Terrie Miller is a woman with big dreams in areas of science and animals and she has the projects behind her to prove it.  First up, a glorious weblog called CitizenSci.com in order to help all people realize their true science potential (every single person has a bit of scientist in them, she tell us), to help adults reconnect to nature, and to keep track of all the citizen science projects she's been able to find in retrospect.  

But wait, there's more! Terrie is also a prominent bird watcher, beginning with hawks at the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory and gradually towards other birds, participating in a nest watch, feeder watch and more for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  

While no longer concentrating on her animal site Crittergeek, she is putting some emphasis towards Permie.net, a site about permaculture, the design practice of creating truly sustainable human settlements that cooperate with natural ecosystems.

In the mean time, here at Paw-Talk, we're avidly following her and can't wait to see what she does next!

Where does your love of science stem from?

As a kid growing up in rural Ohio, I really loved animals of all kinds.  I made my mom promise that if we ever saw a lion, she would catch it for me (she says now that she dreaded a possible zoo or circus escape where I would naturally expect her to make good on this promise.)  Later, I became interested in astronomy when my dad showed us the big dipper and a junior high school science teacher gave us an assignment to go outside every night and make altitude-and-azimuth plots of the moon and planets.

I think kids are naturally interested in science because they’re interested in the world around them, but many kids are never exposed to science as the understanding of everyday life.

You created “Citizen Scientists” site about people who conduct voluntary scientific research without formal credentials.  Is this a way to bring science to the people?

This kind of question always makes me smile.  Are scientists not people?  And that has caused me a lot of anxiety myself in trying to write about this topic accurately!  Because, in a perfect world, we’re all scientists at some level, right?  To me, science is questioning, observing, learning.  If you cook for yourself, for example, you quickly learn things about thermodynamics and chemistry.  If you’re a gardener, you notice how microclimates in your yard affect your tomato yield.  But, yes, citizen science is a way to make use of the observations and interests of people who don’t do science for a day job.

There’s a lot of debate over the definition of “citizen science”.  On CitizenSci.com, I tend to deal with projects organized by professional scientists, but I do think there’s another level that’s related to living a life that’s fuller than a life of mindless consumerism.  For me, an interest in citizen science lead to an interest in birding and nature observation, and that in turn lead to a passion for permaculture.

Why capture the scientific point of view from voluntary researchers who may not have the credentials?

Scientists don’t have the resources to be data collectors themselves.  All you have to do is look at the trends shown by studies that have been done over time, like the Christmas Bird Count, and the value becomes clear.  But I think the other value of these projects is that they provide a way to help adults reconnect to nature.  It’s terribly difficult as an adult in our culture to get significant time to reconnect with the earth’s natural systems.  Our outdoor time tends to be focused on goal-oriented activities or vacations to exotic locations.  There are lots of programs that seek to give kids nature experiences…why not adults? Citizen science projects often help adults make a personal connection to their own backyard or watershed.  There is some deep personal healing that can happen to a person who’s outwardly doing “citizen science.”

How did the bird-watching begin and how do you tie that into the science element (if you do at all?) Is it just a hobby?
 
I started as a hawk watcher for Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, and gradually became interested in other birds.  There’s so many interesting behaviors, and if you ask me “what’s the most beautiful bird in the world?”, I’ll tell you “it’s the one I’m looking at through my binoculars right now.”  GGRO and hawk watch provided lots of mentors from me to learn from, and my interest grew.

The day leader of my hawk watch team, Bob Power, also leads an area on the Christmas Bird Count for the Point Reyes count circle, and he lead me tag along on the count a few years ago.  I think that’s what really hooked me on birding in general.  Later, I had the chance to do “bird school”, a series of classes with Rich Stallcup, the founder of Point Reyes Bird Observatory.  

Tell me about “Hawk Watch."

Hawk Watch is one of three citizen science programs organized by Golden Gate Raptor Observatory in the Marin Headlands, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge.  The other two programs are banding and telemetry.  During the fall migration season (roughly August thru November), there are 14 hawk watch teams that go to hawk hill each day and identify and record raptor activity. I’m on the “Saturday 1” team, and every other Saturday we go to hawk hill and pray that we won’t be fogged out!

The team splits up into four quadrants, and as we identify birds, we “pass” them from quadrant to quadrant so we don’t overcount them as they move through the area.  It can be a challenge!  One person is assigned as the recorder and we call birds in to him or her.  Every hour, we rotate stations, and if fog or rain doesn’t shut us down, we’re on the hill for six hours.

Tell me about some of the projects you were or are working on at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology?

I’ve been a participant in nest watch, feeder watch, and “The Great Backyard Bird Count”, which are all projects organized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  They are also fantastic folks, and a couple of years ago they sponsored a conference of citizen science people in North America.  It was a great experience to get to meet so many people working on such interesting projects!  Their Citizen Science Central web site grew out of their conference initiative, and it’s really becoming a rich source of information for people who want to organize their own projects.

Give me an interesting fact about birds or bird watching that most people would probably be surprised to know.

A lot of people think that bird watchers are people who really like birds.  And of course, that’s true.  But the truth is, birders tend to be people who really like to be outside and look at all the interesting things that nature has to offer.  When you’re out “birding”, you’re not just looking at birds…you see all sorts of weird and wonderful things.  My love for birding is a love for being outside with an excuse to move quietly and slowly through an area (or be still!) and really appreciate it.  It’s great to have those binoculars handy when you happen to also see a bobcat or otter, And it’s incredibly enriching to start noticing changes that happen through the seasons, to appreciate the wildflowers or acorn harvest.  We say we’re birders, but many of us are blissing out on experiencing all the beautiful interconnections.  And sometimes we collect data that can illuminate those interconnections further.

And you have a third site? What do you feature on Critter Geek.

Critter Geek was going to be my site for people who were interested in animal behavior (everything from dog training to bird nesting) and in being amateur naturalists.  Unfortunately, it was a project I just didn’t have the time for and now it’s turned into a more light-hearted site that I post to only occasionally.  I’ve actually put the CritterGeek.com domain name up for auction.

I also do Permie.net, a newer site about permaculture.  That’s where I’ve put more of my energy lately, but it can be a challenge to maintain web sites when you really want to be outside digging (sometimes literally) all the groovy nature that we’re a part of.

What are some of your future plans or projects?

I’m interested in exploring the world of nature awareness, particularly how it’s taught by Jon Young, the protégé of the famous tracker, Tom Brown.  It was my interest in tracking and Young’s work that lead me to permaculture.  Citizen science was a way for me to rationalize my yearning to be outside observing nature.  Our culture tends to dismiss nature experiences as something we do on our time off, our vacations, our “free” time.  But I’m finding that this is desperately important to me, and I’ve been working on building a life that’s based on being part of nature, not something apart from it.  How it connects to other areas of my life is very complex and interesting, and I want to explore that deeply.