Bird Cards 2022 Maryville Alcoa Tn Greenway

Posted by Randy Puckett Randy Puckett as iNaturalist randy135

Bird Cards 2022 Maryville Alcoa Tn Greenway

Bird Cards 2022 Observations

Maryville Alcoa TN Greenway

When Randy first started writing and developing this Closer to Nature....Digital Nature Journaling Blog in August 2022, his plan for some of the use of this was for teachers as examples of assessment tools to document student learning. Tests are often not the best way for all students to show growth in learning.

I chose to develop these Google Slide formats to serve as examples of how students could research a bird species (or other life forms) as well as observe them in Nature as a type of Portfolio documentation. This process has the students "learn by doing" and have a product they created as Google Slides (or Power Point Slides) instead of a test. Google Slides are easily exported as PDF files which can be read by Adobe and other programs.

I chose Google Slides since my school district was one to one with all students having a Chromebook and using Google Classroom for technology use. During the virtual time of Covid this preparation made it workable for our students to continue learning virtually rather than just shutting down all the schools.

I welcome educators to use my ideas and examples, to modify them as needed, and to contact me in the comments section of this Blog if they would like some consultation for assistance.

One issue I see in the Blog posts of the Bird cards is the links to Audubon, All about Birds, and iNaturalist will not open as the Blogger platform cards are uploaded as jpg files. When the cards are exported as PDF format they do open when clicked on.

I have modified some of my formats as I have been developing this Blog and welcome suggestions for further improvement.

Left click on each photo or each bird card for a better view in a gallery format. You can also scroll through them with the directional arrows. To return to the main page hit escape or click the X in the upper right hand corner of the picture.

Mallards

One of the most photographed

Waterfowl in North America

A lucky photograph Randy got when he startled this pair of Mallards below the Greenbelt Lake dam in Pistol Creek in Maryville Tennessee on 11/14/22 at 3:29pm. The male with its dark green head and white neck ring is on the left and the brown, tan, and cream feathered female is to the right side of this photo.

This Lady Mallard Peeking photo and creative writing was from a Fall Homepage Post from a walk on October 16, 2022 along the Maryville Greenway.

From the photos below, you will see why these Mallards are in a hurry to fly up Pistol Creek in Maryville TN on 11/26/22 at 11:21 am to the stream bank below the Greenbelt Dam.

Eastern Bluebird

Home page post 10/19/22

A Bluebird special poem by me

almost hidden in the leaves above me

but I got to see

you posed on this fall day for me

Double Crested Cormorant

Home page post 9/26/22

Pair of these birds

August 28, 2022

Watch this crazy bird swim below the Maryville Alcoa Greenbelt Lake Dam

August 27, 2022

Red-Shouldered Hawk

Home page post 9/17 to 9/26/22

I kept seeing this pair of Red-shouldered Hawks throughout the fall and into the winter from my elevated deck overlooking the upper end of the Greenbelt Lake in Maryville TN. They usually were perching on one of the two American Sycamore Trees by a parking lot off Parham Avenue down the hill from my deck.

I also caught the pair on a street light pole when I was walking along Browns Creek by this parking lot shooting smaller birds. I got lucky a few times to get one of these "smaller urban area" Hawks in flight for some cool pictures showing the power of their wings as they were taking off.

Here are a three pictures of them with my updated DSLR Canon Rebel 7 EOS camera with a 75-300mm zoom lens.

I am not certain if this was one of these 2 hawks, but I also saw this Red-shouldered on 11/26/22 along the Greenway trail behind the Midland Center perched over Pistol Creek about a half mile from my condo.