Joseph Kozlowski, Author at Wild About Utah

October 6, 2025October 6, 2025

A Friend to Guide the Way

Red-tailed Hawk, Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer

“Look, up on that pole! There’s a huge bird! I think it’s a hawk!”

A storm of students put their half-eaten PB & Js down, grabbed binoculars, and raced to get a better view. One of my 2nd-grade students, while eating lunch under the King’s Nature Park gazebo, had spotted the special visitor.

Students bustled around with their binoculars trying to get a better look at the far-away hawk. Excited fragments of observations eventually started ringing out.

“Look at that sharp beak!”

“I can see a red tail!”

“It’s mostly brown with some lighter feathers on the chest!”

“It looks like it’s watching us!”

Jack Greene guided our students, Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer — Jack Greene guided our students
Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer

Eventually students returned binoculars, wolfed down their remaining bits of food, and found their instructor for the afternoon learning centers. About 25 kids made their way to me and Jack Greene, an expert naturalist. My group strapped on their binocular harnesses, left the gazebo, and started off on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. We had one objective; to observe and wonder about nature.

We forged a 6-inch trickle of water – the endeavor being met with laughs, screams and giggles, proceeded higher onto the bench where the remnants of a recent fire still blackened the hillside, and made our way along the trail to a choke cherry bush which was to be the turning point. The students happily watched and listened to Black-Capped Chickadees and House Sparrows playing fall games in the crackly bramble. We all turned and started our journey back to the gazebo.

“Everyone, look up there! Soaring high above us! That looks like the huge hawk we saw at lunch! I think it’s following us!” came the shriek of an excited young girl.

Intrigued students looked up to see the large, soaring hawk far above, lazily drifting circles toward the gazebo. Naturally, the kids couldn’t let it get away. The unrestrainable naturalists raced down the gravel trail in the direction of the hawk.

The hawk did get too far away. We all rejoined and continued our walk back. No more than 5 minutes later, a shout echoed out: “It landed! That hawk that has been following us all day landed! I kept a close eye on it and it landed up there on a post!”

The hunt was afoot. We picked up our pace to get close to the big hawk that had landed on an electrical post a few hundred yards ahead of us. We crept up and it posed for the eager kid eyes and hasty teacher cameras. But little voices aren’t quiet, and the hawk launched from the post and took flight before many could get a good look.

We had to get back. After Jack gave a mini-lesson about the length of a Black-Billed Magpie tail indicating approximate age, we hustled to return to the gazebo.

Our group of hot, sweaty, and energized naturalists arrived back at the gazebo and gathered for a final closing discussion. We huddled close, and amidst my parting words, a boy loudly interrupted and pointed to a nearby telephone pole. “Everyone, look! The hawk came to say goodbye!”

We all turned, and perched on the pole was the same hawk that had followed us that day; our guide, our companion, our friend. It took off and slowly, methodically, made low circles above our head, as if to say “Now you can see me, I am your friend. Goodbye, little ones. We had a special journey together.”

I am Dr. Joseph Kozlowski, and I am wild about outdoor education in Utah!

Credits:

Images: Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer, Used by Permission
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright © Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections/kevin-colver and including contributions from Anderson, Howe, and Wakeman.
Text: Joseph Kozlowski, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University https://edithbowen.usu.edu/
Additional Reading Links: Joseph Kozlowski & Lyle Bingham

Additional Reading:

Joseph (Joey) Kozlowski’s pieces on Wild About Utah:

Red-tailed Hawk, All About Birds, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/overview

Black-capped Chickadee, All About Birds, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-capped_Chickadee

House Sparrow, All About Birds, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Sparrow

Black-beak Magpie, All About Birds, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-billed_Magpie

August 11, 2025August 10, 2025

Birds Foster Community Connections

Academic Focus in the Outdoors Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer — Academic Focus in the Outdoors
Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer

I don’t know why, but birds possess a special power to connect diverse communities. You see, birds don’t discriminate; they don’t care who you are, what you look like, where you live, or what you believe; they are always there to offer you their wonder, beauty, and interesting behaviors, so long as you are willing to be aware and curious of their presence; and that awareness seems to bring people and places together.

