We started our day outside riding sleds and learning how to make snowballs. I had been mass producing snowballs for the group, so Emily challenged us all to make our own. We even had a contest to see who could throw their snowball the furthest!

After this week, we will only have ONE friend left who hasn’t been our morning meeting leader yet. We can’t believe it! Today the morning meeting leader planned quite an adventurous day for us. He wanted to play outside in the yard, go on a hike and make a craft. Our big plans were put on hold when it started pouring outside after snack. Luckily, the wet weather gave me an opportunity to talk about turkeys! In many of our programs at Audubon we have an activity where we dress one member of the group up as the animal we are learning about. This is a fun way to become more familiar with the body parts and adaptations of an animal. Almost everyone in our group wanted to be dressed up, but we could only pick one turkey. The rest of the group had the very important job of helping me turn our volunteer into a turkey by thinking of what turkeys look like and what they need on their bodies. 

A beak, wings and tail feathers were the first parts we added. We learned two new, funny names for turkey body parts: the ‘snood’ and the ‘caruncle.’ The snood is a long, fleshy protuberance that sits just above the turkey’s bill. The caruncle are the red, fleshy bumps along the turkey’s neck. And just like that… we have a turkey on the loose in the barn!

By the time we finished this activity the rain had stopped and we could go back outside. We put our gear on and headed out to the backyard. We went on a short hike through the Arboretum trail and came upon some cool tracks in the snow. At first glance, I thought they might be from a turkey, but they were a little too small. We called over Emily, our tricky track expert, and she identified them as a Ruffed Grouse! This was an even cooler discovery because these tracks were found next to some brush where we heard a Ruffed Grouse beat its wings back in October.  

After our hike we did some more sledding in the front yard before going inside for lunch. When we were done eating we cleaned up and set the room up for craft time. Emily tended to our wood-burning stove while I handed out pictures of turkeys for us to color and decorate. We had a special surprise today. A warm drink to enjoy! While the group colored, Emily and I were heating apple cider over the fire for all of us to share! This was a belated birthday treat for one of our friends. Soon after, adults started arriving and we wished our friends a happy Thanksgiving.

Safe travels, see you in two weeks!