Update: Back in Ohio

Hello Again Folks,

As I wrote back on March 24, I had been living in Saco, Maine to work for The Ecology School as an ecology educator for their spring term. Sadly, the amazing season came to an end on June 8. The good news is that I will be transitioning to a new job in a few days.

For the next year, I will be working for the Greening Youth Foundation as a public affairs intern specializing in photojournalism at Ohio's Wayne National Forest. As some of you might remember, I previously worked at Wayne National Forest as a wildlife biology intern. I'm very excited to be working at Wayne National Forest again, and I'm also extremely excited to be trying my hand out at photojournalism in a more professional sense (as I already have been doing so on an amateur level for years).

As such, I'll be living once again in southeastern Ohio, near the Athens area. I'll also have a lot more time for blogging, as working at an environmental education camp tends to suck up all your free time. In fact, I have several posts in the works as of now, so keep your eye out for them!

Update: Temporarily Living in Maine!

Saco Bay Beach, Maine

Hello all! I've got a quick life update. If you're a longtime reader of this blog, you might have noticed I haven't been posting as much recently. That's not due to me giving up on the blog or anything; instead, I've been incredibly busy and haven't been able to make the time to write.

Last weekend, I made the move from Athens, Ohio, to Saco, Maine. I will be working the spring season for The Ecology School as an ecology educator. I love environmental education, and so I'm very excited for this opportunity. However, working at a residential science education camp is very time consuming, and I will be struggling to find the time to write blog posts at the pace I want. It also doesn't help that I don't have easy access to WiFi where I will be living. Because of this, any new posts will be made very sporadically until the end of the position (June 8th).

Thanks for reading!

Blog Name Change and Update!

Hello All,

I have some exciting news. On September 23, 2017, I will be leaving Athens, Ohio, and moving down to South Carolina. I have accepted a seasonal position as an outdoor education field instructor at Clemson University's Camp Bob Cooper.

As such, "Ohio Nature" will soon not make much sense as my blog name. If you have been a long-time follower of this blog, you might remember when I changed my URL from "www.ohionature.blogspot.com" to the current "www.kylefromohio.blogspot.com." As I mentioned in my 2015 post about the URL change, that was done in preparation for the likely outcome that I would be leaving Ohio upon graduation. I chose to retain "Ohio Nature" as my blog name at that point because I was still living in Ohio and still writing about Ohio nature.

Now the time has come that I won't be writing strictly about Ohio nature, and I felt the need to change my blog name to reflect this. This blog will now be entitled "On the Subject of Nature." I will still be blogging the same type of material, but now I won't be tied down to a geographic location. And although the specific places and species I will be covering will change as I move from seasonal job to seasonal job—and location to location—the core mission of this blog will remain the same: highlight interesting subjects in nature and talk about the science and the issues surrounding them.

The full image of my new blog background. This is an abstract shot of blooming trees from A.W. Marion State Park in Central Ohio.

In addition, I decided to change up the looks of this blog just a tiny bit. I changed the background image from an open source image from the Blogger library to a photo I personally took. I also slightly widened the text boxes, and increased the size of my post titles.

Finally, I want to thank everyone for reading and supporting this blog! I recently surpassed 150,000 page views, which is way more than I thought this blog would hit. Your continued readership pushes me to find more interesting subjects to talk about, take better photos, and write more compelling posts. 

Wayne National Forest Internship

This summer I had the opportunity to intern at Wayne National Forest, Ohio's only national forest. This internship was focused on wildlife biology, and was part of a larger joint venture between Ohio University and the United States Forest Service out of Wayne National Forest. The main project that I worked on was an environmental impact assessment for a proposed mountain bike trail system.

Beginning in early May, I and another wildlife intern from Ohio University were tasked with surveying the wildlife along an approximate 30 mile section of the proposed trail route. We found many interesting animals and plants over the course of the summer, including discovering two new populations of a state-endangered dragonfly and documenting the first-ever Brown Creeper breeding attempt in the southeastern portion of Ohio.

In addition to assisting with the wildlife portion of the environmental impact assessment, I was given the opportunity to do some guest blogging about my internship experience on the Ohio University College of Arts and Sciences Forum. I wanted to share the four posts that I wrote for the Arts and Sciences Forum on my personal blog for anyone that was interested in reading them. Simply click on the links on the titles of the posts below.

First Post: Working on the Wayne | ‘I Wanted to Get My Boots Dirty’

This first post gives an introduction to the project I worked on, and goes over a few of the initial findings of note.

Second Post: Working on the Wayne | Awesome Arthropods Abound

Arthropods are cool, and I saw many an awesome arthropod this summer. This post explores a few of the stand-out species, including the Camouflaged Looper, Luna Moth, and the rare Northern Metalmark (pictured above).

Third Post: Working on the Wayne | Snazzy Snakes

What's cooler than arthropods? Snakes. This post goes over a few of the common snakes of southeastern Ohio, and attempts to dispel some of the common misconceptions about them.

