Family Nature Club @ Ijams stalks the invertebrates

The Family Nature Club @ Ijams recently held their Invertebrates Workshop. We’re talking insects, spiders, millipedes, centipedes and their ilk. And it was a great afternoon, albeit a bit hot, to search for our quarry.

Here's a look back at some of our other outings, click: Aquatics and Birds.

We are now registering families for the 2017 Edition of Family Nature Club @ Ijams. For information call Lauren, (865) 577-4717, ext. 135.

Here's a look at the invertebrate fun.

Supplied photos by moms Linda Knott and Amanda Davis.

- Stephen Lyn Bales

Prize catches: Riley with walkingstick bug, Sam with velvet ant

Damselfly (best guess: blue-fronted dancer)

Friendly butterfly finds Jarrod and Amanda

Are Ijams centipedes really this big?

No caption necessary

We avoided those with stingers

Stalking a silvery checkerspot

A millipede in the hand

Sorting our catch with Josie

 

Rachel and Judah with friend

She is really not so bad

Riley and Lucy with tarantula

Rehabilitated green heron and mink released at Ijams

In the 1920s, long before this was a nature center open to the public, H.P. and Alice Ijams began to call their property a bird sanctuary. Today, almost a century later, it’s still a wildlife refuge.

Local wildlife rehabilitator Lynne McCoy recently brought two orphaned animals she had raised. Totally healthy, it was time to set them free but they were two very different animals. McCoy released a green heron and a young mink at the Lotus Pond H.P. built for his four daughters in 1922.

Thank you to Lynne and Steve and photographers Chuck Cooper and Evan Kidd for capturing the moments.

- Stephen Lyn Bales

Ijams Sunday ologists go Dragon Questing

Insect whisperer Jackson

Kids and bugs. What better way to spend a summer afternoon? Yes, we know, it's old school and kids aren't entertained by real bugs, only virtual bugs. But, surprise, surprise.
 
Sunday's Dragon Quest at Ijams unfolded on an ideal afternoon to study the carnivorous order of insects: Odonata—the toothed ones. We had beautiful weather to search for dragons and even damsels.
 
And our group managed to catch and release and/or photograph three species of dragonfly: Slaty Skimmer (Libellula incesta), Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) and Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis). Plus one species of damselfly; best guess Eastern Red Damsel (Amphiagrion saucium).

Thanks to all dragon-ologist and to Jason Dykes and Rex McDaniel for their steady camera work and to Kim, Nick and Clare for helping with the outdoor activities.
 

Next up: Flutterby-ology in Sunday, September 18, 2 p.m. to register call 577-4717, ext. 110.

- Stephen Lyn Bales

Searching for dragonfly nymphs called naiads. Photo Rex McDaniel

A pair of skimmer dragons. Photos by John Goodall
 

Sorting naiads. Photo by Rex McDaniel

Blue dasher dragonfly Photo by Jason Dykes

Eastern pondhawk dragonfly Photo by Jason Dykes

Slaty Skimmer dragonfly Photo by Jason Dykes

Perhaps eastern red damsel??  Photo by Clare Dattilo

A dragonfly nymph's shed exoskeleton is called an exuviae. Isn't that a fun word? Photo by Clare Dattilo 

Photo be Rex McDaniel

 And as always the families brought most excellent dragonfly foods to share. Here's a sampling. 
Photos by Rex McDaniel

Ijams Dragon-ologists

Summitt, once injured bald eagle returned to the wild at Ijams

Photo by Bruce McCamish

Yesterday morning, the American Eagle Foundation (AEF) returned a once-injured bald eagle to the wild at Ijams. 

The eagle, now named Summitt in honor the late head coach of the Lady Vols, had been found in a leg trap near Huffaker Ferry upstream from Ijams. TWRA officer Roy Smith, who was in attendance for the release, rescued the downed eagle last March. 

Ijams was honored to be chosen, since H.P. Ijams first began calling the area along the Tennessee River a "bird sanctuary" in the 1920s.

AEF's famous education eagle Challenger was also on hand for the release.  

AEF and Ijams are both non-profits. Your donations are greater appreciated.

Ijams thanks Al, Julia and Laura with AEF and all the people who attended. And thank you Bruce and Chuck for sharing your photos.

- Stephen Lyn Bales

Photo by Chuck Cooper

Summitt flies free. Photo by Chuck Cooper

Photo by Chuck Cooper

Photo by Chuck Cooper

AEF's Laura Sterbens and Challenger

Eagle watchers at Ijams

'Jeffery' the snake lives outside near the Visitor Center

If you have visited Ijams this summer you may know that the Visitor Center as acquired a resident black rat snake that lives outside near the building. After all, we are a wildlife sancuary.

We see the snake every now and then and know that it is working to keep down our resident population of mice, moles and shrews. 

A week ago, after a morning rain, one of the fathers of the scouts attending the Scout Sleepover happened to get the above photo, while one of the scouts gave the mascot snake a name.

Meet Jeffery. 

Thank you, Matthew!

- Stephen Lyn Bales

Visitor video captures heart and soul of Ijams

Ijams Nature Center is a lot of things to a lot of people.

But for over 93 years, it has been a safe place for children to explore nature.

To that end, please watch this visitor video our own Jill Sublett found on Vimeo: Make Something Beautiful

Ijams Hiking Club saunters to the sunflower fields nearby

The sunflower fields planted at Forks-of-the-River Wildlife Management Area are spectacular this year. 

The huge composites are pretty to look at but we are not why they are there. The sprawling former farmland is now state-owned and under the care of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. The fields are managed to feed wildlife and that's what the sunflowers will do this fall when they all turn to seed. 

According to the ProFlower website, cultivated sunflowers as a food source for people and animals originated in the Americas about 1,000 B.C., and have been cultivated for centuries. "With the European exploration of the New World, the flower’s popularity spread, as the rest of the world began to appreciate its beauty and sustenance." They were made famous by artist Vincent van Gogh, but those flowers planted in Arles, France originated in eastern North America.    

Amy Oakey and Eric Johnson, are the volunteer leaders of the Ijams Hiking Club. We hike once a month. Last Saturday they led a Sunflower Saunter to and around the fields, early in the morning before the intense heat that has been with us for the past couple of weeks.

Needless to say, it was a colorful day.

Thank you, Amy and Eric!

- Stephen Lyn Bales