022.

After 25 years of founding and owning a fastener, hardware, and industrial supply small business, I had some life changing events and entered a new career. While talking to a good friend while running on the local Greenbelt trail as I was struggling to decide on my new career direction, he asked me: “Randy what did you want to grow up and do as a kid?” I knew I always wanted to be a scientist that was involved in Nature studies. 

I entered the University of Tennessee in Knoxville (UTK) into the graduate Science Education program and finally got my Master’s degree in 2005 that I had missed long ago. My Action Research for this MS was in scientific “writing to learn” summative writing from science content articles. I graduated with a MS in Science Education with a speciality in Biology. 

One special class I took at UTK in May, 2004 was a Field Studies in Natural Environments. A group of other Graduate students and Instructors spent a week on Ossabaw Island off the coast of Georgia. One requirement of this course was we had to develop our own Nature Journal with field sketches and notes as well as other drawings. I later returned to Ossabaw after I had assisted with this class in 2006.  Here is a pen and pencil sketch I made from Ossabaw.

I taught High School Biology, Environmental Science, and Pre-Chemistry for 17 years. Over the last 6 years of teaching, I developed and taught one of the first Advanced STEM Applications Programs of Study in the state of Tennessee at William Blount HS. I served on the Tennessee Department of Education STEM Leadership Council from 2016 to 2018. 

This group developed processes and strategies for teachers to implement STEM into their courses. 

I retired from full time teaching in 2021 and have traveled and camped in wonderful natural areas while hiking and using the iNaturalist programs to document and learn about these different ecosystem's biodiversity. 

A Smoky Mountain's Pink Lady Slipper photo from a day hike.

Nature photography has been a hobby of mine for over 30 years. I especially love taking close up or macro photographs of flowers and insects. I am developing ways to utilize digital photography technology tools to improve the nature images I record for my iNaturalist observations for easier identification as well as creating stunning photographs with artistic value.  

I am finding these images are great creative writing prompts for poetry and scientific based Natural Journals (NJ's) in digital formats.  Over the summer of 2022, I started getting into bird photography and I bought a newer digital camera with a 300mm zoom lens. I have learned so much about bird biodiversity this fall as the migrating species are starting to appear here in East Tennessee. A simple Haiku inspired by this Crow in flight.

The next picture is Randy is full bird photography mode with green and brown clothes to blend in on a cool day along the Maryville and Alcoa Tennessee Greenway trail chasing birds with my camera. A real "Nature Nerd"!

I started doing volunteer work in September 2022 in the Smokies on identifications for the Discover Life in American (dlia.org)  ATBI program. I am also working to assist DLiA with educational outreach to area schools and assisting teachers to use iNaturalist for outdoor observation and identify what can be found in their school yards. These experiences will help students to learn science in more meaningful and deeper ways. 

In late August 2022,  I began developing this Nature Journaling Blog site to share how to create Science content based Digital Nature Journals using pictures I was taking to upload to iNaturalist observations. 

I also included photographs of older and recent paper based sketches and drawings of scenic views, flowers, and other parts of Nature I ran into while hiking and camping. I sketched this Lily from a photograph I had taken on a hike at Mount Pisgah in North Carolina in July 2021.

I have been taking field notes and journaling for over 40 years. The progression from paper and pencils sketches and writing to being able to incorporate digital photography and even digital sketches into these technology created reflective Nature Journals has been an enjoyable and very satisfying experience. The act of journaling in nature has helped me deal with life changes and stressful issues. 

I "write for myself" and "draw and sketch for myself." Friends and family members have urged me to share these NJ's with others. The teacher in me also wants to assist others to learn and enjoy the beautiful biodiversity by combining technologies, photography, and the new knowledge by using the iNaturalist APP and programs to create their own personal Digital NJ's.

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