Harbor, Grey, and Harp seals may be viewed, and Great Cormorants are an abundant waterbird at this stop. Waterfowl such as eiders, scoters, and loons may also be seen on the boat ride out.

After seal-viewing, the boat docks at Cuttyhunk for lunch and an opportunity to set foot on the island. At this point, you’re free to venture through town to the lookout to gain a feel for the unique landscape and enjoy a panoramic view of surrounding waters.

For bird enthusiasts, follow Lloyd Center naturalist Jamie Bogart for bird-watching in the vicinity of Cuttyhunk Pond, where additional bird species may be seen. In addition to learning about some unique wildlife, you’ll leave with more knowledge about Buzzards Bay, and a new appreciation for its surrounding landscape.

Pre-register online, or call 508-990-0505 x10.  Pre-registration is required by Thursday, March 1st, by 4:00 p.m.
If you have specific questions regarding the program, please call Jamie at 508-990-0505 x23, or email jbogart@lloydcenter.org.

Please see www.cuttyhunkferrycompany.com for further background about the company with which we are partnering for this outing.

Date: Saturday, March 3, 2012
Time: 10: 00 a.m. (boat departs) – 2:00 p.m. (boat returns ashore). Please arrive no later than 9:45 a.m. for check-in, boat leaves 10:00 a.m. sharp
Meeting place: Cuttyhunk Ferry Company parking lot, state pier, off Route 18 in New Bedford (see www.cuttyhunkferrycompany.com for directions)
Price: Members $43 Non-members $45 Children $20 Price includes lunch served on boat and packet of background materials. Additional items may be purchased (cash) on the vessel, and on the island.
Items to bring: binoculars, camera, appropriate clothing (layers, wind gear, hiking shoes)

Except for weather cancellation or personal reasons (illness, injury, etc), seal watch tickets are non-refundable.

The Seabird Ecological Assessment Network (SEANET) is a volunteer-based field survey project whose main objective is to gain information about beached bird deposition along coastal shorelines to help detect sources of harm to the marine environment, and assess the status of seabird populations.

This is a great project for birdwatchers, those passionate about our coastlines and wanting to learn about threats to marine ecosystems from a shoreline perspective, and those interested in citizen science, whereby volunteer efforts are directly used by organizations responsible for safeguarding our environment.

Volunteers conduct monthly surveys for both beached and live birds at their site of choice and collect basic environment conditions data during their walks. When volunteers find beached birds, they take measurements and photographs, mark the specimens, and document other findings from their walks.

Requirements are willingness to walk a beach once per month minimum, collect data according to the protocol that will be presented at the workshop, and commit to the project for at least one year.

We seek volunteers for the Buzzards Bay region (Westport to Wareham), living near or frequently visiting any walkable shoreline. Beach vacancies exist throughout the region.

The workshop will be led by Dr. Sarah Courchesne with assistance from Lloyd Center Research Associate Jamie Bogart, coordinator for the Buzzards Bay region. Volunteers will leave with necessary materials, a background necessary to start surveys, and a beach of their choice. Weather permitting, a walk on a nearby beach will follow the indoor session.

Date: Saturday, February 18, 2012
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Location: Lloyd Center for the Environment (lower building)
Leader: Dr. Sarah Courchesne of Tufts University and Jamie Bogart, Lloyd Center Research Associate
Cost: free of charge
Items to wear/bring: footwear for beach walk, layered clothing, binoculars, camera, notebook

Click here for further background about the program and links to a variety of SEANET related information.

Anyone interested in volunteering and attending the workshop should contact Jamie Bogart at 508-990-0505 (x23), or at jbogart@lloydcenter.org.

Starting at the Lloyd Center property, join Lloyd Center Research Assistant Jamie Bogart for a series of stops along the country roads of South Dartmouth, where you’ll venture into the dark winter woods to attract owls with callback tapes.  Screech, great-horned, barred and long eared owls are all potential species heard and seen. At sunrise, enjoy a refreshing walk along a pristine coastal beach, where other birdlife can be seen. Winter waterfowl are abundant, and owls active during daylight hours can be seen on a lucky day.

