Wednesday woes

This Wednesday went from 0 to one hundred rather quickly. My day started out pretty well honestly, I got to black's creek and met all the other save the harbor save the bay staffs Ana, Nieomi, and Edward.(Zach drove me to black's creek so he was there too) And after we all got the supplies ready for the first group of children. The first group had a good time, they found a good amount of green crabs, hermit crabs, and even a rare minnow. And played some games Gaga ball and some other things like Mr. fox and Uncle Sam. And then we dismissed the first group and prepared for the second one. This is when the the rain kind of started but it was only drizzling. We still got through the day and ended up stopping a rather quickly, so we went back to crab catching, letting the kids have fun and playing games like a couple Uncle Sam, kickball, and Mr. Fox. And we ended at the  regular time of 12 o'clock. After lunch we got in at Boston children's museum and as soon as we
got in the rain gave no mercy. It started pouring bullets and we had to get under a tent and see if any people would like to look at the crabs under that tent after a good hour of waiting for people. We decided to bring our crabs inside the BCM and show them crabs and we ended up finishing our jobs inside the Museum.

Me "enjoying" the rain.

Hopefully the rain goes easy on us from now on...

~Eric Joseph

Monday Madness!

Monday was a jam packed day! Zach and I got in at Black's Creek around 8:45, and met Nieomi, Ana, and Edward there well near 8:57. After we all got settled in we got all the supplies ready for the day. The first group we had that day were pretty normal, we caught a good amount of green crabs, a lot of hermit crabs, and even the rare amount of shrimp the kids basically filled the bottom of the tank with hermit crabs. Then as usual halfway through exploring we asked the children which ones would like to go to the gaga pit, they all decided to go the pit so we all went up had some good games and by the end of the third round of gaga ball, it was time for the kids to go and the new group were starting to come in. And the second group were way more lucky with their exploration. About five to ten minutes in to exploring I caught this little fish. I didn't even know what kind of fish it was to be honest but the kids kept trying to feed it seaweed.

Then a good ten minutes after that, the children were looking at the crabs when they started to see the crabs "fighting" well turns were actually mating! I know because I tried to pick up one of them and they both came up stuck together. But after that we put all the crabs back in the water and by then it was time to go up the hill and play gaga ball. But the gaga pit was already taken so we had to improvise, we ended up playing museum and kickball.  And after a short game of kickball it was time for that group to go home too. And we didn't have to go to the Boston children's museum so after all the children made it back to their parents, we left and went home.









This was the most eventful day yet, so let's see if I can top this!
~Eric 

Kids Day Festival!

Happy faces all around

This Saturday I had the pleasure of working at the Kid’s Day Festival at Red Rock Beach in Lynn. Early in the morning Jahari, Patrice, Jennifer, Kimberly, and myself loaded into my car and stopped at the Courageous Sailing Center. Our first order of business for this event was to collect crabs from the traps we have at Courageous. We picked a few lucky green crabs from the traps and took them on a lovely car ride to the festival. When we arrived, we set up a large touch tank with the crabs we collected earlier. While Jahari, Kimberly, and Jennifer were collecting ocean water for our tank, they also found a handful of periwinkle snails, a few small hermit crabs, a small bright green crab the size of a quarter, and a crab who had just molted. I had never seen a freshly molted crab and was very excited to examine his soft exterior. We placed the new-found creatures in a bucket next to our tank and soon enough, the children came rushing in.

Patrice helping a little boy pet the crab

Tiny green crab

It was a very windy day, but the wind could not blow away all of the excitement. There were bubbles in the air, balloon animals floating about, and Disney songs pouring out of the speakers. Because our table was right at the beginning of the park, we were constantly busy showing the kids our cool collection. A lot of children loved the tiny green crab because he was so small and had tiny pinchers. Still, there were many brave children who jumped at the chance to hold a large crab for the first time. Even some adults got over their fears and held a squirmy crab. We had a few crab races on the table and the hermit crabs became bold enough to run around as well. One hungry baby thought a periwinkle snail looked pretty delicious, but we saved the little snail from becoming a snack!

Spiderman and a one-clawed crab

Once we were done at the event, it was time to release the crabs back into the ocean. A few kids volunteered to help us and had a great time saying bye to our ten-legged friends. We also took a couple minutes to explore the tide pools before it was time to head home. Even though this was an event for kids, I had a fantastic time. I guess I am still a kid at heart!

Sea you out there,

Jennifer Leiendecker

The Tale of Big Legs the Green Crab

For those not in the know, while I spend my mornings having a great deal of fun over at Black's Creek, I get to spend my afternoons at the Childrens Museum, where I am able to interact with a variety of individuals who find themselves, for one reason or another, passing our stretch of boardwalk in front of the Childrens Museum. I like this shift in focus, as many our visitors come from all different walks of life, and run the gamut in terms of age demographics. As much as I love seeing the wonder in a childs' eye as they hold a green crab for the first time, I also really enjoy every time I can get a parent to say, "Huh, I never knew that!", or to see a group of adults on their lunch break taken aback at the idea that they can hold a crab right here and now. Yes, it's the fullness of different experiences I can have teaching different groups of people about the harbor that helps me enjoy my time at the Childrens Museum.

"This is Big Legs. I named him Big Legs!"

One of my most favorite experiences so far at Childrens was working with a pair of twins, who had visited us earlier during the first week of programming. They liked working with us so much, that they dragged their mother back so they could fish and check out the crabs for a second time. As of the time of this writing, I know they are planning at least one more visit to see us before the summer out. These two boys are naturals, and we joked that they will both end up working for Save the Harbor one day! They did not flinch at the thought of picking up the crabs, and even made a point of taking out each individual crab so that they could give it a name. The names were all creative and unique, some examples being, "Red Dude", "Speedy", "Shelldude", and "Movey". Okay, maybe they weren't the most unique.

