The final learning opportunity in our Migratory Bird Unit came after our Celebration of Learning with our trip to Hog Island.  How lucky were we to be hosted by the Audubon Camp and the Seabird Institute!  We had a beautiful day on the island and got to practice our birding skills and learn about the Motus Wildlife Tracking System.

As soon as we arrived we put our binoculars to use to see several seals right along the shore, something we were told was an unusual sight!  We played a game to practice our binocular skills and took a walk to “go birding” and did see some warblers and a mourning dove.  The warblers were really difficult to sight as they never stayed in one spot for long as they searched for insects.  If you see a bird flitting about, chances are it’s a warbler!  The feeder birds were more cooperative and there was a constant stream of goldfinches and juncos and FOUR red squirrels!

The Fish House building that made a classroom space was where we could see a large antennae that was the Motus station.  Motus is Latin, for movement, and it tracks birds that have been captured, banded and fitted with a lightweight transmitter (a Motus “tag”) that can be picked up by the array of Motus stations that create a network of over 2,000 stations, mostly in the US and Canada.  These stations help track their movement (and that of bats and insects even) and give insights into their behavior that helps scientists to conserve their populations.

We created migration stories using information about actual bird species, like the common nighthawk, or the bobolink, that showed their migratory movements that were picked up by Motus Stations that included Hog Island. We learned how important “stopover” areas are for migratory birds.  These stopovers areas are places where the birds can rest and forage after flights so they can refuel and continue their journey to where they’ll breed and raise their young. We played a “hopscotch” game whose defined areas where we hopped represented habitats that in our game, may not be available to birds because of habitat changes like wildfire, or development, or pollution.  It sure made it a long “hop” when those critical areas weren’t available. Thankfully, we sometimes have options to restore stopover areas, making sure that birds do have access to these vital areas.

There’s no better classroom than the outdoors, and to play games on Hog Island for “a day at school” was a great day!  We are very appreciative of our hosts, Rosy, Amy and Amanda of Hog Island Audubon and the Seabird Institute!

Our featured project this year in Science was our learning about Migratory Birds and the need for their conservation.  Our learning products were a profile of the natural history and conservation status of a local migratory bird, and their population status, both in North America or the US, as well as in Maine, and threats to their population.  We also featured these particular birds as an interactive flock overhead, with wings that beat when you gently pull on the line hanging down from them.  We also featured the “missing birds” in the flock; since 1970, 3 billion birds have been lost, which is one in four birds.  Another feature of our work on display was the tree swallow nest box representing those we made with our first grade partners, to create more local cavity nesting habitat. (One of the four nest boxes we installed on Clark Island already has a pair of tree swallows occupying it, and another taken home to Mrs. England’s property in Warren also is occupied!) Students could also converse with their guests about what benefits birds have, and what we can do locally for them to help conserve their populations. We had lots of visitors and we appreciate that they stopped by to celebrate our learning!

It has been a whirlwind end of the year for 8th grade Science, with unique opportunities to see our learning topics applied:  a field trip to Allen Island and a visit with Ecologist/Ornithologist Dr. Anna Forsman of Colby and a classroom visit from Artist Julie Crane and Herring Gut Coastal Science Educators to enlist our help in building (literally), awareness about how climate change can impact an iconic migratory fish species in Maine, the Atlantic sturgeon.

Allen Island – eDNA and Climate Change

On May 15th and 16th students hopped on marine transportation to their outdoor classroom, Allen Island, courtesy of Colby College and Herring Gut Coastal Science Center.  There, Dr. Anna Forsman of Colby met us and explained her ecological studies of local tree swallow populations.  She explained how she’s interested in their diet and what climate change impacts that may be happening with these insectivorous birds.  How is she doing that?  By “e-DNA” or environmental sampling of the feces they leave behind in the nest boxes and from the young tree swallows not old enough to fledge and leave the nest box.  This is an easy way to find out what they’ve been eating and other aspects of their diet and health.  DNA fragments of the insects they ate are part of their waste stream, and back in the lab, the DNA fragments in the sample multiplied, and then essentially be mapped or matched to known genes of specific insect species and other fauna.  In many biomes, birds that rely on insects for the bulk of their diet have experienced significant population declines over the past 50 years.  Habitat loss, insecticides and pesticides and climate change continue to threaten today’s populations.

