Author: Joseph Kozlowski

Joseph Kozlowski PhD, is a teacher and researcher at Edith Bowen Laboratory School. He is passionate about incorporating innovative mathematics and computer science education strategies into his classroom, and using those experiences to guide his research work. Additionally, he draws from his rural upbringing in Wyoming to inform his implementation of experiential and outdoor education. He is humbled and honored to be a contributor to UPRs WildAboutUtah!
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Participate in the Junior Duck Stamp Program

Two Mallards Flying from Forest Street, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Courtesy US FWS, Sheryl Ritter, Photographer
Two Mallards Flying from Forest Street
Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge
Courtesy US FWS,
Sheryl Ritter, Photographer
Dr. Joseph Kozlowski
Last month, I ran a segment on how students engaging in nature-related art helps them develop appreciation and awareness for the natural world around them. Today, I am joined by Gabby Johnson, who works for the US Fish and Wildlife Service at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, who is here to share her experience leading the Utah Junior Duck Stamp Contest, which encourages just that kind of nature and art appreciation.

So thank you, Gabby, for being here with us. Do you mind jumping right into a little bit of the history of this program?

Gabby Johnson
Yeah. Thank you so much for having me.

The Junior Duck Stamp Program is part of the Federal Duck Stamp Program, which started in 1934 when Congress passed the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act. Every waterfowl hunter 16 and older is required to purchase a federal duck stamp each year they hunt. Since 1934, sales from federal duck stamps have helped conserve more than six million acres of wildlife habitat. Ninety-eight cents of every duck stamp dollar goes to purchasing or leasing wetlands and wildlife habitat, and the art featured on the duck stamp is chosen every year in the Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest.

In 1989, the Junior Duck Stamp Program started. This program gives students the opportunity to learn about conservation and submit a waterfowl painting or drawing into the Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest. After the state-level competitions, the art is judged at the national level, and the winning art is made into the Junior Duck Stamp, which sells for $5 to support conservation education.

Dr Joseph Kozlowski
Six million acres, that’s incredible. It makes me think of that saying I’ve heard, hunting is conservation, and it’s neat to see those two communities work together to support wildlife in this sense in wetlands.

So what about a basic overview of how people might be able to participate in this program?

Gabby Johnson
Yeah. All students from kindergarten through 12th grade, whether in a public, private, charter, or homeschool are welcome to participate in the Junior Duck Stamp Program. Each state holds their own Junior Duck Stamp Contest. In Utah, the deadline to submit art each year is March 1st.

Students participating in the program learn about North American waterfowl, including ducks, geese, and swans, and the importance of wetland habitat to these animals. Students share what they’ve learned during classroom discussions, research, and planning through both the artwork and a written conservation message. There are some contest rules to keep in mind, like specific paper size, and ensuring there’s no writing on the front of the artwork. For educators interested in getting involved, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge has a variety of materials to support you. Educators can reach out about in-class programming, field trips at the refuge, or rentable art supplies and curriculum guides.

Dr Joseph Kozlowski
And I know personally as a educator who has done this program with my students, you’ve been incredibly helpful to staff at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in supporting me in getting the resources and submitting artwork in the correct way, so thank you.

What about the impact you’ve seen from participation in this program?

Gabby Johnson
Yeah, one of my favorite parts of working on this program has been getting to read the student conservation messages. Through learning about waterfowl and wetlands, creating their artwork, and taking time to write about conservation, students recognize the important role wetlands play in our environment and the ways they can have a role in conservation, and that’s clear through their conservation messages.

This year, our conservation message winner was Jason Deacon. He’s 11 years old, and his message was, for future inspiration, utilize smart conservation.

Dr Joseph Kozlowski
I think it’s so important definitely here in Utah where we face these real water questions and water conservation issues to get kids thinking at a young age how they can be aware and thoughtful of some of those practices and ideas.

Well, finally, Gabby, what excites you personally about this program?

