Chignik Lagoon School Blog: Fish and Wildlife

This week, we had Fish and Wildlife come and visit again. There was Julia Pinnix, Tom Prang, and Susan Savage. Tom is an archeologist and Susan is an ornithologist.

This time they talked about birds, their work with birds, and their migratory patterns. Susan explained about tracking birds with neck and leg bands, how it helps with tracking migration, and they even gave us some date about a bird migrating for us to plot on a map. They showed us different size leg bands, and the tools they use to capture the birds and put collars or leg bands on.

We also got to go outside and they talked about the different types of marine habitats. Such as the saltwater, the fresh, and the mixed brackish water. We found different kinds of animals to look at under a microscope. We found some “sand fleas”, barnacles, “china men caps” or limpets, and some larvae bug cases. I don’t remember the name for all of them so I am sorry. We took them back to the school and looked at them under microscopes.

Tom explained about binoculars, compasses, GPSs, and spotting scopes. They gave each of us a pair of binoculars and told us how to change the focus. Tom talked about the compasses, how to use them, and how they work. Tom explained what the difference between true north and magnetic north were. They explained how to use GSPs and how useful they can be. We got to go down to the beach and release the creatures that we found and used our binoculars and the spotting scopes.

The last day they were here, they showed us different things that they might find in “midden”. A “midden” is when layers of dirt surround and protect artifacts for a long time. They talked about what purposes different artifacts had, such as sharp rocks. Tom had then started talking about how sometimes they will find materials and try to make arrowheads or stone knifes or bone tools. He brought out some bone and antler that he had and let us start and try make our own bone tools. We worked on those for a while and they then had to leave. Tom let us have the bone that we started on so we might be able to finish if we wanted.