Posts

Clifton Institute Seeks Education Associate

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The Clifton Institute seeks a full-time Education Associate to provide environmental education programs to children and adults. The Clifton Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located two miles north of Warrenton, in the northern Piedmont of Virginia. Their 900-acre field station, which includes forests, grasslands, shrub fields, and wetlands, is permanently protected under a conservation easement. Their education programs include field trips for local school groups, summer day camps, nature hikes for children and their families, and walks and workshops for adults. Please visit www.cliftoninstitute.org/events to learn about their upcoming events and www.cliftoninstitute.org/events-old to learn about their past events. The Clifton Institute is a small but dynamic organization and the successful applicant will play an important role in the organization.

Start on August 2, 2021 or as early as your schedule allows. The full job description is here.

Introduction to Statistics Virtual Program (Presented live December 3rd)

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Presented and recorded by Clifton Institute

This talk is intended for community/citizen scientists who help collect data but may not have the knowledge they need to analyze it, for nature journalers who record numbers in their journals but aren’t sure what to do with them, and anyone else who is curious about how scientists use data to understand the world. Managing Director Eleanor Harris, Ph.D., will give a brief introduction to the statistical methods biologists and other scientists use to analyze data. Eleanor will use interesting examples relevant to the ecology of northern Virginia throughout the talk. No mathematics beyond high-school level will be required. By the end of the talk you’ll understand what a p-value is and what it means when they say the phrase “statistically significant” on the news. And she hopes you’ll be inspired to try analyzing some data of your own.

Here is the recording of the talk.

Clifton Institute Seeks Land Management Outreach Associate and Communications Assistant

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Clifton Institute
6712 Blantyre Road
Warrenton VA 20187

Clifton Institute is looking for a full-time Land Management Outreach Associate to educate landowners on best practices for natural habitat management in northern Virginia, to liaise with partner organizations to improve management of native grasslands, and to restore and maintain the Clifton Institute property for the benefit of declining native species. They are also looking for a part-time Communications Assistant to communicate with the public about our education, restoration, and research programs. You can learn more at cliftoninstitute.org/employment. Please spread the word to anyone you think might be interested!

Annual Butterfly Count at Clifton Institute

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Saturday, July 25, 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Join Clifton Institute, as they host their 25th annual butterfly count and celebrate their 18th year of collaboration with the North American Butterfly Association. 

Novice and experienced butterfly enthusiasts are needed! Citizen scientists will be assigned to small teams, led by an experienced butterfly counter. Teams will survey a variety of sites within our count circle.

Fee: $3 per person (Children 8 and older may participate for free, when accompanied by a parent.)

Register here

Mathematical Patterns in Nature: Online Talk

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Thursday, Jun 11, 2020, 7:00pm – 8:00pm

Recorded webinar here

This program is co-hosted by the Fauquier County Public Library

Mathematics gives us a powerful tool for looking at and studying nature. Math can help us understand why plants and animals build their structures in certain ways and why some numbers and shapes are more common in nature than others. The Clifton Institute’s Managing Director, Eleanor Harris, Ph.D., will talk about some of the mathematical patterns that can be found in the forests and fields of northern Virginia and about how you too can look at nature mathematically. She will also present a fun craft that you can do with kids to get them thinking about math in nature. No specialized mathematical knowledge will be required to enjoy the talk.

Please use the button below to register by noon on the day of the talk. We will send you a link to join the Zoom meeting via email at that time, so please make sure your email address is correct when you register. The talk is recorded for those who registered late or missed the live presentation.

Register

If you are an FMN member, this presentation is on the Continuing Education calendar for credit.

Virtual Warbler Song Bootcamp, April 24

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Friday, April 24, 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM

This Clifton Institute program is online. Please register if you would like to watch live so we can communicate and share links via email.

Participants will listen to the songs of each of the migratory warblers that pass through our region in spring, while looking at spectrograms to help visual learners identify differences in similar songs. We will also briefly discuss habitats where breeding warblers can be found in our area and cover a handful of other migrants such as vireos and thrushes. This workshop will be of interest to birdwatchers of all skill levels. It will definitely be more fun than listening to a warbler song CD in your car! Photo by Cameron Darnell.

Virtual Book Club on April 10: No Way Home, by David Wilcove

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Friday, April 10, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM

No Way Home: The Decline of the World’s Great Animal Migrations, by David Wilcove, exposes readers to the wonders and perils of animal movement across the landscape.

Clifton Institute offers multiple online options for participation, including a Facebook discussion group and a live online meeting at the original time. If you are interested in participating live, please register so they have your email address.

Alison Zak will be interviewing author David Wilcove and then sharing the recording with the group, so please email any questions for the author to [email protected].

Dr. Wilcove is a professor of ecology, evolutionary biology, and public affairs at Princeton University. The primary question driving his research is “How do we find room for biodiversity in an increasingly hot, hungry, and crowded world?” He is the also the author of The Condor’s Shadow: The Loss and Recovery of Wildlife in America (1999).

International Beaver Day: Recorded Online Presentation and Pond Sit

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Was Tuesday, April 7, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Here is the link to the recording: https://vimeo.com/405546899

Join the Clifton Institute in celebrating International Beaver Day!

Alison Zak will give a live, online presentation on the challenges and benefits to coexisting with beavers. Please register if you would like to watch live so we can communicate and share links via email. The presentation will be recorded if you are interested but can’t tune in live. Photo by Amy Johnson.

FMNs get CE credit: International Beaver Day: Online Presentation and Pond Sit

Mindful Naturalists: Birding Like Buddha

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February 22, 2020 04:00 pm – 05:30 pm

Location: The Clifton Institute, 6712 Blantyre Road, Warrenton, Virginia

In February, join The Clifton Institute for an evening of ‘birding like Buddha.’ For this particular bird walk, we will prioritize the experiences we have watching individual birds and our connection to them instead of trying to identify species or maximize the number of birds we encounter. We will sit often and watch quietly as the waterfowl on our ponds live out their unique and fascinating lives. What new things can we learn about birds from watching them in this way?

Please dress for the weather. No birding experience required! Please feel free to bring: a comfy portable chair (though we may spend some time in the blind), a travel mug for a hot beverage, and/or binoculars! Click here to register.

Mindful Naturalists is a free program series created to inspire mindful observation and nature appreciation. Each month we will explore a different topic and experiment with a different practice for mindfully experiencing the natural world while enjoying hot tea and a peaceful evening at our beautiful field station.

Book Club: Braiding Sweetgrass

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The Clifton Institute, 6712 Blantyre Rd., Marshall, VA, 20115

Thursday, January 30, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM

For their second book club, Clifton Institute is switching from birds to plants and reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. You’ll gather around the fire with warm drinks in hand and discuss the book with fellow nature lovers.

Get excited to learn about other ways of experiencing and understanding nature than the scientific perspective we’ve been trained in. The book is available at the Open Book in Old Town in Warrenton… Didn’t finish the book? Come anyway!

Register