March 2026 – STEM Friday

Extreme Birdwatching: Measuring Change on a Galápagos Island
by Loree Griffin Burns (Author) and Jamie Green (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: Daphne is an island. Not one you’d choose for a vacation. There are no sandy beaches, resorts, hotels, or houses. No tall trees to make shade. The steep, rocky sides of a volcanic Galápagos island are not inviting, and most who visit this part of the world sail right past. But Peter and Rosemary Grant are not most people. A husband-and-wife team, the Grants came to this singular place with a singular goal: to study two species of wild finch. For decades, the scientists and their students counted, cataloged, and observed finches on a remote mile-wide island. Through teamwork, painstaking observation—extreme bird-watching, extreme plant study, extreme seed counting—and careful beak measurements, the group of committed scientists proved step-by-step, over forty years, how finch beaks change in response to their environment.

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It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

The author, Loree Griffin Burns, is one of my former students.
Copyright © 2026 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved. (*bookstore affiliate)

Color in Nature: Secrets of Animal Survival
by Stephen Aitken (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: Animals like rainbow-colored parrots, red-nosed mandrills and brilliant blue peacocks use their vibrant colors to survive. Golden finches, bright blue mandarin fish and orange poison dart frogs use their colors to get noticed. Arctic foxes and octopuses change their colors to blend into their habitats. Birds, mammals, frogs, fish, reptiles and insects use a full palette of color to defend themselves, hunt for food, attract mates, hide from predators and often to stand out from their rivals. But even with the power of color on their side, many of these species, their habitats and food sources are under threat. We need to conserve the entire spectrum of the animal world to maintain a healthy and colorful planet for all life on Earth.

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It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)