First few weeks at Cuyahoga!

04 Sep First few weeks at Cuyahoga!

My arrival to Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP) was a long, drawn-out trip that took me six days to complete, driving from Arcata, California in Northern California to my park housing in Ohio. Driving through eight states, I spent a long time sheltered away in my car with all of my belongings, with a destination in mind while still appreciating the journey. Each state was one I’ve never been to before, so each one had a new environment to observe, new plants to see, new geology to admire, and distinct clouds captivating the sky as we each blew past each other. Lots of my long driving hours were spent reflecting on the world around me until it finally drew me to Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley.

Upon arriving, I quickly got settled and moved in, but my day wasn’t over yet. Since being on my road trip and eating out for six days, the first thing I needed to do was to go grocery shopping and make myself a home cooked meal. My first meal here was Shakshuka to cleanse me from gas station, hotel, and restaurant food. The rest of my weekend was spent getting settled and going on a bike ride to see a bit of the park.

My first week consisted of meeting the team in the Resources Department and familiarizing myself in the park, along with learning what kind of work is done at this National Park. My first introduction to the bird banding program done here at the park had a group of girl scouts joining in on the fun bird time. This was an active bird banding session so there were live birds being recorded and being shown off to the girl scouts. The smiles on their faces when they got to hold their first bird and let it go was priceless. In my second week, we had a ranger bird banding talk to children of the Junior Ranger Summer Day Camp that I participated in where my supervisor, Dr. Mariamar Gutierrez, and I talked about the bird banding program at the park along with playing a game with the kids. We brought out field materials to show what tools we used to band birds, we hid plushy birds around the room so kids could be “bird biologists” to find and catch the birds, and then played the Environment for the Americas (EFTA) created game, the Migration Game, to represent the type of things birds need to do and face for migration. The kids were exposed to what it is like being a bird field biologist and learned about some of the issues birds face in our modern day.

The other large aspect of my position is aiding in creating nature-based content for the park that is just starting up now. For this, we are creating photo galleries of chosen topics and writing little things about them for them to be posted on the CVNP website. Since I have been in the park, I have participated in electrofishing, butterfly, and vegetation surveys, along with going out on my own to enjoy the park through its trails and bike paths. I have also been making lots and lots of food and trying to make friends!

The beautiful Cuyahoga River in all its glory

The cascade of Brandywine Falls, one of the most popular attractions of the park during low flows.

The same Brandywine Falls after raining over night!

A big, wonderful tree that I saw on a bike ride.

A massive colony of Chichen of the Woods on a large black oak.

A mourning warbler caught during a bird banding session on the first day of bird migration, starting its journey to Central and South America.

A great blue heron on a snag at the beaver marsh that I saw during sunset.