Big Legs driving his new car!

 However, the most notable of all the crabs, was the largest one in the touch tank. His name was "Big Legs", appropriately named for the large size of his legs. One of the twins in particular, the one who named him, took a strong liking to Big Legs, and would show him off to every visitor that came by, proudly exclaiming, "This is Big Legs. I named him Big Legs." He and Big Legs were inseparable, though he took great care to make sure Big Legs did not dry out or die. He told me that while it was important to protect all the crabs, he thought Big Legs was the most important. It was funny to watch as he took Big Legs out of the tank, and sat next to him as they both watched his brother play a game with Sam, another Save the Harbor staff. It was eventually an emotional goodbye, but I know it was a connection he will never forget.

I think that this is the take home message of the experience. Through the day, this boy formed a strong connection with a facet of the Boston Harbor. We already know it's one that his entire family values, or they would not have come to visit for a second time, with more planned to follow. When someone forms a connection, they are more likely to want to protect the harbor. Through our work that day, I truly believe I witnessed the birth of one more steward for the Boston Harbor.

Until next time, I'll be walking away with my big legs!
-Zach

Update from the Children's Museum

Hey how’s it going,

Today at the Boston Children's Museum we started the day off by setting up our sight stations. A few minutes later kids started to arrive with their parents. Some of them wanted to fish instantly while others wanted to touch and view the green crabs in our touch tank.

This week at the Boston Children's Museum we lost both of our crab traps into the harbor.. We tried getting the crab traps back with the fishing rods, but no matter how hard we would try it seemed to never work.

Later that day we weren't able to catch as many green crabs as we did in the morning. In the past couple days including today we haven't caught one single fish but the group but I won't give up just yet.

Green Crabs love to hug?

Today we learned that green crabs are known for being an invasive species that was first spotted in southern Massachusetts in 1817. They seem to do well in environments where they can hide from any of their predators. The adult green crabs usually grow from 2.5 to 4 inches.

Some of the things that the kids from Boston Children's Museum loved doing most of the time when they are not fishing is coloring the dock with color chalks. Teaching kids who don't know much about fishing or about Boston  Harbor can be exciting. The kids love giving each green crab a unique name that fits the crab they are holding or that they catch. People find the program Save the Harbor Save the Bay to a great source of learning for them and their kids.

Sincerely,

Edward Calderon

Amazing week so far!

   This week has been going pretty well so far, and today was amazing. It started out with the first group of kids for the day, it was rather a small group, so we mostly let the children look for most of the time. Usually the children go into the water to search for crabs and then want to do something different. But today the first group only wanted to look for the sea creatures, so that group was pretty tame. But the second group had more story to it, the second group went to look for crabs for like a good 30 minutes and then we all decided to go to up to the fields to play soccer. But the thunder storm didn't want that. As soon as we heard the thunder we got all the children to go under the pavilion to make sure they didn't get shocked. After that we stayed in the pavilion and played taps(Catch but you have to jump when you catch or throw the ball).

   After lunch we went to the Boston Children's Museum, there we did the usual: catching crabs and showing people said crabs but today we caught something extraordinary. We caught a moon jellyfish! The little thing was lust floating on the water so I held the rope while Sam threw the net. (So I did technically pull up the jellyfish!) After we got the jellyfish it got most of the attention rather than the crabs but in the end both the crabs and the moon jellyfish were put back in the water.

The Moon Jellyfish is very transparent!

Can't wait to have a strong finish!

~Eric

The Bare Bones of Black's Creek

This week was the perfect way to start off my summer working with Save the Harbor. Thankfully, due to America's birthday, we started off with a three day week, which was lovely as it allowed me to slowly get back into working full time after having some time off since graduation. The first two days were beautiful, as the weather was around 80 degrees, meaning it was warm and sunny, but not hot enough to dampen the mood. Black's Creek is a beautiful place, and I enjoy being able to watch the cormorants sunning themselves, and the egrets hunting on the rivers edge. It might be strange to say, but estuaries are one of my favorite ecosystems, so I am glad to be able to spend large amounts of time in it this summer!

Two girls exploring for crabs on the bottom of the creek. 

So far, we've had many faces come through our program, and I am glad to get the chance to meet each individual child and see what they are interested in. I know many will be coming back for more, and I look forward to building those relationships and spreading knowledge about the harbor. These children are eager to learn about the animals, and I love to see their excitement at every instance a crab is caught. In our first group on the first day, as soon as the kids were brought over, it was a flurry of excitement with kids grabbing nets and splashing into the water to try and catch crabs. We had to reel them back in, and do some introductions, and play a couple of getting to know you games first, but I liked the enthusiasm!

There was one girl who was especially interested, and would run from one side of the beach to the other if she even heard the word crab. Her sister found a discarded crab exoskeleton, which they thought was a dead crab. I taught them about how crabs molt, and that their skeleton is on the outside of their body. Later on, a reporter came to write an article about the programs Save the Harbor is doing(keep your eyes out for that one folks! Yours truly was interviewed!), and I directed the reporter to the young girls I spoke to earlier, as they were very outgoing and would be talkative for the article. Unsurprisingly, when asked what her favorite part of the day was, the girl said the crabs, which seemed to be the common sentiment. However, I was surprised when, upon being asked why, she said that it was because their skeletons are on the outside of their body. Here's a girl of about six years old, who truly took something I had told her to heart. It was a great reminder of why we are doing this, and a positive way to start off my summer. 

Until next time,

Zach