Like a lot of the country, Corvallis science lovers are still in recovery from what might be a once-in-a-lifetime celestial event this past Friday night. The aurora borealis, or northern lights, made a very rare trip south – all the way down to us and beyond California – giving a show of pink, red, green and other colors over the valley. If you haven’t yet seen enough photos on Instagram or videos on TikTok of it, there’s a good archive of local photos over on the Corvallis subreddit.
Once we’re all caught up on sleep from the weekend of skywatching, there’s a busy week ahead of science and nature events around Corvallis.
Thursday: OSU Poster Showcase
If you’ve ever been lucky enough to attend a scientific meeting or conference, you know that there are generally two kinds of presentations. There are papers, the big event talks about work that is either published or about to be, and then there are posters, which are often an opportunity for students and early-career scientists to talk about their work. Posters don’t always get the attention that papers do, but they often hide interesting experimental work and give a peek into the future of a particular field.
This Thursday morning, OSU will host its annual Spring Poster Symposium, presenting the work of undergraduate students in all academic disciplines and at all stages of research. It promises to be a fascinating look at what the various research labs at Oregon State are doing, and what questions have the attention of the next generation of young scientists.
The symposium runs from 9 am to noon on Thursday, May 16, at the Memorial Union Ballroom on OSU’s campus. It is free and open to all community members. Click here for more details.
Thursday: Choose Your Talk – Puffins or Salamanders
This Thursday night, we have a rare double, two talks on local wildlife on the same night. First, OSU graduate students Christopher Cousins and Jasmine Williamson will present their work on salamanders, as part of a night of freshwater ecology hosted by the Marys River Watershed Council. The event runs from 5:30 to 7:30 pm this Thursday, May 16, with the talk starting at 6, at Common Fields on SW 3rd Street. Click here for more information.
Next, Oregon State PhD student Carina Kusaka will talk about her work on one of Oregon’s most iconic and threatened species of seabird, the tufted puffin. Between 2008 and 2021, the Oregon Bird Alliance estimates that Oregon’s tufted puffin population dropped from 5,000 to just over 500. Learn about this fascinating bird and what’s being done to understand and reverse its decline before we lose it from our shores forever. The talk is part of Corvallis Audubon’s monthly speaker series, and starts at 7:30 pm this Thursday, May 16 at the Corvallis Community Center. Click here for more information, and if you aren’t able to attend (maybe because you chose salamander), a recording will be available on the Corvallis Audubon website a few days after the talk.
Saturday: Pull Weeds to Save Meadows
As usual for this time of year, there’s a chance to take that energy from the talks and posters and channel it into real conservation work this weekend. The City of Corvallis and the Institute for Applied Ecology are looking for volunteers this Saturday to help pull oxeye daisies from a native meadow. Oxeye daisies may be pretty, but they are extremely invasive, and crowd out both native and crop species around the Northwest. Old Peak Meadow is a precious example of a rare meadow ecosystem here in the valley, and pulling these weeds is necessary to protect it.
The work party runs from 9 am to 1 pm at Old Peak Meadow, about 45 minutes from Corvallis. Click here for exact directions and registration. Volunteers will need to fill out a release form, and are encouraged to bring food and water and dress for the always unpredictable May weather.
Saturday: Baby Shower for Wildlife
We have a great resource for wildlife here in Corvallis, the Chintimini Wildlife Center. Chintimini rehabilitates and releases injured and orphaned animals found in Benton, Linn, Lane, Polk and Marion counties, over 30,000 animals since 1989. This time of year is baby animal season, and that makes it one of the busiest, and most expensive, times for the center.
To help the center help as many animal babies as possible this spring, they are holding an open house and fundraiser this Saturday that they are calling a baby shower for wildlife. The event will include a live Q&A with center staff and a video tour of the rehab facilities. The cost of admission is any item from their wish list, which includes everything from fresh greens and insects to feed their babies, to medical supplies like syringes. Even household extras like pillowcases and plastic crates can help. Monetary donations are, of course, also very helpful and gratefully accepted.
The open house runs from noon to 2 pm this Saturday, May 18. The center is located at 311 NW Lewisburg Avenue in Corvallis.
Sunday: Finley Trail Hike
This Sunday, the Corvallis Multicultural Literacy Center and the Greenbelt Land Trust invite members of the Corvallis community to join them for a 3-mile through Cheadle Marsh and Pigeon Butte at Finley National Wildlife Refuge. The walk is part of their Hike Together program, to build community through shared outdoor experiences. Registration is required. Click here for more information and to register for the hike.
Monday: Wildlife Behavior Talk
There’s just one more talk in a delightfully crowded week of science communication. UCLA professor Dr. Daniel T. Blumstein will give a talk entitled “Integrating Behavior into Wildlife Conservation Management: A Fearful Perspective.” With human cities and towns always expanding more into wildlife habitat, wildlife interactions, both positive and negative, are on the rise. Dr. Blumstein has published over 500 scientific papers and several books, and will discuss how animals’ reactions to predators can show us how to live more safely and successfully alongside them.
The talk begins at 7 pm next Monday, May 20, in the Construction and Engineering Hall of the LaSells Stewart Center on SW 26th Street. RSVP is required. Click here for more details and to register for the talk, either in person or over Zoom.
By Ian Rose