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| Anole in Decomposing Tree |
New Year’s Day – 2014
Now this is the way to start the year. A 12 year old boy named John from New York
City emailed me and wanted to interview me about Swamper, the swamp rabbit, and
the bottomland hardwood ecosystem at Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge
(BBLNWR). He was visiting
his grandmother in Monroe. Thanks to the
librarians of Ouachita Parish Library John had discovered “Swamper, Letters from
a Louisiana Swamp Rabbit”, purchased the book at the BBLNWR gift shop, and read
the book. My friend Ann Smith, vice
president of Friends of Black Bayou, directed him to me. So I met John and his mother, Stacy, at the
refuge this morning and we hiked and talked for 3 hours. My encounter with this intelligent, curious
boy, who lives across the street from Central Park in NYC and wanted to know everything
about swamp rabbits and the swamp, was amazing.
John was preparing a science project for 6th
grade science class and had prepared 10 questions for me. These were not the
questions that I normally hear from this level student. For example here are a few of his
questions: “What effect do natural
disasters have on animals in this ecosystem?
What are the top level consumers here?
How do invasive species alter ecosystems? What is Swamper’s role here? Do you have distinct seasonal changes here at
BBLNWR?”
When I meet someone who wants to look closely at a rotting
log and then spies an anole tentatively poking his head out to catch some sun,
observes small details like a dead beetle swaying in a web of spider silk,
wants to learn how to “phish” up Carolina wrens and take their picture, and
studies coots swimming in the lake to see what they are eating; my excitement
and enthusiasm are barely contained.
It was a glorious day.
The blue sky was filled with drifting marshmallow clouds and the sun
warmed our backs. There were hundreds of
coots making their quirky little noises and performing aquatic stunts in the
lake. The sapsuckers made an appearance
after we had studied their precise lines of sap holes in the trees. We examined the variety of lichens adorning
the trees and I said, “it’s a symbiotic relationship between two kingdoms –
Fungi and Plantae.” John said, “Yes,
it’s mutualism.”
We visited the cane patch and I showed John the
wildlife trails in it and how the swamp rabbit bites the cane off at a 45
degree angle. He soaked up everything I
shared with him and could not wait to get back to NYC to tell his teacher and
fellow students about this ecosystem. This
was a day to remember. Swamper goes to
NYC! Anything is possible in 2014!
