Wow of final session of 2024 is here, how fast time flies by when you are having the best time. We spent the morning in the snow searching for animal tracks. We took our tracking guides out into the woods and worked together to find some and then identify them. We found so many squirrel tracks traveling from tree to tree. Later on our way down to the field we think we can across some cat like tracks...maybe bobcat?!
During snack we took some time to talk about birds, specifically what birds we might see around Vermont in the winter and what common birds we know that migrate. We reviewed some cards and played a guessing game. As we played, we heard some of the birds on our cards, like chickadees and woodpeckers. This information will help us later in the day when we do our winter bird count. Remember, you can participate in Audubon’s community science project, the Christmas Bird Count, and see if there is a count circle in your area! This is the nation's longest-running community science bird project fuels Audubon's work throughout the year. The Christmas Bird Count occurs December 14 to January 5 every season.
To warm up we played in the fields a little before we journeyed up to the education barn for our bird hike and sledding time. On our hike up to the barn we followed more of the cat like tracks and also founds some dog tracks, deer, and more squirrel tracks too.
Once at the barn we put our bags down and spent some time sitting on our porch watching the birds come to the bird feeders and on the trees around them. This started our bird count. In total for the day we saw 2 Downey woodpeckers, 22 chickadees, 3 tufted titmice, 8 white breasted nuthatches, and 1 blue jay.
We enjoyed sledding together in the backyard before lunch and our hike back down to the clubhouse. On our hike back down, we saw an incredible track left from a bird flying down and catching something!
To end our last day together before the new year we split up into 2 groups and worked on 2 different shelters. One group worked on building a snow shelter and the other build a traditional stick shelter. To wrap up our time we journaled to the prompt “what was your favorite part of Forest Classroom from September-now". It was a great time to reflect and share our favorite memories. During closing circle, we also shared what we are looking forward to in January-May, some of us said more snow time, the critters coming back in the spring, maple sugaring, and more.
It’s been an amazing 3 months and i cannot wait for January to come!