Three years ago when I first became interested in using Utah birds as a core theme for teaching my 2nd-graders at Utah State University’s Edith Bowen Laboratory School, I had no idea how it would revolutionize my teaching career and connect me and my students with so many different natural and human communities. Personally, I’ve formed connections with people and places I would have never expected, such as: the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Bridgerland Audubon Society, this Utah Public Radio community, various natural resource professors at USU, untold numbers of new beautiful outdoor locations around the state, and even various important state educational stakeholders. But beyond me, I’m most excited to see how an increased awareness of Utah birds has led to my students making connections in their own lives.

My students are starting to experience Utah’s nature community in a new and more powerful way. The main way? By becoming aware. I can’t emphasize enough the power I’ve seen in my students just becoming aware of the natural world around them. Their simple everyday routines become opportunities to notice something going on around them in nature. Something as routine as school recess can turn into an opportunity to notice interesting natural phenomena, for example when a student noticed a European Starling had borne through the school’s siding, created a nest, and had been returning over and over to feed her impatient chirping chicks; or when a hen Mallard had mistakenly laid her eggs in a nest next to the school’s air conditioning unit; or when students found a dead Black-Capped Chickadee who must have unfortunately collided with a school window.

Furthermore, my students leave class and become ambassadors for learning outside of the school walls. They make connections to learning at home and get involved in their local communities in new ways! I’ve had countless students convince their families to get outside and explore a new local nature area in search of birds; I’ve had students who ‘took their siblings on a birding outing right from their house to a nearby nature area to explore new birds’; and I’ve had students who convinced their family they just ‘had to go to Salt Lake City’s Tracy Aviary over spring break,’ to discover new birds. These examples epitomize how birds bridge connections between students’ home and school knowledge; bridge connections between my students and other people in their lives, and bridge connections between my students’ own lives and the natural environment around them.

This is Dr. Joseph Kozlowski, and I am wild about outdoor education in Utah!

Credits:

Additional Reading:

Joseph (Joey) Kozlowski’s pieces on Wild About Utah:

The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, https://www.fws.gov/refuge/bear-river-migratory-bird

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/

Tracy Aviary, https://tracyaviary.org/

Bridgerland Audubon Society, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Utah Public Radio, https://upr.org/

June 9, 2025June 9, 2025

Bass, Birds, Buddies, and Boats

Joey, James & Jack Courtesy Joseph Kozlowski & Copyright Jack McLaren, Photographer — Joey, James & Jack
Courtesy Joseph Kozlowski & Copyright Jack McLaren, Photographer

Wilson's Phalarope
Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer — Wilson’s Phalarope
Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer

Banana Boy James
Courtesy Joseph Kozlowski & Copyright Jack McLaren, Photographer

Banana Boy James, Courtesy Joseph Kozlowski & Copyright Jack McLaren, Photographer — Wilson’s Phalarope
Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer

Banana Boy James
Courtesy Joseph Kozlowski & Copyright Jack McLaren, Photographer

I sit on the front swivel seat of a drift boat gliding across the smooth water of Newton Reservoir. The sun begins to send morning rays of brilliance over the Cache Mountains. My only child, a 14-month-old boy named James, excitedly wriggles in my lap. Behind me in the captain’s seat is my long-time buddy, Jack McLaren. Jack and I met in graduate school where he was working on a doctorate in watershed sciences and fish ecology. Jack and I have been friends ever since, and any day fishing with Jack is one I cherish.

Jack tells me the Largemouth Bass are on the other end of the reservoir, in the shallow, weedy water where they feast on any living creature they can find, primarily small Bluegill who nest in that area. Using two oars, Jack begins paddling the boat across the reservoir. James’ eyes are mesmerized by the turbulent water eddies that form around the oars with each stroke, and I peacefully observe the world and wings around me. Western Kingbirds, with their gentle yellow bellies and grey head, play chase games as they dive and duck from one cottonwood tree to another on the water’s edge; Bank Swallows make clicking and clacking noises like pulsing electrical wires from the steep muddy embankment where a healthy colony has formed; and Wilson’s Phalaropes do a mating display where the modestly colored male hovers in the air over the brightly colored female, bobbing up and down for nearly 5 seconds, before gently landing next to her.

We reach the far end of the reservoir and begin fishing. Jack pulls a plastic green frog across the top of the water; I bounce a long, brown rubber worm with a neon tail under the water; and James, well, he grabs each bag of rubber worms from the tackle box and throws them over the side of the boat.

Just as I finally distract James with a Banana, “THWAPPP!!” a splash sounds and a commotion in the water catches my attention. A hungry bass thought frogs were on the menu and was fooled by Jack’s lure. He reels in the bass and James and I look at the beautiful, greenish/yellowish creature with the distinguishable black stripe down the side. James, with a mischievous smile, courageously reaches out his pointer finger and gently runs it along the slimy, scaly body of the fish.

