Mars Lander Declared Dead

Schuele Planetarium Director and NASA Speaker's Bureau Representative Jay Reynolds reports that it's official! After 5 1/2 months of operation, Mars Phoenix Lander has stopped communicating with controllers on Earth.
Landing May 25th, on the edge of the Mars Northern Polar Ice Cap (the equivalent of Northern Alaska), this lander not only sent photos, but had a weather station and geology labs. Final results will be long coming, but safe to say, this area of Mars once was wetter, currently has water ice and the local soil has favorable chemistry for life to grab a foot hold. Here's the AP report.

Jay always shares the latest, cutting edge space science news and photos at all of our planetarium programs, so check out the schedule of public star shows and stop by.

Green Your Holidays

Get the whole family involved in making some recycled gifts and learn how to "green up" the season during our Make It A Green Holiday family workshop coming up this Saturday, November 15 at noon. You do have to sign up in advance for this event, but the cost is a mere $5 per family. You'll also need to supply your own 2 liter bottle and old Cd's to use in your take home projects.
For a whole list of Green Holiday ideas and more Center news, read the latest issue of Nature Notes, our bi-monthly newsletter for class and program participants.

Mallard Back In Nature

We have another widlife rehab release to report, this time into water. A Mallard was brought to us near death after she was retrieved from the pounding waves at Edgewater Beach on October 16. She was unable to swim or even stand.

Her treatment consisted of being kept in an incubator and re-hydrated with fluids. She was then tube-fed a food formula which is easily digested. Once her strength returned, she was removed from the incubator and placed in our waterbird cage and fed regular duck food. She was released on Oct. 30th in Porter Creek in Bay Village to join a group of Mallards already there.

-Dave Wolf, Director of Wildlife Programs

Carousel Holiday Festival Wrap

Shopping, food and music combined to create a festive and fun day at Saturday's 40th Christmas Carousel Holiday Festival at Bay High School. The annual fundraiser is sponsored by the all-volunteer Women's Board at the non-profit Lake Erie Nature & Science Center. That's Susie Min and Serena Chang playing a piano duet for the appreciative crowd of shoppers, while Katie Grzelak and son Logan give a Snuggie Buddie blanket a "test hug."
The Women's Board, led by Deb Barnum and Kathleen Croissant, did a stellar job organizing and putting on another terrific Carousel, which was also supported by a variety of wonderful vendors and shoppers. Thanks to everyone involved! See you at the 41st annual in 2009!

Rehabbed Great Horned Owl Released

Another of our autumn rehab patients was returned safely to the wild this month. In early September, this adult Great Horned Owl came to our Wildlife Education & Rehabilitation Program from Amherst with signs of neurological damage from possible head trauma.
Following a 1 week course of steroids (anti-inflammatory medication) the owl's symptoms began to improve. We transferred it to a larger cage for a few more weeks which allowed us to ensure his awareness and flight skills were back to normal. We were able to release him on October 19, placing this "tiger of the woods" back into Nature where he belongs.
-Amy LeMonds
Wildlife Rehabilitation Specialist

New and Improved Carousel Holiday Festival Coming Saturday

Live local music, an expanded café with lunch and easier access will greet shoppers at this year’s new and improved Christmas Carousel Holiday Festival, Saturday (November 1) at Bay High School. The event benefits Lake Erie Nature & Science Center, allowing shoppers to give twice with their holiday dollars!
Carousel shoppers will find new vendors this year along with old favorites including jewelers, wood craftsmen, photo art, hand-painted gifts and furniture, unique children's clothing, original art work, stained glass, blankets, hand-embellished denim clothing, beaded giftware, personalized children's books, ceramics, notecards and more.

New this year: Live music by a variety of local groups and ensembles as well as the Carousel Café, which will feature lunch, home-baked goods and more. The sponsoring Lake Erie Nature & Science Center Women’s Board, an all volunteer group that supports our non-profit work, will collect a $3 per person entry donationm, which includes one FREE raffle ticket for great prizes! Carousel hours will be 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Carousel will be held at Bay High School, located at 29230 Wolf Road. There will be a special drop-off entrance this year that bypasses the long walk through the High School hallways.
Hope to see you there!

Shredding Day Thank You!

The first-ever Shredding Day sponsored by Lake Erie Nature & Science Center on Saturday enabled more than 150 area families to safely dispose of old confidential documents without worrying about identity theft or landfill waste.
The Shredding Network of Wickliffe donated the use of their state-of-the-art mobile shredding truck for the morning, so 100% of the donations for the service went to our non-profit organization.
The best part is that all those bags and boxes of paper (4.6 tons worth!) are now shredded, bailed and on their way to a paper mill to make new paper products! Shredding Network estimates that by recycling 4.6 tons of paper, we saved 78.2 trees and 13.8 cubic yards of landfill!

A win-win morning for everyone involved! Thanks to Dana Mueller and the Shredding Network who hope to make this an annual event in Bay Village. Keep recycling!

Halloween Hayride Night 2008

More than 300 little goblins and their families enjoyed an our annual Halloween Hayride Night on Friday. Delicious dinner, a monster craft, live animals and stars shows with a Halloween twist were all included. The trick or treat trail for our costumed guests was moved inside because of rain but the sky cleared up just in time to make way for wagon rides around Huntington Reservation.