Happy Hail Day

We've been hanging low this week because I haven't been feeling well. Soon after we got home from our Nature Walk on Tuesday I began feeling the crud... achy body, stuffed up nose, headache, all that fun stuff. So I spent lots of time resting. I also got a lot of thinking and planning done for school next year. Its so fun to be putting it all together. But today I was feeling a bit better so we headed out to Wood Lake Nature Center to check on our friends, the Red-Winged Blackbirds. They were there and singing their songs for us. What struck us as strange though is that there were absolutely NO ducks or geese to be seen. Not a single one. Normally they are all over the place there. I guess they may be hiding out nesting? We just thought it was weird not to see any since we usually see many species of ducks along with lots of geese. But we had a nice walk anyway. My camera was having a hard time with the sun for some reason, but I did manage to get one ok photo of Tyler and Emily together...

We got home just in time to hear the sirens going off so we headed to the basement and waited for the storm to hit. We had some thunder and lightening... and heavy rain... and small hail. Hail! Tyler was excited over the hail. I think this is the first time he's seen it. Daddy even brought him in a handful to check out. He kept it in a bowl until it melted. I snapped a couple of photos while it was coming down. These were taken through our basement window, so they're not the best but I think they turned out cool...

They were about pea size, some more like dime size. We were lucky, some places in MN had hail up to golf ball size!! The storms have moved past us now, but they are still going to the southeast of us... some growing stronger. Hope everyone stays safe in the path!

Nature Walk at the Quaking Tamarak Bog

We went for a nature walk with my CM Nature Study in MN group today at the Quaking Tamarak Bog in Theodore Wirth Park, right here in Minneapolis. I am constantly amazed at the little hidden away oasises of nature we have right here in the City. There were 14 of us walking today... 5 Moms and 9 children. It was so fun to meet some new friends!

We met a couple of ladies along the trail who brought our attention to some fairly loud bird sounds coming from a nearby tree. We were able to pinpoint it to a small round hole in the tree quite a ways up off the ground. I tried to look in the hole using my binoculars, but I couldn't see anything. As I was looking, though, a Woodpecker came along... it landed on the tree and walked over to the hole. It stuck its head in the hole for a few seconds and then flew off. I am certain we were watching a Downy Woodpecker's nest!

"The downy's nest is a hole, usually in a partly decayed tree;
an old apple tree is a favorite site and a new excavation is
made each year. There are from four to six white eggs, which
are laid on a nice bed of chips almost as fine as sawdust.
The door to the nest is a circle about an inch and a quarter across."
~Anna Botsford Comstock - The Handbook of Nature Study - Page 72~

It was nice to have Amanda join us for this walk. She is very knowledgeable about Wildflowers and the likes. She helped us to identify quite a few of the flowers we saw along the trail...

Wild Calla


Star Flower


Wild Columbine

She even introduced us to a Wild Edible... Garlic Mustard. It is an Invasive Species, so we picked a leaf to try it out. When rubbed it smells like Garlic. It has a salad green, lettuce, leafy flavor. Tyler says he didn't like it! :)

Garlic Mustard

Our new friend, Heather, brought her microscope along! She grabbed a sample of the water from the Bog and the kids took turns looking at it under the microscope. They really liked this part.

Tyler decided it would be cool to have a microscope... I was telling my Dad this over the phone and he said that he has one at his house that he never uses and he will send it to Tyler! Yay!

We had a really fun walk and enjoyed spending time with all of our friends, both old and new! We hope to get together again real soon!

A different kind of Bird Study

We spent the day at the Minnesota Zoo today. There are many many types of animals there of all shapes and sizes but ,once again, the birds stood out for us. So we took the opportunity to work in a little Bird Study. First stop, the World of Birds Show...

East African Crowned Crane
Found in eastern Congo, Uganda, and Kenya to central Tanzania.


Red-Tailed Hawk
(this one is half Albino)
Found right here in MN, as well as around the U.S.A


King Vulture
Found from southern Mexico to northern Argentina.


Red Junglefowl
From NW India, through Assam, Burma, Thailand and Malaya to Indo China, South China, Hainan, Sumatra and Java.


Hyacinth Macaw
Found in only three areas of Brazil and the eastern border areas of Bolivia, and in extreme NW Paraguay.

Bald Eagle
Native to MN... they range throughout the 48 contiguous states, Alaska, and Canada.