Back in the fall with the University of Maine, the class sampled the harbor water and the marsh water to find out what organisms were present.  Learning about Dr. Forsman’s work helped us relate what happened with our samples to be able to identify the origin of that DNA, and to see how eDNA sampling can be used to study ecological questions.

Dr. Forsman leading the way to a nearby tree swallow nest box

We were also fortunate to use some protocols to sample microplastics along the beach, and plankton samples thanks to Herring Gut’s Senior Educator Alaina Zyhowski.

Sampling for microplastics along the beach

Sampling plankton

Identifying plankton

Sturgeon and a Story of Climate Change

Artists Julie Crane and Ava Travis being introduced by Alaina Zyhowski

Artist Julie Crane and Herring Gut Coast Science Center Marine Science Educator Ava Travis and Senior Educator Alaina Zyhowski visited our classroom June 2nd and inspired us to be a part of creating a 12 foot long sculpture of a sturgeon, a migratory fish as old as dinosaurs, that still swims in the big rivers of Maine like the Kennebec River, albeit federally listed as a threatened species here in Maine.

Students used some NASA data analysis tools that let us look at sea level changes over time around global ocean waters, including the Gulf of Maine. Students had also been learning how water quality characteristics, like turbidity and temperature, and the activities that can cause those properties to change, may affect the quality of spawning habitat in brackish and freshwater portions of the rivers. These fish are migrating up rivers each spring and early summer, coming in from the ocean where they spend a good portion of their lives as adults.  We learned that their eggs have been prized as caviar and led to overfishing, severely depleting their populations.  Today, trawling nets may accidentally catch them, and water quality and climate change challenge their populations.

The collaborating artists, Julie and Ava invited us to help produced the scutes, which are a story themselves.  They are bony plates that grow much like a scale does, and they are found in five different rows over the whole length of their bodies, forming protection for them as they live on the bottom and sense food with four barbels near their mouth.  Their mouth can suddenly be made to jut out and suck in items like a vacuum! The scutes were 3D printed and will comprise two lateral rows, but other scutes will be fashioned out of other materials, much like the “found” nature of the larger sculpture itself, which used trap wire and sail cloth, and other items that were going into the waste stream.

As we completed the scutes, each was placed according to a number key in its location along the sturgeon.  In the finished sculpture it will be magnetically attached and students are invited to do so at the Opening of the display at the Granite Gallery, August 2nd.  We all enjoyed learning about the oddity of sturgeon biology and how they are a threatened species today. Looking toward the future, people like Julie Crane and Herring Gut Coastal Science Center are bringing some art and science to the forefront to teach others so that the Atlantic sturgeon will continue swimming the Kennebec River here in Maine, and in other places along their coastal range.

Exciting News!

We have a pair of swallows active near one of our nest boxes on Clark Island!  According to observations make by Steward/Naturalist Kirk Gentalen, who led our field trip there on May 9th to help us put up our nest boxes, “They were collecting nesting materials from the road – I believe the male is doing that in the photos, chilling on the wires and going in and out of the box. Congratulations!”

These are the photos that he took while he was there on Wednesday, May 28th.

It has been a little more than two weeks since we put up four of the many nest boxes we made.  Our timing was great, and we can see that our box is providing a cavity that they require for nesting and that we can make a difference in helping them produce more young to keep the local tree swallow population here, healthy.  When bird populations are healthy, it helps our ecosystem be healthy too, since birds provide big benefits for free!  For example, they control insect populations, they are pollinators, they help plant seeds, their waste helps disperse nutrients that fertilize, and they inspire us and help our mental health.  Birds are AWESOME!

We also have other stewards taking action, making more cavity nesting habitat by putting up their boxes at home!

And we know of this second box being occupied by trees swallows; all within two weeks!

We have other boxes all around the peninsula, and we hope to hear of more swallows calling our boxes “home”, this summer breeding season!  If you have a birdhouse that you’d like to help collect data about, visit https://nestwatch.org/

Tree Swallow

Ask a 7th grade student, “What do you know about tree swallows?”, one of our common migratory birds species.  With some prompting, here’s what they could tell you!

Seventh Grade – STG Class of 2026

Tree swallows live in a variety of habitats that are near water.  It could be woods, fields, lakes, ponds, wetlands or even near the shore, as long as there is water nearby where insects breed. They’re busy throughout the day swooping and diving to catch all kinds of bugs on the fly, which helps control insect populations.