At the outing’s conclusion, you’ll be treated to a light breakfast of bagels and coffee at the Lloyd Center facility where you can also enjoy the center’s great exhibits, viewscape and trail system in all its winter glory. Participants will meet at the Lloyd Center Headquarters located at 430 Potomska Road in Dartmouth (park in lower lot, meet in main facility at top of hill). To maximize field observation during peak hours of owl activity, the van will depart promptly at 3:30am!

The Lloyd Center’s Owl Prowl will take place on Sunday, February 19th, 3:30 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. (poor weather date: Sunday, February 26th, 3:30 a.m. – 8:00 a.m., please note that in addition to stormy weather, windy conditions which obscure owl calls and reduce owl activity will cause postponement of the outing). The cost of the program is $9 for Lloyd Center members and $12 for non-members (children under 12 years old: $4.00 for members, $6 for non-members). Program is suitable for ages 10 and up. Pre-registration is required. To register for this program, call our event registration line at 508-558-2918 or simply visit our website www.lloydcenter.org and register online.

Participants are asked to dress warmly and wear footwear for light walking on forest trails and possibly on snow. Bring binoculars, a camera and flashlight, if you have them. If you have specific questions about the program or owls, please call Jamie Bogart at 508-990-0505 ext. 23. Owls are chiefly nocturnal birds of prey, feeding on rodents, birds, reptiles, and sometimes fish (usually scavenged).  They cannot move their eyes, so instead they move their heads. Owls can turn their heads 270 degrees in either direction; this helps them triangulate to locate their prey.  Hopefully, participants will see and hear these nighttime birds.

With a focus on coastal ecology and bird identification, Mark will identify winter waterfowl and ‘washed up’ marine life. January is a wonderful time of year to walk the coast and observe the effects of wave action on the slope and shape of the beach. This is a very informal outing, and those that simply want to walk are more than welcome.

The program will be held on Sunday, January 1, 2012 from 10am – noon and is free to all. Participants should dress warmly and wear hiking boots; binoculars and cameras are recommended as well. Participants will meet at the Gooseberry Neck Parking Lot in Westport. Follow Route 88 south until the very end, turn right and proceed across the causeway to the parking lot. No registration is required. If you have questions about the program, call Mark Mello at 508-990-0505 ext.22. Start the New Year off “on the right foot” by walking the beach and enjoying our unique coastal habitats.

Kellogg is retired from a career as a chief financial officer at several companies including; Shannon Yachts, Americana Hotels & Realty Corporation and PaineWebber Properties Inc. He was a certified public accountant associated with Coopers & Lybrand in Boston and holds an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania.

Kellogg also is an accomplished sailor who has sailed on Buzzards Bay for more than 40 years and has made several trans-Atlantic crossings. He is a former director and treasurer of the Buzzards Bay Coalition, a trustee of the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in Maine, and has served as chairman of the Wellesley finance and audit committees and as a director of the town’s affordable housing corporation.

DARTMOUTH — Thirty Dartmouth and Westport artists that teamed up this summer to organize the annual open studio weekend, donated $5,000 to The Lloyd Center for The Environment in Dartmouth to be used to support the Center’s ongoing environmental science programs in the Westport and Dartmouth public schools. In its fourth season, the Art Drive artists have now donated a combined total of nearly $13,000 to The Lloyd Center.

D’Arcy G. MacMahon, The Lloyd Center’s executive director said, “We are deeply honored to once again have been selected, by such a prestigious and talented group of artists, and to be the beneficiary of this extraordinary event. In addition to drawing an untold number of new visitors to so many unusual and dramatic studio settings this year, the Art Drive raised badly needed funds to support The Lloyd Center’s ongoing efforts to give children back their connection to nature which, for so many, had been lost.”

Surprising Stripers, a new Art Drive program last year, enlisted participating artists to apply their own unique creativity and styles to create large, colorful depictions of striped bass, a species well known to the area. Stationed outdoors along the Art Drive routes—in public spaces and in front of stores, shops, businesses and other sites in Dartmouth and Westport—were 40 four-foot-long Striped Bass. The general public had the opportunity to bid for them on e-bay. A percentage of the income added substantially to the collective Art Drive contribution to The Lloyd Center.