Fourth Post: Working on the Wayne | An Ending Note

In my final post, I summarize the findings of the wildlife surveys, talk about the potential impacts of the trail, and offer a few musings on the importance of hands-on experiences in the field in addition to a classroom education.

Your blogger in his surveying gear. Yes, I had to wear a hard hat.

This internship was an amazing experience. Not only did I see amazing wildlife and plants, but I also learned a lot (which is really the main goal for any internship). The biggest takeaway for me, however, was that there is always something new to discover if you just take a walk in the woods and keep your eyes open. You never know what you might come across.

As for now, I am in the midst of searching for another job. Wish me luck, and thanks for reading!

Graduation!

Rehabilitated Osprey on Poplar Island, Maryland.

Every so often, especially when there's a big change in my life, I like to give a brief update. This is such a time. 

On Thursday, April 27, I graduated from Ohio University with a bachelor of science degree in wildlife and conservation biology. These past four years at Ohio University were filled with absolutely amazing experiences. Thanks to my education, I have traveled more than I have ever traveled before, and to places I had never imagined I would.

Sonoran Desert Toad, Sabino Canyon, Arizona

One of the best perks of majoring in wildlife and conservation biology was—by far—getting to see and interact with an incredible variety of animals. I have been lucky enough to see many more species than I dreamed to.

Olivia Brooks (L), Alayna Tokash (C), and me (R) looking for Great Horned Owls in a snow squall. We were successful!

I also met many amazing people while at OU and beyond, and they have all helped me grow as a budding biologist, naturalist, and person.

Photo courtesy of Chase Rokitt (Wikimedia Commons Contributor).

What's next? I will be working at Wayne National Forest for 12 weeks, starting on Monday. I will be surveying wildlife along a proposed mountain bike trail as part of the required environmental impact assessment. After that job ends in August, who knows! I am hoping to find an environmental education job somewhere, so if anyone knows of a place looking to hire a naturalist, I'll be available!

As always, I'll continue to post on this blog. I've been a little quiet recently, as the past semester has been incredibly hectic and time consuming. Hopefully with college done for now, I will have more free time to take photos and write blog posts!

And finally, thanks to all the readers of this blog. Your continued support pushes me to learn more and find cooler things to write about.

A New Year (General Update)

It's currently January 12; 2015 is now over, and 2016 has arrived. This blog has kind of been all over the place recently, and so I wanted to give an update over the state of this blog, what my plans are for it, and also give a review of 2015 and some potential future events/subjects for 2016. Basically, I want to regroup my thoughts.

Olivia and I on top of Breathed Mountain in the Dolly Sods Wilderness, West Virginia.

First, a bit about my experience with 2015. It was an absolutely amazing year, probably the best year of my life so far when I think about it. I fulfilled many dreams and goals that I had for years and years. I finally had the chance to travel like I've never traveled before. Up until 2015, I was lucky if I traveled out of Ohio at any point during the year. Over the course of 2015, I ended up traveling to 16 states, including 10 I've never been to previously. I finally got the chance to go out West and see deserts, steppe grasslands, and high mountains. In March I camped in 15 inches of snow at 7,000 feet above sea level, and then in September I camped along the beach at about 3 feet above sea level. I went on several backpacking trips and ended up climbing my first mountain (although it wasn't that tall). I also had the chance to go caving, and ended up traveling a mile under a mountain in Virginia while going through incredibly tiny squeezes and past giant chasms. I spent my summer helping with salamander research across northern Ohio, finally getting the chance to explore the one section of Ohio I really hadn't yet. I saw many new creatures, including my first venomous snakes, dozens of new bird species, and more. My top sightings for the year include a California Condor (AZ), Northern Gannets (SC), Cave Salamanders (VA), Timber Rattlesnakes (OH), a Cecropia Moth (OH), Long-Tailed Skippers (SC), Crested Coralroot (OH), and so many more things I won't even begin to name. In addition, my year at Ohio University has been exceptional; I've gotten involved in a lot of research, I'm an officer in the Ohio University Wildlife Club, and my classes and the OU Outdoor Pursuits have exposed me to a whole new world essentially. And finally, I've met some absolutely amazing people throughout the year.

Anyway, onto the blog. I recently went on a 2060 mile solo road trip from December 27th to January 4th. I spent most of that time along the coast of South Carolina, and naturally I came across some cool stuff while down there. The next several blog posts I'm going to be writing will be covering some of the highlights from that trip. These posts will cover subjects including Cottonmouths, Corn Snakes, Little Blue Herons, and more, so stay tuned!

The La Sal Mountains as seen from Arches National Park.