Although they are common to us, tree swallow populations have declined 30% during1966-2019.  The biggest challenge facing tree swallows is a lack of nesting cavities as people develop land and also manage woodlots, often cutting old or decaying trees which are best for providing natural cavities for nesting.  Another risk is from the pesticides and contaminants they consume through eating all those insects.  A third risk they face is climate change as natural spaces and their wildlife inhabitants respond to climate variables.

Our endeavor to build nest boxes with the first grade students who have also been learning about birds, was to provide more nesting habitat here in our own community.  Together, our students built 24 tree swallow nest boxes.  Seventh grade students measured and cut templates with which to cut the box pieces out from boards, figured out the sequence of putting together the various parts, then piloted holes for their first grade partner to hammer in nails to solidly construct a next box with a side that can swing out for clean-out over the winter.

After our class data dive with Cornell’s eBird 2024 Maine tree swallow nesting data, we were able to determine the mean number of surviving young per box, which was 4.95 young.  Having made 24 boxes, we calculated that we could be helping 118 young tree swallows get a start in life and help control all those flying insects!

fledge date

Right now, tree swallows are likely incubating eggs since we also found out the average hatching date in Maine is June 5th, and the mean fledging date is June 24th.  The prime breeding season is in swing!!

The trip to Clark Island on May 9th was full of fun!  We got our nest boxes put up during this active nesting period and birding highlights included observations of several warbler species we have been learning about. The vernal pool exploration yielded frog and salamander eggs that were a “first” to many students!

So listen, look out and look up to see this colorful acrobat, the tree swallow, on the fly!  You’ll need sharp eyes to catch them peering out of a nesting cavity or nest box, unless you are one of the student volunteers with a nest box your own backyard!

Our gratitude goes to Noah Bly for donating lumber, to Chris and Tracy Leavitt for their donation of materials and help with the build along with first grade parent volunteers; to Amy Palmer, Kirk Gentalen and Randall Thissell in leading activities over on Clark Island, and the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Clark Island Preserve for allowing us to put some of our nest boxes there.  A good time was had by all!

Our Middle Level Science tradition is to ground our science learning in our community. Sea Level Rise (SLR) is now a demonstrable problem, with complex decisions to be made by the town.  Our students love their community, its sense of togetherness as well as the places that have nurtured them and already given them lasting memories. We are sharing our project, a Story Map of our learning about SLR in St. George; its impacts and models of future water levels. You can hear from our youth why it matters to them and why they hope you stay informed and participate in decision-making to build resiliency as we face the future. 

We are proud to share our learning about Sea Level Rise in St. George.  We hope you enjoy our Story Maps! (click on “Story Maps”)

Seventh grade students have been learning about sea level rise (SLR) throughout the school year, learning lots of science concepts along the way!  Now is our time to become community-focused and blend our academic learning with this real and consequential community issue!

Dragonheart Volunteers Alex Brasili and Sonja Schmanska have stepped up to help students take their learning into the community and create a podcast that aims to be a voice of both students and adults learning about and reflecting on SLR impacts and potential solutions that fit St. George.

After kicking off our project with some serious brainstorming, we identified what content we might want in our project and made groups by interest.

We started to get familiar with community SLR concerns we knew about – all the roads and places that have flooded in the January storms and other memorable storms.  We located the road areas, then checked them out with the Flood Resiliency mapping tool.  We learned that our state has directed agencies to plan for an estimated 1.9 foot sea level rise by 2050, (which puts students in their late 30’s) and 3.9 feet by 2100 (when students are in their 80’s – still their lifetime!)

We invited Mr. Richard Bates and Mr. John Maltais, Chairpersons of the town’s Resiliency Committee and the Comprehensive Planning Committee to talk with us about the work being organized to respond to this problem.  We learned a lot!!

We enjoyed conversation about…

• causes of global sea level rise
• two main consequences of sea level rise
• the three main “tools” or options for town planning (shown in this picture!)
• how we can help reduce greenhouse gases
  • solar panels for the CTE Maker Space building
  • solar farm and heat pump discussions for electricity and heat at the school
• ground elevations mapping by Sebago Technics using LIDAR scanning from a drone
• how the LIDAR data can be used to create models for demonstrating impacts and proposed solutions

We are very excited to continue this project to reach out into the community and talk with others and share our own ideas about what we learn!