Also making appearances:

Green-Cheeked Amazon

Rose-Breasted Cockatoo

The Zoo's pond was a beehive of activity... a pair of Trumpeter Swans were nesting along the shore. A Canadian Goose wandered a little too close to the nest and the male Swan made quick work of chasing him off! I also saw a couple of tall white birds in the distance that I think were a Crane of some sort.

We spent some time on the Minnesota Trail where we were able to get up close and personal with some native birds... both on display and in the wild at the bird feeders.

Pileated Woodpecker

Great-Horned Owl

Bald Eagle

Chickadees

Grackle

Hummingbirds

The Tropics Trail always has a variety of very colorful birds to enjoy... and they were out and showing off for us today!! Flamingos, Bali Minah, Greater Indian Hornbill, Green Aracari, Ducks of many shapes and sizes and colors, and lots of others that we couldn't identify!

We even found birds at the Family Farm. Chickens galore! Chickens in fences and Chickens running wild! There were also Chicks and hatching eggs in the barn to observe.

After our stop at the Farm, we had a pretty heated discussion trying to figure out the answer to that age old question... which came first, the Chicken or the egg?

Weekend Update from Aquarium City

This weekend has been a fairly calm one. Tyler had his best friend over for a sleepover Friday night and he was here most of Saturday as well. They had fun and got to go for a nature walk. Last night we ran to the store for a few things we needed. I found the cutest little "Ladybug Playground"... basically a little plastic cage to keep a few Ladybugs in to study. Oh and we got some new colored pencils too! Yay!

Today we put into action something we've been planning for awhile. I wanted to switch our aquariums around to allow for a "critter tank" so that we could bring home a critter every now and then to study. We decided to get a bigger "fish tank" and use our 10 gallon one for a "critter tank". I came across a bigger aquarium today on Craigslist, so off we went!! But first we had to stop and drop off Daddy's gas can and weed trimmer where he was. Tyler decided to "help" Daddy out a little while we were there...

In the meantime Emily was checking out the Dandelions in the yard...

But back to the aquarium situation.... I have a plan!

So our little 10 gallon aquarium has been cleaned up and it now has a screen cover on it so that we can put critters in it to study. Snakes, frogs, toads, turtles, salamanders... whatever. Just for a few days and then we go release them and get somebody else to study.

The big 29 gallon aquarium that we picked up today is going to turn into a Mississippi River scene, with fish found in the River. Sounds cool, huh?

We also have a 10 gallon aquarium here with our Hamster, Killer, in it.

Talk about aquarium city! But I am excited about the changes and looking forward to the fun we will have enjoying nature here.

I'll leave you with this...

Hope you had a "cool" weekend!

Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden & Bird Sanctuary

"A tree with its delicate tracery

of leafless branches

is a thing of beauty to eyes

that are adjusted to see it."

~ Eloise Butler

Tyler's best friend, Jacob, joined us for our nature walk today. We decided to check out the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden & Bird Sanctuary. It turned out to be a gorgeous afternoon, despite some sprinkles during the drive there. The kids really enjoyed themselves and got to see a lot of neat things in nature. I took quite a few photos so here is a little slideshow...

We also worked on our Outdoor Hour Challenge #5 today... Keeping a List. Our focus area right now is Birds, so we are creating a list of all of the birds that we see during our walks. I used Melissa's Bird List. I have added all of the Birds we have seen so far to it as well as the two we saw today (Black-Capped Chickadee and American Redstart). I have it clipped in the front of my Nature Journal so that we can update it as we return from our walks. I also grabbed a little spiral-bound notebook today. I thought I could keep that in my pocket when I don't bring my Nature Journal on our walks in case we want to jot down the things we see along the way for adding to our Journals and Bird list later.

Squirrels, Cardinals, and Loons! Oh my!

A couple of weeks ago we noticed that a Squirrel had built a nest in the eaves of our house. At that time we were seeing the babies poking out here and there, but not venturing far.

Well, they have done some growing these last couple of weeks and they are ready to explore the world. Mama Squirrel is not so sure about this idea though. We have seen her carrying babies back up to the nest from the ground on several occasions. Its a bit comical, but poor Mom, she must be a nervous wreck trying to keep them in that nest!!

This morning one of the babies was even scratching at our window (we live in the basement). It was cute, but I hurried and found the screen for our window!! I had been just propping it open when we wanted some air... no more of that!

This afternoon I was outside helping Dave with some things in the driveway and we noticed Mama Squirrel and a baby in the tree. It seemed the Mom was teaching the baby "the ropes". You know, how to jump from limb to limb and such. He was actually doing well! I pulled my cell phone out and snapped a quick photo of the baby. See him on the trunk of the tree?

