Soldiers2Scientists

05/31/2026

It was a great day fishing the pond and working on our Angler Journaling for our Military-Affiliated Youth Field Science Program

The weather was beautiful, though windy at times, and the water clarity was low after the rain last week. Our Spies-in-training were undeterred however, as they each got better at casting, baiting hooks, and landing catches!

We caught a bunch of sunfish and a crappie, but the bass still elude us. The minnow cages had a few tadpoles, and the last check of the day produced a baby bluegill too.

05/20/2026

Just doing our part collecting data to support Hudson River Striped Bass Cooperative Angler Program:)

Out on the water today with Heroes, Cowboys, and Companions - a tremendous nonprofit organization in Middletown, NY doing great work with veterans, active-duty service members, first responders, and their families. offers ice fishing trips in the winter, year-round equine engagement, seasonal striped bass fishing, hunting, and many other programs that create opportunities for camaraderie, wellness, and connection to nature.

The organization helps participants build resilience, strengthen social bonds, and rediscover purpose through meaningful shared activities. Something I can personally attest to as spending time with the HCC community always re-inspires my work and rekindles my passion for fishing 🎣
If you are interested in registering for a fishing trip or learning more about other HCC programs, you can visit their website here: https://sites.google.com/heroescowboyscompanions.com/hcc/home

05/18/2026

05/17/2026

S2S Military-Affiliated Youth Field Science Program - Day 5 continued to move our focus to more permanent aquatic ecosystems.

We hiked to the big pond, hidden on the western edge of the park. I have always wanted to explore this space more, and it is likely few have ever sought to systematically catalog the biodiversity here.

The pond provided us the opportunity to learn more about the underwater food chain, starting with some of the smallest creatures, , and how their presence or absence can tell a lot about water quality and the health of the ecosystem. With nets, and trays, specimens boxes, and digital microscopes, we dug, sifted, separated, and identified all that we could find.

Our observations for the day included tons of newly transformed cricket toads, each smaller than half a dime, many painted turtles, swallowtail butterflies, several friendly zebra swallowtails, tiny snails, mollusks, centipedes, and innumerable birds, insects and larvae. We tracked deer prints in the mud and one of our families also skillfully netted a

Throughout our exploration, we had our friends and partners from the National Park Foundation and the expert field guidance of entomologist Rea Mandarino. Herpetologist, and , Alonso Abugattas, Jr. also joined us again. The depth and range of their knowledge is incredible and their support brought such tremendous value to the experience. Our Spies-in-Training were locked in the entire time!

We ended our day with an introduction to 🎣 Everyone picked it up so quickly! Within minutes, we caught multiple species of sunfish. We tempted but couldn’t hook the several large mouth bass we saw, but we’ll try again in two weeks when we learn more about Angler Journaling protocol! 📝

05/13/2026

With Global Big Day, Warbler Appreciation Day, and Migratory Bird Day, it’s one of the Biggest Weeks in American Birding. We wanted to encourage everyone to get out there and find a warbler!

Here are a few early season birds banded by the Tobay Beach JFK Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary Banding Crew.

With over 50 North American Species, coming in an exciting variety of colors and patterns, targeting warblers can be one of the most fun species to track down when they come to town. Depending on where you are, they may not stay long, but no matter where you are, they don’t sit still! Getting a good photo of a warbler, however, can be one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences in all of birding.

Several species are under threat or viewed as a species of concern. You can help scientists keep track of those populations by submitting your counts to and

05/10/2026

S2S Military-Affiliated Youth Field Science Program - Day 4 recap.

Our modules are moving across the battlefield, from upland grasslands, to forested and riparian spaces, and now to wetlands. This helps showcase the diversity of the park AND expand the species we can discover and document.

Our Park Spies-in-Training met at on Saturday to learn more about what a wetland actually is and how it differs from other parts of the landscape. Studying the nearby vernal pools and main floodway in the park, we continued to practice our Zoom-In/Zoom-Out skills, analyzing soil and water samples and connecting these to larger environmental, wildlife, and temporal dynamics.

We were led by the extraordinary expertise of soil and wetland scientist, Juniata College professor, and Navy veteran, Taylor Blackmen along with and master herpetologist, Alonso Abugattas, Jr. Our guides taught us more about native plants and their uses in medicine and tool-making, how to sample, measure, test, and assess various types of soil and water, helped us to better understand the differences in soil context across grassland to wetland, and honed our species targeting methods, as we identified a range of aquatic macroinvertebrate, frogs, crayfish, insects, and yet another snake! We also got to try out more cool scientific equipment🔬 🪏 🧪

05/04/2026

Vernal pool monitoring with aquatic biologists at -

05/02/2026

According to research published in the Journal of Neuroscience, experienced birdwatchers show increased density in brain regions tied to attention, perception, memory, and object recognition.