Our thanks go out to our guests, Mr. Richard Bates and Mr. John Maltais, as well as our Dragonheart Volunteers, Alex Brasili and Sonja Schmanska!

A Timely Visit to Talk Weather

The day before our storm, Channel 8’s meteorlogist Ted McInerney visited our school and taught us about weather.  He shared the forecast for the very next day:  an intense storm starting with snow and changing over to rain, with over an inch of rain expected.  A major concern would be winds that could gust 60 or more miles per hour at the time of the high tide – one of the very highest of the month, coinciding with the new moon.  Warnings about potential power outages, high winds and coastal flooding along Maine’s entire coast were in effect. We wondered if we’d have a school day cancellation, but I don’t think any of us expected how wild the storm would be.

Rt 131, Martinsville Bridge (photo by Anne Cox)

The road by along Drift Inn Beach (photo by Judi Maine)

Some Observations and Experiences

“The craziest thing was the Drift Inn Beach’s road being uprooted from the ground and being destroyed. Another thing I saw was a road on the way to Walmart underwater and cars stuck on it. This all amazed me because I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“(Our) power went out around five in the morning and didn’t come back until around one. A large portion of my backyard was completely flooded by the rain, and my pool was almost full again. My mom took me to my cousin’s house at around ten, and on our way there we saw plenty of damage to the roads, we saw a huge tree downed on a power line that had snapped from the midsection up and had fallen completely off, and we drove over a downed power line.”

“Usually I can’t hear the wind too bad but during this storm I could hear the wind hitting the sides of my house. This made very loud banging noises. I could feel the house shake slightly from the wind and hear trees falling down in the woods. Nothing really flooded that I saw around me but when we left my house all the areas with water were just keeping the water from being on the road. Most culverts were filled to the top with water, I was thankful that the water wasn’t in the road. After the storm there were lots of trees fallen down on roads. A tree almost fell on our parked car and a building next to our house. It was luckily caught by other trees near by. It’s concerning due to the fact we live in the woods with trees surrounding our house. Knowing that is scary as any tree could fall down and hit our house or cars.”

“I saw that many docks were covered with water and a photo of a dock and the gas pumps that were normally on the dock were in the water and one of the sheds that was on the dock was just floating in the water. I woke up early in the morning because I wanted to see how bad the storm was and when I looked out my window it was insane how much water from the rain there was and the amount of wind was crazy. I also saw photos of the tar that was ripped off the road. I kind of know property owners that were affected because there is a road in Port Clyde that me and my dad mow the houses on and the houses are right next to the water and there was a ton of rocks at the houses and there was seaweed everywhere. The storm is kind of concerning because the amount of damage that was done and I wonder how much damage will be done tomorrow.”

“I first heard the storm while I was sleeping. I heard lots of rain and wind pushing up against my window. When I woke up, most of the snow was gone, which made me a little sad. My yard was flooded and looked like someone tried to build a pool. My flagpole had snapped in half and was rolling around on my driveway. My mom and stepdad had left to go check on the wharf  which was completely flooded. It was so flooded that the ocean water had gone over the electrical box. There were things floating in the water which people who go the wharf helped pick up. The float that holds the skiffs was higher than the cement  part that is attached to the float. While my mom and stepdad were gone I had to take the dog outside. While I was out there I was standing at the end of my driveway and I looked up and there were trees swaying almost completely sideways at 90 degrees. I took a video and just hoped none would fall, especially on any buildings in my yard. I only knew of one person that I’m close to that was affected. I think the owner of the wharf was pretty affected  after probably losing some things off the wharf and the electrical box being flooded with water. This storm was pretty concerning because we’re having (several) storms in almost one week. I think this is part of global warming and how its really affecting weather change and other things.”

“I woke up at night during the storm because the wind was howling. Outside my bedroom window there is a bunch of dead trees, this is concerning to me because I don’t want to wake up with a tree on top of me. The power went out at my house but CMP was surprisingly fast in getting the power back on. After the wind let up my mom and I went out to see the damage to wharves and roads. We went to Marshall Point and saw that the road washed out. As she was driving I could see many trees down, damage to the road and ocean water flooding wharves. This was a concerning storm because of the hurricane winds. These storms get their power from topical waters. This means that our oceans are getting warmer, this could be devastating for our economy that primarily relies on our oceans.”

