Wow was the sun strong today! The birds were out singing, and the bees are starting to buzz! Since this group loves some art time we started our morning off looking at some Vermont Bird Guides and drawing some of favorite birds the best we could. These were then going to be used later in the day to play and ID game.
While there was still a little chill in the air we started our day with a bird walk. We each got a pair of binoculars and went through how to use them and be safe. We also went through guidelines on how to effectively bird during a bird walk, we discussed walking slow so we can look and hear around us, making sure we are quiet to not scare any birds away, and to let friends know when you see something so they can see it too. On our walk we saw tree swallows, robins, blue jays, red-winged blackbirds, chickadees, a Canada goose and a pair of mallards, heard a woodpecker and a phoebe too. This was great practice for bird ID and on our final session we will do our own little birdathon and records all the birds we see and hear. Next week we plan to focus on some bird songs.
After our time of birding, we journeyed to Beaver Pond where we caught so many newts and a few leeches and water striders too! on our way to the pond we saw a really cool blue irridensent beetle as well as admired some spring ephemeral flowers. We tried to find some frogs, but they were all to sneaky and we couldn’t locate any of them. We also watched as two tree swallows seemed to make a nest in one of the snags in the pond, also watched a King fisher drive for some food in the pond too.
In the afternoon we began with a few rounds of Park Ranger with categories ranging from animals who live in the desert, to animals that live in the forest of Vermont.
We then spent some time at the brook building fairy houses and also some of us spent time catching brook critters. They were so close to catching a salamander, but it was too quick and squiggled away. Those working on fairy houses made a mossy fairy house, rock fairy house, crystal fairy house, and a bark fairy house too!
Before afternoon snack, we played our bird ID game with the drawings we did earlier in the day. I held up a bird drawing and then working together they used the guides to try and ID the bird. Some were easier than others, but we eventually ID them all! Some birds we drew were scarlet tanager, indigo bunting, robin, red-winged black bird, and so many more.
With only 3 more weeks left there is still so much we want to do!
