Mika Sood

Today I returned to volunteer with the Bird-Safe Glass Initiative. Fortunately for the birds, my search today yielded 0 bird casualties in my search area. However, our instructor did find an Indigo Bunting and gave a short explanation of the specific species, which I thought was interesting and informative. As per usual, it was a great way to help support local wildlife while still volunteering and giving back to campus. The instructor and Ph.D. students running the bird walks are extremely knowledgeable and friendly and I intend to return and assist the Bird Safe Glass Initiative next Fall during my final semester!

This was the second time I participated in a bird walk service opportunity with the Bird Safe Glass initiative. I had previously volunteered with the initiative last Spring and most of the procedures were the same. This time around, we were given maps of our designated search areas along with Ziploc bags to collect any bird specimens. These specimens would be sent to a laboratory at Yale University that works in conjunction with the Bird Safe Glass initiative to be preserve the specimens for future use in academia and in museums, which I thought was a great way to bring awareness to birds and avian species in Arkansas. Similarly to last year, we still collected data on where the birds hit windows on campus and thankfully my group reported no bird casualties on this particular morning. This is always a fun and engaging way to volunteer on campus and I will be back this upcoming Friday morning!

This was a fun way to get involved and for a good cause. We walked around campus to buildings that had large sets of windows in search of birds that had died as a result of striking/flying into the windows. This data would be collected in order to identify and provide solutions to buildings with a high number of dead birds. Fortunately, this morning was a morning without bird deaths. It was fun and engaging and I would volunteer with this cause again in the future.

Erin Sauer  4 years ago We are back for four weeks this Fall! 9/20-10/13, hope to see you there!

For the most part this trail cleanup went smoothly. I was able to get out on the trail and start cleaning after work at about 3:17pm. I started at the Frisco Trail intersection at Center Street and worked my way north along the trail until I reached Prospect Street and worked my way backwards to the Dickson Street intersection to finish up. By far the most common trash that I was able to collect are discarded cigarette butts and filters, various beverage cans including seltzers and beers, broken glass shards, and pieces of PVC plastic. Cigarette filters and cans were a lot more plentiful in the stretch of the trail between the Metro District apartments and the Lafayette Street overpass, presumably due to the trail's proximity to Dickson Street. The biggest challenge of today's cleanup was the heat. Starting at the Metro District, a lot of the trail was in the direct sunlight and I failed to anticipate the associated fatigue of working in the direct sun on a relatively hot day. Thankfully I was able to pull it together and continue with my cleanup. For the most part everything else went smoothly. I was able to collect approximately between 5 and 10 pounds of garbage over my 3 hour cleanup period. In terms of feedback, I wish the instructions for how to check in/check out were more clear, especially when it comes to the GroupMe that is associated with the registration. Due to the confusion in these instructions, I was unable to take any photos of the cigarette butts and cans themselves before I threw the bag away, but I do have a picture of the bag itself at the end which I attached. Other than that it was an enjoyable experience being outside and helping clean up Fayetteville's trail system.

This was my first opportunity to get involved with the Freshman Service Project through the VAC on campus. The project was overall productive and aided in helping clean up the local Razorback Greenway of common food garbage and cigarette butts. Overall, I enjoyed my experience volunteering and hope to participate in future Freshman Service Project Events.