Gabby Johnson
I think the lasting impact this program can have on students is the most exciting part of the program to me. When there’s a positive experience associated with learning about waterfowl, wetlands, and the local environment as a student, the hope is that the value for these resources for students increases, and they make decisions in the future that reflect that care and value.
Dr Joseph Kozlowski
Well, personally, I’m awfully grateful for this program. My students have been doing this for a couple years now, and as our implementation of this program gets better and better each year, I can see that lasting impact in their knowledge and their understanding of conservation and wetlands, so I thank you, Gabby, for being here, and to all you educators and families out there, I encourage you, get your kids involved, encourage them to try to participate in this Junior Duck Stamp Contest, and I think you’ll see a lot of benefits in their learning and appreciation for the world around us.
Dr Joseph Kozlowski & Gabby Johnson
So I’m Dr. Joseph Kozlowski.
I’m Gabby Johnson.

And we’re 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
Text:     Audio converted to text using Otter.ai, Speakers: Joseph Kozlowski, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University https://edithbowen.usu.edu/ Gabby Johnson, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, US Fish & Wildlife Service, https://www.fws.gov/refuge/bear-river-migratory-bird
Additional Reading Links: Joseph Kozlowski & Lyle Bingham

Additional Reading:

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

Edith Bowen Lab School, Utah State University, https://edithbowen.usu.edu/

Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, US Fish & Wildlife Service, US Department of the Interior, https://www.fws.gov/refuge/bear-river-migratory-bird
https://www.facebook.com/BearRiverMBR/

Junior Duck Stamp, US Fish & Wildlife Service, US Department of the Interior, https://www.fws.gov/program/junior-duck-stamp/junior-duck-stamp-contest-information

Junior Duck Stamp Gallery, US Fish & Wildlife Service, US Department of the Interior, https://www.fws.gov/library/collections/junior-duck-stamp-gallery

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Nature and Art

Mallard Drake Bird Guide Card, Student Art from Second Grade, Edith Bowen Lab School, Utah State University Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer
Mallard Drake
Bird Guide Card
Student Art from Second Grade,
Edith Bowen Lab School, Utah State University
Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer

Dark-Eyed Junco Bird Guide Card, Student Art from Second Grade, Edith Bowen Lab School, Utah State University Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer Dark-Eyed Junco
Bird Guide Card
Student Art from Second Grade,
Edith Bowen Lab School, Utah State University
Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer

As an educator focused on outdoor experiential learning, I’m always looking for ways to integrate nature’s aesthetic beauty into my teaching. Aldo Leopold wrote, “Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language.” This quote epitomizes some of my own progression with noticing, with understanding quality, and with art. As someone, who, throughout life has dodged the necessity to engage in art, I would have never thought that my love for birds and my increased awareness of them, would one day help me appreciate the capacity for anyone, even an untrained artist like myself, to enjoy and value art.

I try to foster this appreciation for art through a routine and rigorous integrated series of bird sketches and colored pencil drawings with my second-grade students at Edith Bowen Laboratory School. Students study a unique bird species each week, and as a culminating artifact, create a Bird Guide Card. On this card they record the bird sound, size, habitat and an interesting fact. Additionally, they carefully sketch, color, and label notable identifying characteristics of the bird. This artistic portion of the week’s lesson has so many powerful learning benefits that I’ve seen develop in the kids.

First and foremost, students’ attention to detail is greatly enhanced. In the beginning of the year, students’ birds have an oval body, wings outstretched like an airplane’s, two stick legs dangling down like two grandfather clock pendulums, and a pointy triangle beak. However, as their perception of detail increases over the year, they begin to notice the subtle details that in fact, provide insight to the scientific principles of life; such as the change in angle after the hinge-like joints midway through a bird’s wing, the different textures of flight-feathers vs. down-feathers, or the various structures and shapes of beaks based on what diet is of primary concern.

Second, students’ patience and attentiveness in increased, which I think we can all agree are much needed traits in this world. Students who were so eager to outline a bird sketch and then scribble it with color at the beginning of the year, now are seen fastidiously sketching and erasing, thoughtfully blending various colors, and even seeking counsel from other classmates on whether this or that tweak would improve their artistic masterpiece.

Finally, I have seen my students develop an appreciation for diversity in peer artwork. Let’s face it, some people have a natural artistic proclivity, and some have to work a bit harder. However, my students no longer giggle or make snide comments about bad art. Instead, I hear kids say things like “Wow, Jim! That’s your best bird yet! I love the way you did the feet!” or “You got the colors just right on the tail feathers, Emily!” Instead of seeing students as bad artists, they respect their contribution and acknowledge beauty in various forms.

