One Family's Journey Identifying Species in Forest Park During the Pandemic
Like many St. Louisans, Allison Miller, biology professor at Saint Louis University and principal investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, turned to Forest Park as an outlet for her family during quarantine.
At the beginning of the pandemic her husband, Jason Knouft, professor of biology at Saint Louis University, began taking their two kids, who are in the 3rd and 6th grade, on biodiversity walks. They initially focused on birds, making a list of all the bird species they saw in the Park.
The idea wasn’t new to the kids. The family vacationed in Costa Rica over Christmas, where they had gone on two biodiversity walks. The kids knew that there were people who are knowledgeable about biodiversity and that if they looked for them, they could see different plant and animal species. “They were kind of ready for that and then it just happened that we started doing this out of boredom,” says Miller.
Using Merlin Bird ID, a free app that provides instant bird identification, they have identified 55 of the 220 species of birds known to be in Forest Park. The app uses the location and date and then asks questions about the size of the bird, the colors and where you saw it to provide a list of potential species. Miller uses iNaturalist, an app that helps you identify plants and animals and connects users to a community of over 400,000 users, to log the plants she sees in the Park by uploading pictures. For Miller, part of the thrill has been “discovering this new technology that makes biodiversity so accessible.”
“I think that’s the theme here — accessibility. It’s not just being able to walk from our house to Forest Park but also being able to use my phone to do an ID on the spot. People come in iNaturalist and back it up, and then it becomes research. You feel like you’re part of a bigger community instead of it being just you looking at plants.”
The family has a three-mile path they take from their front door, to the Union entrance, through the prairies near the Victorian Bridge and back. One part of the walk they’ve named “mega-biodiversity loop” because that’s where they found a yellow-crowned night-heron, a black-crowned night-heron, blue herons, egrets, several type of ducks, and a kingfisher. “That’s where we’ve seen the good stuff,” says Miller.
The other loop they’ve named “the botany trail” for the interesting plants that they’ve seen there that they haven’t seen in other parts of the Park.
They’ve also seen muskrats and deer. The large buck that hangs out in the Park is now affectionately known as “Uncle Buck.”
Miller and Knouft's kids now carry binoculars and camel hydration backpacks and have even begun collecting feathers from the Park. “They’re really into it,” she says. “I think it’s been really eye-opening that they can see and name biodiversity around them. It’s very empowering for them to not only see things that are different but to actually put a name on it.”
Seeing a yellow-crowned night-heron for the first time was a highlight for the family. “We had no idea what it was” so they turned to the Merlin app to identify it. “That thrill of discovery, for us, was awesome,” she says. “Now we see those guys all the time.”
Miller and her husband didn’t have an intended mission when they began the biodiversity walks in March. They just set out to enjoy nature with their kids. “We’re biologists by training and nature lovers. The Park made it possible to be home and to rediscover all of the incredible beauty and biodiversity of our little patch of the world,” she says.
Watching her kids explore their surroundings and then bring it back to their online classrooms has been gratifying. “It’s a different kind of informal learning that is discovery-based, which is really hard to teach.”
The excitement around their biodiversity walks has caught on in the neighborhood. They recently started Westminster Nature Club with their neighbors and hope to encourage others to share their love of nature. “I think all too often we think of nature being out there, but nature is here,” Miller says. “I appreciate so much that we live in the Central West End and can find 55 different types of birds and 100 and some plants walking from our house. It’s been wonderful to share that with the kids."
“It’s been really healthy to be out every day,” she says. “It’s been wonderful for our family because our kids can see how much we appreciate nature, and they’re just into it now. It’s been something we look forward to most days.”.