“We lost power at 5:09 AM. About halfway through the day, my mom and dad went down our road to check on the other people and get trees out of the road so that the power company could come down and fix our wires. My parents also went to Marshall Point Road and the lighthouse to see the damage there. On the road to the lighthouse there are huge chunks of pavement every where.”

Spruce Head, Photo Credit Ryker Baum

Spruce Head, Photo Credit Ryker Baum

“On Clark Island the causeway got demolished. It’s impossible to drive a car on it and the people who live on the island cannot get off. The causeway is covered in rocks, seaweed, and other debris and it will probably have to get rebuilt.”

“One of my dad’s friend’s shop is GONE! It flooded it away.”

“When I woke up and looked out my window during the storm I saw the tops of the trees violently swaying and shaking. There wasn’t very much rain but there was a ton of wind which made the rain pound against my house. This made the sound of rain very loud when it bounced off my windows. When I went outside it wasn’t bone chilling cold but it was very uncomfortable with the wind and the rain slamming into my body. I went back inside and looked into my backyard and saw my pond overflowing almost completely submerging my dock. After the storm ended my parents informed me that the road in front of Drift Inn was destroyed and the bus could no longer come that way. So for the rest of the year I would have to walk down to the Black Harpoon as my new bus stop. This storm didn’t affect me directly but it affected my community, especially my wharf, greatly. I would think that it would lengthen the amount of time that it is going to take to rebuild The General Store. Overall, it was a very bad storm but we are a very resilient community so we will comeback from it quickly.”

“On Tuesday night I opened my window because I love hearing the rain, and when I did the first thing I heard was an owl. It kept going for a long time until a tree broke and scared it off.  In the morning my brother woke me up to tell me the report of the storm. He told me that a tree was down that almost hit our house and then gave me pancakes.  On Thursday after school I went with my friends to check out the storm’s damage. We went to Marshall Point Lighthouse, the Dip-Net, and Drift Inn Beach. I think Drift Inn Beach was that worst because when we got there the tar was torn up and on top of other big pieces of tar.”

“Around 9 AM my mom, dad and I went to see how bad the damage was. When we got to Drift Inn Beach me and my dad waited for the perfect moment then we ran as hard as we could while the waves crashed against the rocks. When we stopped we saw the culvert and the road completely being flooded and being pounded on by wave after wave. There was so much sea-spray that when we got back in the car my pants were soaked through. When we came back after the storm had cleared up the pavement was in 8 foot chunks, either tilted on the road or off the road entirely. The face of Drift Inn Beach will probably never be the same again.”

“On Wednesday I woke up with no power and me and my mom were looking at FaceBook posts and we saw one of our favorite restaurant’s dry dock was flooded! And the tide was very very high. The guy that owns the dry dock had to get rescued from his restaurant. This storm scared me because I woke up and all I could hear was loud wind and loud rain sounds. I lost power so I had no heat and it got really cold. But then at the end of it I got to eat pancakes and cinnamon rolls, so I was happy the rest of the day!”

“During the storm my dad woke me up later than normal so I was concerned because I would have missed my bus. All I could hear was the sound of my window rattling and my door shaking dramatically. My mom had just got home and she was drenched with water. As soon as she changed she showed me some photos she took of Drift Inn and Marshall Point Lighthouse. Some of the erosion on the Drift Inn road was crazy, like there were literally pieces of the road taken out. You could see in the pictures of Marshall Point Lighthouse that the waves were towering over the walkways and the ground was all tore up. My mom’s really close friend was also affected by this storm because her dock was torn up and lots of traps fell off into the water. I just am wondering how bad Saturday’s storm is going to be because this wasn’t great.”

“This Wednesday during the storm my grandfather and I drove around town to check out the damage. First, we went to the town landing and saw water and seaweed over the concrete wall. After that we went to drive around Barter’s Point. We saw Art’s Lobster Wharf with water, logs and seaweed on it. We went to the next dock and saw the whole wood part gone. All that was left on the building was concrete and floats and oil in the water.”

