RIVER TALK

Wildlife on wifi

BY SCOTT RANDO

Posted 12/28/22

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RIVER TALK

Wildlife on wifi

RR photos by Scott Rando

Mark Ternent, black bear biologist for the PA Game Commission (PGC), hands one of four bear cubs to waiting hands during a PGC bear den survey. In select dens, bear cubs are weighed, measured, tagged, checked for health and treated for mange if necessary. The female is also checked for any health issues. Bears and a den survey can be found on the Wildlife on WiFi site.

RR photos by Scott Rando

This is a summer daytime roost of 60 to 70 big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) in the rafters of an abandoned building in Sullivan County. During the summer, bats frequently roost in attics, but when winter arrives, they hibernate in caves or deep crevices in rock outcrops, or anyplace else that will keep them above freezing. A bat hibernaculum can be difficult at best to enter, due to tight spaces, unstable surfaces or the danger of falling rocks—and known areas are frequently closed to the public, in order to cut disturbance and the spread of white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that can be lethal to bats...You can take a virtual visit to a cave where bats hibernate by visiting the PGC site—and not have to worry about slipping in wet bat guano.

Posted Wednesday, December 28, 2022 10:29 am

Find the Wildlife on WiFi page at:

www.pgc.pa.gov/Education/VirtualLearning/Pages/default.aspx.

RIVER TALK

That fellow in red

BY SCOTT RANDO

Perhaps over the course of the year, you might have wanted to take a trip with the family to explore some habitat or to see some wildlife not seen in our region. Perhaps to see some elk, for example, in central PA. It takes roughly four hours to travel one way from Pike County to Benezette in Elk County, which means that this likely would be a multi-day trip. School or work schedules might put a damper on this or other trips, but there is a way to experience these massive mammals, as well as a myriad of other wildlife species, habitat conservation and some cool science. All you have to do is turn on your computer at home.

The PA Game Commission (PGC) has an ongoing program on its website that offers learning opportunities for everyone from elementary-school-aged children to adults. There are also suggested lesson plans and other aids for teachers. This program is titled “Wildlife on WiFi.”

The PGC offers a summary of this program on its website. “Our vision is to connect Pennsylvania residents to their state’s wildlife from anywhere. To achieve this, the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s award-winning Wildlife on WiFi program provides innovative online learning opportunities, virtual lessons and educational resources about wildlife and its conservation.”

There are a lot of activities for kids, and suggested age ranges for most of the activities. And there are some “Remote Resources” on varied topics, from birding to endangered species, that are largely aimed at school-aged children, but can be educational for people of all ages.

At the lower part of the page is a selection of videos under the title, “From the Field.” They depict what it is like to work in the field, doing various tasks, such as saw-whet owl banding or performing a prescribed burn on a section of state game lands. These videos are more adult-oriented, but kids might like such topics as saw-whet owls, as the owls are among the smallest present in the region.

The PGC’s Wildlife on WiFi page should keep young and old folks engaged for quite a while on those cold winter days.