High Skills Adventure

Every so often we get groups that are outside our regular programming. A couple of days ago we had another.

The Specialist High Skills Major program is offered in high school to help students get a head start in various industries. Some SHSMs focus on the hospitality sector while other might be looking at going into health care. Throughout SHSM that students earn industry certifications to help them in their future careers. This past week I had the opportunity to run some SHSM training for a Toronto high school.

Sir John A. Macdonald was up for another round of certificate training; this time it was Project WILD and Leave No Trace. Their teachers, however, had some extra fun planned. On top of their training the students were also taking part in a species identification contest. For every species they were able to correctly id they got a point. If they were the first to see and id they got three points! This ID Ramble added a unique and exciting twist to our usual SHSM faire.

We covered a good cross section of Project WILD activities from games like Oh Deer! and Quick Frozen Critters to more reflective activities like The Hunter and Does Wildlife Sell Cigarettes? Of course we included my All Time Personal Most Favourite Game Ever, Thicket.

Part of our Project WILD course includes the students doing a Show and Tell; they run one activity and talk about another. For our Sir John A. Macdonald participants I added an extra challenge for the Show and Tell…

The high school does a wetland day with local Grade 4 students. To make the workshop more relevant for them we restricted their Show activities to ones that would work with their Grade 4 groups. Good thing we reviewed the manual first, including the breakdown of activities by grade.

The evening of their first night had us sitting by the marsh, armed with binoculars, cameras, and a spotting scope, looking to add to our wildlife tallies. Several Hooded Mergansers made for some exciting moments as the students broke out their field guides to see who would earn the three points for the First-to-ID. Robins, sparrows, and shallows also made appearances. My personal Wow-moment came while tracking a beaver.

The middle beaver lodge on the marsh has been fairly active this spring with what looks like new wood being added on. While following the beaver with the scope a black and grey duck got my eye. I abandoned the beaver (much to the dismay of some of the students) and started to stalk the duck. Black breast, black back, white-ish/grey wings, dark-yellowy eye, white band on the bill… I had myself not just one, but TWO (a male and a female) Ring-necked Duck! For the next fifteen minutes the students and I followed the pair as they leisurely swam, eventually disappearing behind a clump of grass. All-in-all, a most enjoyable evening of birding.

The next afternoon we headed out for a bit of Leave No Trace training, specifically Travel on Durable Surfacesopens in a new window. For this Principle we explored how to travel when trails weren’t available. Our off-trail adventure took us from the parking lot of the Oak Centre, along the edge of the marsh, with the ultimate goal of hitting Lost Lake.

At least that was the plan.

About an hour into the hike we heard the most peculiar call. It sounded like a squeaky broken piece of machineryopens in a new window (click on the first audio option Long rattle calls). We slowly crept towards the edge of the marsh. Behind a wall of spruce we saw a Sandhill Crane. The lone bird was out-and-about doing whatever it is that cranes do while visiting Bark Lake. The students each got a chance to see the crane though a pair of binoculars. In the end the crane had made its way, unhurriedly, deeper into the marsh (Respect Wildlifeopens in a new window).

Our Leave No Trace adventure finished on the shore of Lost Lake (south and to the east of Bark Lake itself). We talked about the importance of choosing the right place to have a campfireopens in a new window (that is if you have a campfire) and generally enjoyed the sounds of nature.

The next morning (the group’s last) we struck out down towards the Bog and Beaver Dam. In spite of the rain everyone had a great time and even added a few more species to the ever-important List. Chef David had a tasty lunch ready for us when we got back.

The class ended their trip to Bark Lake with the always-amazing high ropes course. The Pamper Pole and Vertical Playpen were the elements of choice (Again thank you so much for helping out with that Bean and Nalisha).

The bus was loaded and out they went. Another successful Bark Lake experience.

While this group’s trip was unique (as all experiences are) you too can enjoy your very own training workshop at Bark Lake. Who knows… may be you too will get a chance to see the crane.

~Joe