During today’s staff meeting, when James mentioned seeing a Timber Doodle, we all looked at him with looks of confused skepticism. “What the heck is a Timber Doodle?” I thought. A fan of playful jokes and pranks, we all thought that he must be putting us on. In fact, he wasn’t!

As it turns out, ‘Timber Doodle’ is just another name for the American Woodcock, the only woodcock to be found in North America. And, Timber Doodles are also signs of spring, for the male bird puts on a beautiful courtship “falling-leaf” flight display, signaling to us in the north that warmer weather is on its way.

Keep a watchful eye while in, or when passing by, open spaces and field for these small, stocky, beautifully patterned birds.

For more information, visit the Wildlife Management Institute‘s site, Timberdoodle.org And, visit our website for more information on Adventure In, Adventure Out’s tracking course, The First Science: The Art of Animal Track and Sign.

A recent article in the LA Times citing the journal JAMA Pediatrics addresses the hard and intuitive truth that bullied children are more likely to consider and attempt suicide.

And, in tragic confirmation of this fact, we now have the story of Michael Morones. Bullied so severely, Michael attempted to end his life by hanging himself, but being unsuccessful he is now “being treated for potentially lifelong neurological injuries caused by a lack of oxygen. [His mother] said they don’t know how much he will recover or when, if ever.”

“The world has developed stereotypes for our children, and when our children don’t fit these gender and sexist stereotypes they’re ostracized, ridiculed and bullied…Our society is no longer building up our children and setting them up for success, only tearing them down.”

The full story can be found here.

And, if you’re as passionate as we are about working to address bullying, or if you’d like to speak with us about setting up an anti-bullying workshop, check out Adventure In, Adventure Out’s program You Belong.

Some folks here in the Adventure In, Adventure Out office have been finding this site and its associated apps, widgets, and doohickeys useful for mapping walks and other outdoor ambulations.

With MapMyHike you’re able to create new routes, calculate mileage and elevation changes, share walks and hikes with others, and track all sorts of other bits of information about your activities.

If you’re the techy sort, give it a gander.

And, Happy Saturday from the AIAO staff!

Not even 10 miles outside of Boston, Winchester, MA has become the latest town to experience the drama that often surrounds mountain lions in the Northeast.

While the last official sighting in Massachusetts of one of these big cats took place in the 19th century, New England residents have been seeing mountain lions, as well as their tracks and scat, for many years. But, the crux of many arguments doesn’t revolve around just their presence, but also whether or not there is a breeding population present in our woods. The general consensus seems to be: we are seeing mountain lions, but they have traveled here from other locations. In fact, the cat that was struck and killed on a Connecticut highway just under three years ago is supposed to have traveled from South Dakota based on genetic data.

Regardless, national mountain lion experts have weighed in on the current discovery of mountain lion sign in Winchester, analyzing the photographic evidence, and have concluded that there is a big cat in the area. However, state officials and local academics disagree with the assessment saying that the tracks found are most likely from another animal.

This recent New York Times article contains some helpful information about the current state of mountain lions, and this article tells us more about the situation in Winchester.

The field and office staff at Adventure In, Adventure Out are always trying to find the most effective ways to transform groups of individuals into effective teams that have the potential to thrive in any situation. Intriguingly, we regularly find ourselves coming back to the work of Bruce Tuckman.

Introduced in the mid-60s, Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development have remained relevant, and continue to serve outdoor educators and team builders of all kinds. They are: Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing. Other stages, like Adjourning, have been added to his model as well.

To dive deeper into this effective tool, and to learn how the stages relate to each other, check out this article by the University of Washington. And for more information on our team-building offering for both schools and businesses/organizations check out Adventure In, Adventure Out’s website.

When Spiderman/Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben paraphrased Voltaire saying, “With great power come great responsibility,” he probably wasn’t referring to smartphones in the hands of high school students. But, as technology continues to find its way into the hands of children and young people, addressing techno-bullying becomes increasingly harder.

Thus, I say ‘Kudos!’ to the folks at Yik Yak:
“The founders of an up-and-coming anonymous messaging app called Yik Yak, that began to take off among the middle school and high school crowd where it has been linked to both bullying and threats, have taken the unprecedented step of actually blocking younger users from accessing its application while on school grounds.”

But while this is a valuable step, it’s only a small step towards greater inclusion, and the undoing of the underlying culture of bullying that is the painful reality for so many young people.

Click here to read the full Yik Yak article, and click here to learn more about Adventure In Adventure Out’s You Belong, “a bold and transformative program that engages students and teachers in the creation of a physically and emotionally safe environment where courageous action is encouraged, and the true expression of each person is welcomed and celebrated.”

If you’re a resident of the Connecticut River Valley, or Western Mass in general, you’ve most likely heard of Dave Hayes. But for those who haven’t…

Bob Dylan sang, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” and while that may be true, no matter the season, it can be really handy to have the most accurate weather forecast. How many times have you made travel, vacation, or day plans only to have them stymied by unexpected weather?

Enter Dave Hayes. An amateur meteorologist with a growing following, Hayes goes by the name “The Weather Nut,” and for good reason: he’s obsessed with meteorology! So much so that he pours over forecasts and reports from numerous sources to create the most accurate weather forecasts you’ll find for the area. He’s not perfect (is there such a thing as a perfect meteorologist?), but he’s the closest you’ll find to it, and his forecasts for weather onset, duration, precipitation amounts, etc. are almost always spot on.

He posts regularly, and you can ‘like’ his Facebook page here.
If you’re interested in learning more about him, you can check out this Gazettenet article as well.

Don’t worry, folks: spring is coming!

Unfortunately, Lyme Disease and other tick-borne illnesses have become commonplace in the Northeast. Speaking from personal experience, they’re no fun, which is why this article grabbed my attention. Aside from being another example of the connections that sometimes exist in nature without our knowing, it provides interesting information on how possums, who’s movements will increase as we say ‘Goodbye’ to winter, can lower tick population numbers.

For the full article and accompanying WAMC podcast, visit the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.

And for more information on Adventure In, Adventure Out’s tracking and adventure programs, please visit our website.

There is a lot of quality content being created and shared by the people at The Good Men Project, and this anti-bullying ad from France is just one example.

Recasting the bullied and the bullies as adults rather than children, it is quickly apparent just how traumatic bullying can be.

Go here to learn more about Adventure In, Adventure Out’s Look Again anti-bullying program.

You can also check out the original article by Joanna Schroeder here.

I couldn’t agree more with Jeremiah Anthony’s classmates: he is an inspiration.

Taking the simple idea of challenging bullying with compliments, he has affected his entire high school and created an environment of positivity that impacts students of all ages.

So many of us, including myself, have experienced bullying at some point in our lives. So, it’s heartwarming to know that, in addition to Adventure In, Adventure Out’s You Belong program, there are other individuals, organizations, and schools working to counteract the destructiveness of bullying.

To check out West Side Bros on Twitter go here, and visit our site to learn more about our You Belong anti-bullying program.