Bogged Down

As you may have noticed, I have been largely slacking with my blog posts. It has been a busy summer with classes, life, and work, so this has more-or-less been pushed to the back burner. I have tried to be much more active on the Facebook page to make up for my lack of posts …

The Prairies of Illinois

I am finally back! I got a little backed up with the move, and enjoying a bit of no-homework life, so it has been a little since my last post. I am now back in classes and ready to share what I am learning! I am particularly excited about one of the classes I am …

Classmates Projects

  The same class that got me started on this blog has inspired my classmates to come up with some fantastic projects of their own. I put out a message to my class asking if they would like me to share their posts here - check them out below! Not only will you be helping …

Nature in YOUR Area – State and National Parks

I am in the process of moving, so my posts have not been as consistent as I would like, but after this weekend, I should be able to develop a rhythm. Make sure you are checking the Facebook page for additional postings, photos, and interactions. So far, I am keeping up with both the blog …

Nature in YOUR Area – Nature Preserves

It was FINALLY nice enough to go outside last week and enjoy spring - for one day. Until winter returned, and now we have snow in the forecast again. But I had one glorious, warm-ish evening to spend outside, and I decided to take a walk through one of the local forest preserves. I have …

New Species Alert!

We had a new species visit the feeder yesterday - a European Starling! This is actually an invasive species, though they are beautiful to look at. My feedercam only captured this one image, so I would recommend checking out Cornell Labs All About Birds page for the European Starling to get a better view of …

Nature Apps – Beyond the App

Bonus content! I turned in the homework assignment I started this blog for last night, but I thought of one final post that I wanted to add to this series. Let us take a quick look at additional opportunities to collect or transmit data through a smartphone that is not necessarily an app. Until now, …

Nature Apps – A Closer Look

Now that we have examined some pros and cons of smartphone apps for conservation, let's briefly look at some of the more prominent ones based on the categories I defined in my Introduction post.  As I mentioned before, many of the apps may fall into the same category, but for the purposes of this post, I …

Nature Apps – The Downsides

Despite their incredible benefits, smartphones are not without drawbacks. All of the abilities and features packed into our phones that can be used for conservation research, can also serve as major distractions. Most of us have experienced the distraction factor of smartphones, but if you are collecting data for a project and you miss the …

Nature Apps – The Benefits

According to Statista, the number of smartphone users worldwide was 1.57 billion in 2014 and is expected to increase to almost 3 billion by 2020 (Statista, 2018). The sheer number of units available alone makes them particularly appealing for use in conservation research, add in their size, relative affordability and the technology packed inside, and …