Then all of the sudden Mama grabbed him and carried him away. Squirrels carry their young by the belly, which is interesting. I'm not sure how they can see where they're going with that fluff of a tail waving around in front of them! I watched her run up the tree and jump onto the neighbor's roof and over to the corner and into a hole in the peak of their roof. We thought she must have 2 nests or something... or maybe she moved them there because it would be more difficult for them to get out of there. But I was just now thinking, and I bet that was a different family of Squirrels. I think we may have a Squirrel nursery going on over here!

We saw a beautiful Cardinal in the tree as well. We have a bird feeder in the yard as well as a Squirrel feeder... but it seems the only birds who visit it are Pigeons and House Sparrows, so it was a nice treat to see Mr. Cardinal. I hope he comes back again soon.

I also wanted to share a link with you.

LIVE Loon Cam

This is the second year we have followed this cam. Be careful, its addicting!!

Its put on by Kare 11's Minnesota Bound. The man who runs the cam lives on the lake that the nesting platform is on, and he has a Daily Log where he posts about what is going on in the nest and behind the scenes. We have learned a lot about Loons from him.

There are 2 eggs in the nest as we speak. The were laid on May 10th and 12th. They should hatch in 3-4 weeks. Then we can watch the babies. But for now its interesting to watch how Mom and Dad care for the eggs.

Meeting the HUGgers

Yesterday the kids and I met up with our SMpls HUG (Homeschoolers/Unschoolers Gatherings) Group for the first time over at Powderhorn Park. What a fun group they are! Tyler and Emily both had so much fun. They can't wait till next Thursday so they can do it again! We plan to make this group part of or weekly schedule. It felt good to get out and meet some people... and the kids LOVED playing with all of the other kids. Here's a little photo mosaic I made with a few of the photos I took...

Tyler got to play Baseball (Thanks, Peter, for working with them on that). Emily got to swing a little. Some of the kids showed Tyler how to play their version of Dungeons & Dragons. Emily made a little friend and they had fun teeter tottering, playing in the sand, and playing with a big ball in the grass. We also made some Nature Prints in Clay like Melissa over at In the Sparrow's Nest did (Thanks, Amanda, for organizing this!). We painted ours and they are drying right now... we plan to make a mobile out of them. I will post a pic when we get it all finished up.

We also had a little visitor at the park...

This Little Brown Bat came to show off a bit. We thought it was sort of odd that he was out during the daytime... and so close to people. He sat on the tree for quite some time while we checked him out. I guess maybe he knew we hadn't been out for a nature walk yet this week and decided to bring a little bit of nature to us. :)

A new Nature Journal entry & Outdoor Hour Challenges #3 and #4

We finally took the time to journal our Nature Walk Marathon today.

Tyler really wanted to journal about the Green Heron we saw but he was a bit intimidated with drawing it, so we opted for a Notebooking page about it. He colored the picture at the top with colored pencils and then did some Copywork telling what we learned about the bird. "The Green Heron uses bait to catch its food. Its nest is made of sticks. Its eggs are green." We also added a printed copy of a photo of the Green Heron that I took on our nature walk that day.

Here he is working on the sky... made up of many shades of blue...

And here is his finished Nature Journal page...

Now, Tyler says his page is much better than mine, but I'll show it to you anyway. Don't make fun of it, ok? ;o)

So that is our Outdoor Hour Challenge #3 assignment. I am also combining it with Challenge #4 (We technically did 3 nature walks that day, so I say its ok to combine two challenges!), which is to pick a focus area for our Nature Study over the next 6-8 weeks. We are choosing to focus on birds, since there are a lot of them out and we seem to be noticing them the most and are very interested in them at the moment. Now this doesn't mean that the only thing we will study is birds for 6-8 weeks. We will learn from whatever intrigues us during our time in Nature.

Fishing with Daddy - Fish Tails

Tyler and Daddy headed out Carp fishing again last night. Tyler's first catch was pretty normal...

The fight:

The fish:

Nice catch, huh?
But his second fish came in ... a little short on one end.

Strange, huh? I am guessing it got attacked by another fish. Tyler thinks a Snapping Turtle got him. Daddy thought it may have even been born this way since its scales seem to be perfect around the end and it seemed healthy. Who knows, but it sure was an interesting catch! It swam, or rather waddled, right away when they released it!