As part of Art Drive’s own outreach program, Dartmouth and Westport high school art departments presented Rising Stars, an exhibit of outstanding student work at Cape Yachts’ South Wharf in Padanaram during the Art Drive weekend.

Consisting of some of the area’s premiere painters, ceramic artists, wood-workers, photographers, jewelers and others, the Art drive uniquely puts emphasis on a consistent and high level of professionalism and quality. With only 15 miles separating the most distant studios, visitors were able to enjoy seeing the artists’ works with ample time to dine at area restaurants and shop at local stores, twenty-five of which helped sponsor the event.

Organized by Dartmouth residents Beverly Carter, Sandra Hall and Deborah Quinn-Munson, The Art Drive attracts visitors from Boston to Providence to the area for the two-day August event. “We are most grateful to The Lloyd Center and staff for assisting us in promoting the event to its members and others,” said Beverly Carter. “Their help made all the difference, and even with a struggling economy, the number of visitors to all our studios was as robust as last year’s event. We would also like to thank the many Dartmouth and Westport businesses that contributed both funds and services to make this community event a great success.” she said

Go to www.the-art-drive.com for evolving details of the fifth annual Art Drive, scheduled for August 11 and 12, 2012.

SCHAUMBURG, IL – August 26, 2011 – Lloyd Center for the Environment, a highly regarded environmental research and education institute headquartered in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, has been selected as the recipient of a $50,000 grant from The Motorola Solutions Foundation, the charitable arm of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MSI), through Motorola Solutions Foundation’s signature Innovation Generation Grants program for 2011. Now in its fifth year, the program awards $5.5 million to 100 non-profit organizations across the country that foster and support science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) initiatives for teachers and U.S. preschool through university students – especially girls and under-represented minorities.

STEM education can help career prospects. Two recent studies by the U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) focused on the benefits of pursuing a career in STEM fields. The first report notes that those who pursue a science career both enjoy lower rates of joblessness and earn 26 percent more than their non-STEM counterparts, and the second report notes that women hold less than 25 percent of the jobs in STEM fields but earn 33 percent more, on average, than do women in other fields.

The proposals of this year’s grantees support distinct focus areas of the Innovation Generation program, such as the Lloyd Center’s new Climate Science Learning Project, which has been carefully designed to engage students and teachers in innovative, hands-on activities, as well as develop innovative thinking and creative problem-solving skills.

“We are grateful to the Motorola Solutions Foundation for its dedication to STEM education and are pleased that our grant will enable so many bright elementary and high school students, and their families, to engage in climate-change research and to monitor the effects of such change on their local environment,” said D’Arcy MacMahon, Executive Director, Lloyd Center for the Environment. “Empowered by this Motorola Solutions Foundation Innovation Generation Grant, the Lloyd Center will be strengthening science education and an understanding of the region’s ecology among students and families living in diverse South Coast communities.

Launched in 2007, the Motorola Solutions Foundation’s Innovation Generation program has provided more than $25.5 million in STEM funding. These strategic grants support hands-on, interactive after-school programs, science clubs, math clubs, camps and mentoring. The Foundation has a long-standing commitment to its grantees. Eighty-two percent of 2011 recipients have received funding for at least two years. In addition, the Innovation Generation program looks to support new partners, like the Lloyd Center, with 18 percent of recipients new to the Innovation Generation Grants program.

“The future of American innovation depends on a diverse pipeline of critical thinkers who are well versed in STEM principles,” said Matt Blakely, director of the Motorola Solutions Foundation. “It is a privilege to work with innovative educators, like those at the Lloyd Center in Massachusetts, to boost American students’ participation in math and science through their quality programming and pioneering engagement techniques and to provide students and teachers with the necessary tools to explore their STEM interests and pursue innovation.”

