Sketches of Nature – Environmental education through art

Cacao tree

On Thursday March 19 2020 I begun an art and nature activity funded by the Cape Cod Bird Club Conservation fund. The objective of the project is to engage Université Chrétienne du Nord d'Haïti (UCNH) School of Fine Arts students with nature through directed activities of sketching nature and composing poetry and songs, and help them pass these skills along to children in the surrounding community through an art and nature workshop that they plan and direct. The ultimate goal is to link participants to nature to increase their awareness of the environment and conservation needs.

Funding allowed me to bring art supplies for 12 students (sketch books, color pencils, and graphite pencil kits). Fine Arts student Ruben stepped up as a leader and organized the students. The first workshop was 2 hours long and we sat outside on campus and sketched a cacao tree and leaves. At the end I gave the students two assignments – return next week with a drawing of flowers, and a drawing of something that wasn’t a plant. At the next meeting we would plan a Saturday morning children’s art workshop.

Little did I know that while we met, Haiti was closing its borders due to two confirmed cases of COVID19 and the US Embassy was recalling all overseas citizens back to the US. I returned to my campus house to find the messages and immediately bought an airline ticket for return to the US. The next meeting will have to wait until I return to campus, perhaps this fall or next spring semester. I hope the art supplies will give the students a creative outlet while the university and everything else is closed. I have asked Ruben to send me pictures of the students’ art work. And the supplies for the children’s program are safely stored in Haiti.

Camp Louise mangroves – Trips 1 & 2

Site 2 - Main monitoring site

In early 2019 Wilnise and I went with our birding group (Mike, etc.) to do a survey along the road that goes to the Camp Louise beach (edit: Actually the stretch of mangroves between St. Michel and Camp Louise). We stopped at the mangroves and surveyed from the road. Wilnise and I returned a month later and the fields and mangroves were dry – we were able to walk pretty far into the mangroves and saw warblers. I was awarded funding from BirdsCaribbean to continue monitoring this area, train other birders, and have a bird workshop for the children in the area. These are my notes for this work. Bird lists are uploaded to eBird.

19 Feb. 2020 Mini-foray at mangrove next to beach

I did a stationary survey by myself after a swim at the beach. Very small patch of trees, No remarkable birds, cattle and snowy egrets in wet area next to it. Brown pelican flew by on beach.

7 Mar. 2020 First trip to train others

Two trusted motorcycle drivers took Wilnise and me to the mangroves to commence monitoring this year. Our first stop along irrigation canals became muddy so we weren’t able to get in a great spot, but did see both yellowlegs species and some black-necked stilts and killdeer. We moved to a new location that will be our long-term monitoring spot for this mangrove. Rice fields run along it and they are full of water now (previous week had rain almost the entire week).

We then went to the small mangrove that I previously surveyed next to the beach, and saw a green heron perched on top of a bush. Then walked north along the beach to a rocky tip. A remnant mangrove runs along the beach, we recorded the clear song of a yellow warbler. We saw 2 spotted sandpipers bobbing their tails along the ocean shore. In the back area of the mangrove where trees were cut so now it’s only a mudflat, we saw 2 Wilson’s plovers chasing little crabs. The motorcycle drivers Wid and Carlo took to spotting the birds, and I think are candidates for training to be guides. Wilnise asked the men in the snack shacks along the beach who to contact for arranging a kids bird camp.

Lesser and greater yellowlegs

The team at site 2 - main site

 

Site 3 - the little mangrove right at the beach

Site 4 - destroyed mangrove on left (remnant on right off of photo)

Spotted sandpiper at site 4

Wilson's plover at site 4 - in the mudflat that once was a mangrove