We continue to fish and just take in the beautiful morning when the thought strikes me.

“This little 14-month-old is going to be my new, best buddy for the rest of my life. Observing, respecting, being aware of, and appreciating nature has always been important to me. How do I pass this same kind of love and respect for nature onto my own son, the next generation, as my father and mother did to me?”

To that, I don’t have an answer, but maybe, just maybe, James being mesmerized by the flow of swirling water eddies around oar paddles or him using his delicate finger to bravely stroke the side of a slimy fish may be just the right start.

This is Dr. Joseph Kozlowski, and I am Wild About Utah!

Credits:

Images: Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer, Used by Permission
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright © Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections/kevin-colver and including contributions from J. Chase and K.W. Baldwin
Text: Joseph Kozlowski, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University https://edithbowen.usu.edu/
Additional Reading Links: Joseph Kozlowski & Lyle Bingham

Additional Reading:

Joseph (Joey) Kozlowski’s pieces on Wild About Utah:

Experiential Education Archives, Wild About Utah https://wildaboututah.org/tag/experiential-education/

Hitchcock, Ed, 7 Tips for Fishing with Kids, Take Me Fishing, the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation, Nov 22, 2019, https://www.takemefishing.org/blog/november-2019/7-tips-for-fishing-with-kids/

Community fisheries, Division of Wildlife Resources, Department of Natural Resources, State of Utah, Last Updated: September 12, 2024, https://wildlife.utah.gov/community-fisheries.html

April 14, 2025April 13, 2025

Balancing Academic Focus and Student Exploration when Learning Outdoors

A recent educational outdoor experience (I’ll call field experience) with a homeschooled family, prompted me to reflect on the balance between academic focus and student-exploration when teaching outdoors. Yes, some balance of the two is necessary. In the extreme case of too explicit of academic focus, why be outdoors at all and not just at school in desks? Why all the logistics and planning to transport kids to some outdoor location then sit them at a picnic table to complete worksheets about some science-based academic standard, when you could do that all at school? In the other extreme, if you ‘let kids run free’ for the entirety of the field experience, they’ll have fun and make discoveries, but they will likely miss the intentional connections to curriculum that made the trip academically justifiable. So, when you take kids to learn outdoors, what is the right balance between academic focus and student-exploration and how can the instructor support such a balance?

In my experience, the way to think about this balance isn’t so much as a mixing of the two, but more of a time sequence. Here’s what I’ve found works well.

Prior to the field experience, formal academic focus should be the priority. Students should engage in academic activities that set them up to make explicit academic connections when they go to the field.
Then, when in the field, emphasis should be on student-exploration, and priority should be given to fostering children’s wonder, discovery, and inquiry about nature. Importantly, the instructor plays a vital role in in the field in helping refine student-exploration so it leads to academic connections. One major role of the instructor in the field is to arrange an outdoor experience that will likely lead to an encounter with the academic material that was previously focused on. For example, if you had academically focused on animals taking advantage of their habitats to survive, you may want to take children to a specific area that might have downed trees from a gnawing beaver so as to naturally lead kids to make their own nature to academic connections. Another major role of the instructor in the field needs to be expertly observing the kids engaging in the environment and noticing when there is an opportunity to highlight a child’s nature-to-academic connection, or prompt children to make such connections.
Finally, after the field experience, attention should shift back to academic focus in the form of documentation, which will help children formally connect their experiences in the outdoors to the academic topic they are learning about.

So, whether you’re a homeschooled family, related to the public- or private-school sector, or even just a parent considering how to make the most of an outdoor opportunity, consider this balance between formal academic focus and student-centered exploration in the wild Utah outdoors.

This is Dr. Joseph Kozlowski and I am Wild about Outdoor Education in Utah!

Credits:

Images: Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer, Used by Permission
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright © Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections/kevin-colver and including contributions from Anderson, Howe and Wakeman
Text: Joseph Kozlowski, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University https://edithbowen.usu.edu/
Additional Reading Links: Joseph Kozlowski & Lyle Bingham

Additional Reading:

Joseph (Joey) Kozlowski’s pieces on Wild About Utah:

Experiential Education Archives, Wild About Utah https://wildaboututah.org/tag/experiential-education/