Innovation Generation is a part of Motorola Solutions’ larger commitment to engaging youth in STEM education. By virtue of this grant, the Lloyd Center for the Environment becomes part of the Innovation Generation network, where it can create vital connections with hundreds of other organizations with the common vision to make a greater impact on STEM education.

Additional information can be found online about t the Motorola Solutions grant program at www.motorolasolutions.com/giving.

The Bufflehead is one of the first winter waterfowl to arrive in this area. If you see one in late November or early December, you know winter is fast approaching. The Bufflehead is one of the smallest American ducks with an average length
of 14”.

The male has a white chest and underside, a black back, and a greenish black head with a large white cap. The female has a mostly brown body with a smaller white patch behind each eye. The origin of the species name, Bufflehead, comes from the words buffalo and head, which relates to the bulbous-shaped head of the species.

When you come to visit the Lloyd Center and brave the temperatures, take a walk on our trails to the estuary and marsh. Gaze to the horizon and you will no doubt find dozens of winter waterfowl. If you look closely, you may be able to find this tiny bird.

If you want a different perspective, go to the top floor to the Osprey Observatory and use one of our scopes to scan the horizon for waterfowl. Whatever the case, enjoy the winter season and discover the diversity of waterfowl in southeastern Massachusetts.

Seals have been spotted along the rock outcrops of Mishaum Point to as far in as the salt marshes of Little River. As the latter is peculiar, it is common to see the seals basking themselves on the rocks in the afternoon sun. The seals would be resting, warming themselves, or hunting from the rocks. They go after the schools of fish, crustaceans and mollusks that inhabit the area.

Seals are part of the mammal family; they are vertebrates, they have fur, they are born alive, and are fed milk as a baby. You can see the skeletal structure of a harbor seal on the main floor of the museum and compare their similar bones to our skeletal system.

The three types of seals that live along the Atlantic seashore are:

the Harbor seal, which can grow to 5 feet long, are yellowish gray with spots and whitish rings, are silvery when dry and have a dog-like snout.
They are fairly active and playful.

The Gray seal grows up to 8 feet and has a blackish slate color. Their face closely resembles a horse.

They are socially active as well, as they may be seen bobbing, playing or vocalizing in groups.

The Harp seal, which can be up to 5 ½ feet, has creamy white skin and brown spots on its face and body.

They tend to be in large groups during breeding season and are considered to be quite vocal.

Use the telescopes that are in the Osprey Observatory, or bring your own pair of binoculars, to see the winter waterfowl and these huge mammals amidst our winter wonderland. Enjoy the wintry landscape of the Slocum’s.

Season’s greetings!

The Harp Seal picture from Jon B. Hlidberg, Painting © 2003.

It took a little while to figure out the species of slug we have here on Potomska Road, as they range in size and coloration and the majority of them have been introduced from Europe.

From the field guides to the Internet, I have learned a lot about the gastropod mollusk. First off, gastropods are related to snails, but as you know slugs are bare, or are they?! Slugs fall into the mollusk category because of their mantle, the part on the body that secretes the shell and by the structure of their nervous system. Again, I thought the slug had no shell; well it turns out that the slug could either have a condensed, internal shell or no shell at all.

I gathered my “information” with my little Dixie cup – 4 slugs. They are persistent little creatures! They continuously slid and slithered out of the cup onto my desk. I noticed that they leave a trail of “slime” or mucous behind. Slugs produce two types of mucous: thin and watery and thick and sticky. The mucous helps the survival of the animal by allowing it to descend vertically as well as to provide a protective coat from predators. The trail of slime that it leaves behind could attract a mate of the same species or bring a predator licking its chops.

The more I kept putting the slugs back into the Dixie cup, the more I could see a “cuteness” factor. I blame the four tentacles on the front of the body – the top two are for sight, how they see different shades of light/dark, and the bottom two are for sensing. They all retract when the slug feels threatened, but pop back up when the slug is back to being curious.

If you are feeling a little curious yourself, and the weather isn’t too frightful, slither on over to the Lloyd Center to explore our beautiful 5 miles of trails. Maybe you’ll find some slugs on your walk!