The highlight of the year was a 5,000 some mile road trip out to the Southwest with the Ohio University Outdoor Pursuits, an absolutely wonderful group of outdoor-minded people. By way of a mini-bus (which knows no bounds), we visited several national parks, drove through the Painted Desert, passed tall mountains, and so much more over the course of Spring Break. This trip happened way back in March, and I've been putting off all posts pertaining to this trip for nearly a year now. So far I've only written a post on Petrified Forest National Park, which you can read here. Once again, this trip is going to be put on the back burner until I get through my more recent road trip material. But once that road trip is done, expect several posts on places out West!

The Grand Canyon during winter.

This leads to the next point I want to make. As you might know, I recently changed the URL of this blog. It was originally www.ohionature.blogspot.com, but it is now www.kylefromohio.blogspot.com. This change is due to my planning for the future. I am currently in my junior year of college. Once I graduate, I will have a degree in Wildlife and Conservation Biology. I plan to spend some time working seasonal field technician jobs upon graduation. The thing about these jobs is that they can be wherever. I don't plan on staying in Ohio for the rest of my life, and I decided it was kind of silly to have a URL of "Ohio Nature" if the posts aren't necessarily always (or at least a majority) from Ohio. In my opinion, it is better to have a more vague URL, and then simply tailor the blog name to whatever you want it to be. Of course, changing the URL proved to be a bigger deal than I had imagined; my pageviews took a dive bomb, and my blog disappeared from Google search for awhile. I later learned this is a normal reaction to a URL change, but it also shows that if you are going to change the URL, it is best to do it as early as possible. Since then, my posts are slowly being added back to Google search, and pageviews are increasing. Most of my pageviews came from people searching keywords such as "Spiders in Ohio," and Google then directing them to related posts of mine. The URL change basically ended that, but it is slowly coming back as my posts are re-cached.

What does this all mean for the future? Put bluntly, this blog will probably end up not being Ohio-based at some point in the future. There will most likely come a point where I will change the name of the blog (to what, I don't know). I do know that this blog will eventually become based around nature as a general subject, and not as a regionally-specific nature blog like it is now.

The view of the Great Smoky Mountains from the Blue Ridge Parkway. Taken this year during my winter break road trip.

I still have over a year until I graduate, so there won't be any name changes yet, but it will happen eventually. I have no idea where I'm going to end up yet, but I'll always be covering interesting things I come across!

That's about it for this yearly update. Stay tuned for some South Carolina based posts! Thanks for being a reader!

Important: There's a new URL for this blog!

Hello everyone!

I decided to bite the bullet and change the URL of my blog. From this point on, the URL for Ohio Nature will no longer be www.ohionature.blogspot.com, but will be www.kylefromohio.blogspot.com.

Why the change though? Well, there's a good chance that I won't be in Ohio after I graduate college. I want a more general URL that allows me to be flexible with my blog, instead of having a very specific URL with less flexibility. It would make no sense for my URL to be "ohionature" when I might be in say Arizona writing about Arizona nature in a few years.

As for now, only the URL has changed. The blog is still named Ohio Nature, at least for the time being. Nothing else has changed.

I want to thank all of my readers, and I hope this change hasn't made getting to my blog too difficult for those of you who directly type in my URL. Most of my page views come from either Google searches or direct links, so all of those people won't really be affected. Only a small percentage of my readers will notice the difference.

Thanks for reading!

Looking Back Over the Past Year...

On May 2nd, I finished my freshman year at Ohio University. It went by very quickly, as I was warned it would, but that doesn't mean it wasn't jammed pack with new things. I wanted to write this post as sort of a sum-up of the past school year in both my life and my blog.

I am currently attending Ohio University to pursue a degree in Wildlife and Conversation Biology. Upon graduation, I will officially be an ecologist/wildlife biologist/zoologist. As one might guess, pursuing this major makes for a very nature-filled few years. This year I went on birding trips, herping trips, and more. For example, the photo above was taken on one of the Eastern-Fence Lizards trips. On these trips, a handful of undergraduates and I would join a few graduate students to help them find and capture these lizards and then collect field data on them so these graduate students could continue with their research.

Speaking of research, I now have a new job lined up for next school year. I was hired by a professor through OU's PACE program to be a research assistant for one of his graduate students. I will be assisting this graduate student with her research on Red-Backed Salamanders, like the one pictured above. I will be accompanying her to northern Ohio to gather data on a few weekend trips, then helping her analyze the data in the labs down at OU in an attempt to see if there's any reason behind the gradient in color morphs (from the red-backed morph to the lead morph) in Red-Backed Salamanders that is present in northern Ohio.

Eastern Garter Snake

Finally, a little update on the blog itself. Ohio Nature has taken off. It just broke 13,000 views a week ago or so, and currently has 13,389 views as I write this. I can't thank everyone enough for the support I've been given with this. Trying to run this blog has made me take a closer look at the world as I try to find interesting material to write about, and I hope it has made others take a closer look at the world too.

That's it on the update. Keep on the lookout for some new posts soon!