So I challenge you. Grab a pencil, paper, eraser, and colored pencils. Find a picture on the internet of a bird you’ve seen in the last week, and then zoom in! Start with a pencil sketch. Look for detail, notice, wonder. Try to capture those observations in your sketch. Then, move to colored pencils and attempt to shade, color, and blend until you’ve represented what you want. I hope you find, like I have, that whatever turns out, whether you realize you’re the next John James Audubon or your bird looks more like something that came straight out of Sesame Street, you will have entered a special thinking place where your focus on nature’s beauty enhances your ability to perceive quality.

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:

Edith Bowen Lab School, Utah State University, https://edithbowen.usu.edu/

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Citizen Scientists

Black-capped Chickadee with Leg Band Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer
Black-capped Chickadee with Leg Band
Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer
“Get more! Snap another one! Keep shooting, Dr. Koz!”

Silent whisper-yells bombard, as if I’m a paparazzi capturing exclusive, behind the scenes footage of Taylor Swift or some other super star. However, these are kid whispers, and I’m just a 2nd-grade teacher leaning out my exterior classroom door, taking pictures of a curious little Black-Capped Chickadee happily pecking seeds from our class millet feeder which dangles just outside our window.

I happily comply with the entourage’s request and snap picture after picture of the little black and white songbird.

Black-capped Chickadee Leg Band Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer
Black-capped Chickadee Leg Band
Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer

Cracking the Code, Leg Band Analytic Cyphers Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer “Cracking the Code”
Leg Band Analytic Cyphers
Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer

Bird Banding Certificate of Appreciation USGS, Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Contributor & Photographer Bird Banding Certificate of Appreciation USGS
Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Contributor & Photographer

Eventually it flies away and I return to class and connect the camera to our large screen so students can see the close-up pictures of our little friend. I display the images and voices erupt from the students “Look at its leg! There is something shiny stuck on it!”

Sure enough, a metallic band encircled its right tarsometatarsus (fancy word for lower leg).

We zoomed into the picture and students noticed faint numbers and letters. They asked to see the various other pictures I had captured. The band was visible in each picture. Additionally, a different perspective of the band was visible in each picture based on the way the bird had adjusted its body between shots.

The students had an idea. Zoom into the band of each picture and print them. Each picture would have the band from a different angle, which may allow them to ‘crack the code’ of the specific 9-digit identification number that was encrypted upon it.

I did as the kids suggested. Soon kids were madly puzzling around the room, moving pictures from here to there, trying to see what clue from one angle of the band might inform a clue from a different angle of the band. It was a complex puzzle, but they wouldn’t give up.

A kid yells out, “We got it!” and everyone rushes over to their large whiteboard, which by this time, looks like a rocket scientist has been planning the next launch.

[287035209] was inscribed on their whiteboard

We accessed the United States Geological Survey (USGS) website for reporting banded birds and entered the number along with associated data.

Up popped a corresponding specimen:
Species: Black-Capped Chickadee
Banded: 2019

Scientist: Dr. Clark Rushing
Location: Cache County, USA

Students cheered and shouted when they read the information, and were most excited to learn how old our little friend was. They quickly decided looking up Dr. Rushing (now a professor at University of Georgia) and emailing him was necessary and formulated a message sharing their experience.

To our surprise, Dr. Rushing responded to the students sharing his memory of the banding project and how a 7-year-old Black-Capped Chickadee was a very rare scientific discovery.

The students sat with amazement, feeling like real scientists. Leaving the classroom that day for carpool, I hear a little girl giggle, pull her friend over, and whisper in her ear, “One day, I’m going to be a bird scientist just like Dr. Clark Rushing!”

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:

Reporting a bird with a federal band or auxiliary marker, U.S. Geological Survey(USGS), U.S. Department of the Interior, https://www.usgs.gov/labs/bird-banding-laboratory/science/report-a-band

The USGS serves as the primary science bureau for the DOI, integrating geological, hydrological, and biological research to support decision-making on public lands. Who We Are: https://www.usgs.gov/about/about-us/who-we-are#:~:text=What%20We%20Do,features%20available%20to%20the%20public.

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A Friend to Guide the Way

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