Nature Walk Marathon - Part 2

Here we are at Part 2 of our nature walk marathon with Dave.

Nature Walk Marathon - Part 1 can be found HERE

Our next stop was Father Hennepin Park over by St. Anthony Falls. I hadn't been down this trail since before Tyler was born, so this was fun. Again, this trail goes right along the Mississippi River. Very pretty country.

We got to see a Great Blue Heron carrying a long stick in his beak. We think he must have been nesting somewhere nearby. Daddy got a kick out of calling it a Pterodactyl to make Tyler look. He's a funny guy. :)

We also got to see some trees that a Beaver had been chewing on. We even noticed the wood chips on the ground around the tree. It was neat to compare the recent one he is working on with the older ones that had been chewed and fell down awhile ago.

You can see pictures of the Heron and the Beaver tree in my Flickr Photostream up at the top of the blog. But I want to devote this post to this next guy. Check him out...

That, my friends, is a Green Heron! Isn't he beautiful!?! I saw him from a distance as I walked down the trail and I thought he looked interesting, so as we got closer I found a spot that we could observe him from. He sat on the log for us for quite awhile, then he flew over to a nearby tree for a bit and then back to the log. We think he is probably nesting in the tree.

These birds are amazing. It is pretty uncommon to see them because they are nocturnal and also very secretive and they nest singly, not in flocks like most birds. The nest is a basket of sticks in a tree, usually over water. They lay from 2 to 6 eggs, 2 days apart... the eggs hatch in about 19-25 days. Both the male and the female Green Heron incubate the eggs and feed the young. They eat fish, insects, and other invertebrates and water arthropods. A couple of other interesting tidbits... the Green Heron can hover for short periods to catch their prey. Most often, though, they sit very still on a log or in shallow water and wait for their prey to come to them. They sometimes even put a worm or twig on the top of water as bait to lure fish to them!! They are one of very few "tool using" birds in existence. Isn't that amazing?

Here are a couple of links in case you want to know more about these awesome birds...

Green Heron on All About Birds

Green Heron on Wikipedia

Green Herons on the MNDNR's Young Naturalists site

Our 3rd stop was at Meeker Island Historic Lock & Dam. The path was flooded here so we didn't get to walk too far, but it was still beautiful right down along the Mississippi River. We saw some wildflowers and flowering trees here. The history behind this place was interesting. It was the first Lock & Dam on this part of the river. It was open for 5 years and then Lock & Dam 1 was built in 1917 with hydroelectric power. It was able to handle the job of both facilities, so this one was closed and demolished. There are still some remains of it there to be seen though.

That concludes our Nature Walk Marathon.... we learned a lot, saw some very cool things, experienced some history. We had great time too! What more could we ask for?!

THE END

Nature Walk Marathon - Part 1

Dave took us for a ride today and decided to show us around a few nearby spots along the Mississippi River that he thought would be good for nature walks. And boy did he!! We ended up walking at 3 different spots today and we got to see some really neat things out there!

First stop was Boom Island Park. We are not new to this park. It is one of our local fishing spots. We had never really taken the time to walk the trails though, so this was a fun walk. Right away we were greeted by this little guy...

I have decided that I think it is a Yellow-Rumped Warbler. If anyone thinks differently, let me know please. I originally thought him to be a Yellow-Throated Warbler, but this little guy had a bright yellow behind when he flew away. So pretty.

As we continued along the trail we ran into a young boy and his dad. The little boy was carrying a net and Dad was carrying a pillowcase. Hmmm. So I said to Tyler I wonder what they're catching?? He said he had no idea, and went over to ask them. They were catching Garter Snakes. They had one in their pillowcase and even took him out for Tyler to see and pet. Tyler was giggling after because its tail wrapped around his finger. We ran into them a couple more times as we walked and they had caught a couple more. They got one out a second time and let Tyler hold it. Great nature study if you ask me! We also found out that they do this often... they catch critters and take them home and keep them for a week or so and then bring them back and release them and catch something else. Sounds fun! I told Tyler we would watch Craigslist for a used aquarium and try doing this. I think it would be fun to have a little revolving pet thing going... frogs, toads, snakes... We did a little tromping around in the grass to see if we could stir a snake up, but no luck!

We also came across this tree that had fallen over and ripped its roots right out of the ground. Tyler thought it was pretty cool...

And then there was this...