“I woke up in the middle of the night to loud whistling and loud wind hitting the window in my room. When I woke up my mom had to go to a doctor’s appointment and when she came back she showed me a picture of a bridge near my house that was flooded and she showed me another picture of how high the water was in the ocean. I also had to go outside to take my dog out and before I went outside I didn’t realize how bad it was. When the storm had gotten really bad the power in my house kept on going on and off, over and over again. All day, all I heard was the loud whistling noise from the trees surrounding my house. Some of my questions are how bad did it get in other places near me and if it was worse in other places near me.  Overall this storm was really bad and I hope nothing this bad happens any time soon.”

“I stayed inside all day but when I was sleeping the wind was really loud. The basement water level went way up and it’s a good thing the freezer was raised out of the water or the water would have been electrified! The water at the edge of our house luckily did not rise because if it did we would have been completely flooded out.”

“This past Wednesday the storm damaged Tenants Harbor, losing docks and oil into the ocean. I did not see a lot but some of the people I talked to this morning told me this stuff and what I saw at the Atwood’s Co-Op was the main dock covered in water, crates and barrels in the ocean.”

Marshall Point Lighthouse (photo by Steve Cartwright)Portlands measurements of peak winds and record storm surge events

What will tomorrow’s storm bring?

Beautiful blue skies were overhead  two days later, with calm air and a near king tide and our own marsh in flood stage at the time of high tide (11:04 AM, Local Southern Island Hohonu Gauge observing 12.4 FT).

Tomorrow’s storm forecast is to be slightly less intense, but tomorrow’s tide will be this month’s king tide at 11:54 AM.

On November 6th, the 8th Grade class was invited by Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) to meet in Port Clyde at the site of the relocated tide gauge that is an important part of our town’s planning for sea level rise resiliency for an introduction to the community sea level rise work that is going on.

The gauge was relocated from Tenants Harbor to one of the Coop piers to be more useful. The site was chosen for its line of sight out to the ocean as well as being part of a working waterfront.

One of GMRI’s lead Climate Center scientists, Dr. Hannah Baranes, spoke to students about the town’s effort to collect tide data and introduced students to three other colleagues with her that day who worked together to install the gauge.  They explained how the gauge uses ultrasound to sense the height of the water below the unit mounted on the side of the pier, and how their GPS staff “talked” to satellites to help establish the elevation of the gauge in its physical location and geographic surroundings to determine tide measurements.

In collecting tide heights, the gauge will help generate more accurate local tide predictions in the future, and give the town measurements which can then tell our community what properties and roads may be affected by specific forcasted tide heights. We talked about last year’s Christmas storm, the “Grinch” storm, which caused significant flooding at the Coop and sent bait barrels floating away, as well as waves that crashed over the roads along Drift Inn beach and the Martinsville bridge.

Some tape measures came out and students were tasked to measure the height from the high water mark up to the edge of the pavement on the pier to learn how much storm surge there had been last December.  Storm surges and other factors of flooding were mentioned and the amount of storm surge from the Grinch storm was indeed impressive.

Later this winter, students will be involved in observations that the town is interested in gathering from citizens that provide water level descriptions of vulnerable or impacted sights.  These observations can now be paired with accurate data from the tide gauge to define specific impacts as well as help inform how local tidal changes are unfolding along our shores.

A big shout out of thanks to Dr. Hannah Baranes and GMRI scientists and also to Mrs. Miller who shared her ELA class time so we could all make the trip together!

Mason and Phoebe took out the probe on Nov 6th. We took it out after the biggest tides of October occurred at the end of the month and as the lowest tides of November were occurring. When we got back to class Mr. Paul check the battery pack and we could see lights inside the tube, so that was a good sign that we recorded data.  Then he put the memory card in his computer and we could see the actual data. Over a thousand measurements were recorded over the three weeks!

 Before we put the probe in, Mr. Paul taught us how it was made. We learned there’s an arduino inside that is programmed with code for how often to log the data and some code that uses the conductivity measurement to calculate a salinity value. Time and temperature is also recorded. The final component is a data logger part that receives the data from the arduino and stores it on a memory card that we take out and read using a computer.

When we took a quick look at our data, we noticed it stopped logging the data two days earlier.  We wonder if the batteries didn’t last as long as we anticipated.  The probe uses 12 D cell batteries.  Phoebe and Mr. Paul configured the batteries before we put the probe out. Mason and Lexi are interested in working with Mr. Paul to create coding that would keep track of the battery voltage. That would help us know if readings stop being taken because of low batteries, and not some other reason.

Stay tuned for some conclusions about our data!