Goes to show that you never know WHAT you may find in nature!! LOL

(NOTE: That is NOT a real animal. Someone obviously has a sense of humor and decided to share it with us. :) )

We also saw a Cardinal, a Goldfinch, a bunch of Grackles, and a Rabbit during our walk here. We found a couple of cool rocks as well that we think might be Agates.

That concludes Part 1 of our Nature Walk Marathon... Part 2 will follow shortly. We saw something at our next stop that deserves its own post!

TO BE CONTINUED

Continued here - - Nature Walk Marathon - Part 2

Fishing with Daddy

Common Carp Nature Snapshot from the MNDNR

Common Carp on Wikipedia

Shared Fun - Handicrafts and Experiments

I love it when other homeschoolers share their handicrafts and experiments on their blogs. Here are a couple that we came across and had fun with recently...

Sprite over at Sprite's Craft Corner shared a fun handicraft on her blog last year... I just came across it last week and Tyler is loving it. He's been weaving little rugs. Sprite has step by step directions there to make these. They are the perfect size to use with toys and dollhouses. Of course his first one HAD to include red. Everything in his life has to be red.

Next he made one with pink for his sister...

Emily is really enjoying her new rug... and her brother's too!! :o)

Just tonight I came across this cool Tie-Dyed Milk experiment at In the Sparrow's Nest. Her daughter had done this one before so she made us a fun video to walk us through it. Check it out here. They also have some white Daisies in food coloring at their house that I can't wait to see turn colors!! Anyways, Tyler wanted to try this experiment right away and here is our result...

Evidently the fat in the milk reacts against the dish soap. The minute you touch the toothpick with soap on it to the milk the colors just explode.

Fun times! Now I'm off to see what else I can find out there in Blogland!

Happy May Day 2008

This year the kids and I had the chance to experience the amazing May Day Parade that In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre puts on every year. They work on this parade literally all year round. And it shows! This year's theme was A New Bridge...

A New Bridge Infrastructure for the Future Beings On August 1, 2007, we witnessed the fall of the 35W bridge. During the profound Ecumenical Memorial Service for the 13 citizens who perished in the river, Hamdy El-Sawaf of the Islamic Jurisprudence Council of Minnesota offered these words: “If a bridge made of iron, steel and concrete can fall down, then a human bridge of faith, trust, confidence and hope must be established.” These words challenge us to receive the tragedy of the fallen bridge as an opportunity to consider the infrastructure we are building for the present and future beings. Are we building toward depletion and collapse as consumers and conquerors, or are we building a path to sustainable, reciprocal harmony with the rest of the earth? Let us turn together with trust, faith, joy and ingenuity toward the work of building a bridge for safe passage through our transition to a glorious, sustainable, healthy life for all the future beings. Happy Mayday! Enjoy! In The Heart of the Beast Puppet & Mask Theatre Creator and Producer of the MayDay Parade, Ceremony, and Festival

One of my favorite parts of going to the parade, though, is the people watching. This event brings out people from ALL walks of life and it is so fun to watch and experience them all. While we waited for the parade to arrive we saw a lady juggling beside us and a man across the street with a huge parrot on his shoulder. Not to mention the variety of hairstyles... and the varied tastes in clothing! It was amazing.

Then there's the parade itself. So full of color and happiness. People on stilts, people riding unusual bikes... masks and amazing costumes... music of all genres. People just having fun and spreading joy. Here are a few photos...

Note: You can see bigger, more detailed, photos in my Flickr Photostream.

Now you may wonder how in the world this craziness could be educational... but it actually was. There was the multi-cultural experience... including Native American dance and costumes. The wide variety of music and dance. There was the display showing butterfly cocoons. There was a group of people marching holding endangered animals made from paper mache. There were anti-war groups, which prompted some discussion. One group handed out flowers along the way... we got Baby's Breath, which we looked up and identified when we got home. It is now being pressed so that we can enjoy it for a long time to come. So we did learn. I am discovering that everything in life can be a learning experience! There was a lot to soak in here... I'm sure discussions will spark for a long time to come.

After the parade we walked the few blocks to a nearby park. This is where the parade ended and they had a May Day Festival going on. The Festival may have been fun... if you could actually make your way through the sea of people to see anything. We were disappointed in the crowd, which made it impossible to have fun. We did get to see the canoes they had decorated for May Day... I believe they were doing canoe rides on the little lake there in the park. We probably made it a few feet before we decided to leave. We did stand in line long enough to grab a hot dog and a pop. We enjoyed watching a couple of guys do tricks with a frisbee while we ate. Then we headed out to play at our usual neighborhood park. All in all a fun day!