I’ve created the April planning page to motivate some spring nature study in your family! Download and print your page as a reminder of the Outdoor Hour Challenges featured this month as well as some additional nature study ideas.
The new printables in the membership library will also stimulate some spring nature study this month. I hope you get a chance to learn about nyctinasty (blog post coming soon) and a little more about bird’s nests too.
Happy spring nature study!
Please note there are additional nature study ideas listed on the planning page for you to use if you have access to the newsletter library. (Right now use the discount code OHC10 for $5 off any membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study.)
New printables are now posted in the Member’s library!
Members have access to several brand new printable notebook pages.
1. Nyctinasty: Use this notebook page to record your research notes about this amazing phenomenon that explains why some flowers close up at night. I find this information fascinating!
2. My Nest Study: Every bird creates a nest of some kind and this month I encourage you to pick a local bird and learn about its nest’s shape, materials, and placement.
3. Bird Study: This more advanced bird study notebook page will help you record some information and sketches. In particular, it helps you look at the bird, the nest, and the egg.
Print a complete list of printables available to Members for easy reference:Printables for Members
We’re still in the midst of winter weather…no spring yet! But, that hasn’t kept us from getting outside and enjoying the amazing clouds, birds, and weather that greets us each day. I had a friend ask me this week if I’m suffering from the loss of spring green and early wildflowers that she has in California and I could honestly say that it hasn’t been a big deal to me. We moved here to experience something different and that is exactly what we’re feeling here in the middle of March. I created a sign on my chalkboard to remind me of an important fact…
Spring will come and I will be just as excited about it in May as I would’ve been in March.
We’re busy planning the landscaping in our backyard right now. Doing the research on plants and trees and shrubs that thrive here in our harsh climate has made my heart happy in anticipation. We want to get it right so it’s taking a lot of research to decide which plants will give some color and depth to our very flat piece of land. We don’t want to obstruct our view of the mountains so everything needs to be viewed in light of how it will affect the sight lines from our back windows and from the future patio. More on that project in an upcoming post!
Here are my weekly entries from March!
I had been eagerly anticipating the arrival of the Great Backyard Bird Count since it’s our first here in Oregon. We had some surprise bird visitors just in time to be officially counted for the event.
I wanted to record our March nature events as they unfolded so this two page spread will allow me to add to the journal throughout the month. I should have called it “not really spring yet” instead of “almost spring”.
I’m still going strong with the Nature Observer journal that I began in January. The premade pages encourage me to record things I wouldn’t otherwise think about including in my journal. The pages shown here are both to record the winter bird visitors we observe during this season on one page and then another page to record migratory birds we’ll see in future seasons that are not here now. These pages required some research on my part but I love that kind of work. It impressed on me more deeply the rhythm and cycles of bird migration here in Central Oregon. It’s a way we can anticipate the changing seasons and view a bird’s comings and goings as a natural sign of the time of year.
Bonus! Plus here is a page from my archives that you can create in your journal using the March 2014 newsletter printables.
This is from my 2014 nature journal where I was using a little bit larger page (Mixed Media Side Wire 7 x 10). I was able to use the printable list and nature journal topper from the March 2014 newsletter to create a page using a photo and some journaling. I’m anticipating using this size journal again after I finish my current smaller one (Mixed Media Side Wire 8.5 x 5.5).
Have you taken a look at my updated nature journal page? Here’s a link to see some ideas to inspire you in your journaling efforts.
Don’t forget that I’m sharing a nature journal page each week on my Instagram account if you want to see the pages as they unfold. Follow me here:Instagram – outdoorhourchallenge.And, if you want to create a page and share it on your Instagram for me to see, use the hashtag #OHCnaturejournal.
I’m excited to participate again this month with the Nature Book Club group! I love trees and this month’s book selection is one that we have used in our family over the years. I still like to page through it and learn little tidbits about each of the trees.
This is an opportunity for you to join in with the club your own tree book entries by using the linky tool below to share your own tree related links this month too!
My Favorite Tree-Terrific Trees of North Americaby Diane Iverson is one of my all time favorite tree picture books for children of all ages. (Note this book is only available used on Amazon and this is my affiliate link) This book features trees native to Canada, Mexico, and the United States (including Hawaii). This is not a comprehensive field guide sort of book but it introduces a variety of trees from around North America along with interesting facts and much more.
¨ Tree Traits-excellent concise information on habitat, height, bark, leaves, flowers and seeds.
¨ Wild Companions-features a bird, mammal, or insect that makes use of the tree
¨ It’s a Fact-beyond the basic facts, this section shares fascinating historical and practical facts
¨ Hall of Fame-Location of the tallest or biggest specimen, state tree information and other “champion” information.
This is a book that would be a terrific addition to your nature study library if you live in North America.
I have created a printable chart that coordinates the trees in the My Favorite Tree book with the Handbook of Nature Study lessons and then the corresponding Outdoor Hour Challenge. You can use this information to help you provide a more thorough tree study for many of the trees covered in the My Favorite Tree book.
There is also a custom designed notebooking page to use with each tree you learn about from the My Favorite Tree book. You can print this out as many times as you need to create a lovely record of your tree studies.
Additional Tree Study Idea
You may wish to start a year-long tree study, viewing a tree in all four seasons. Click over and read this blog entry for some simple ideas to get you started: For the Love of Trees.
Make sure to subscribe to my blog to follow along with all of the nature study ideas offered every week.
Link Up Guidelines
Choose an engaging nature book, do a craft or activity, and add your post to our monthly link up.
The link up party goes live at 9:00 a.m. EST on the 20th of each month and stays open until the last day of the month. Hurry to add your links!
You can link up to 3 posts. Please do not link up advertising posts, advertise other link up parties, your store, or non-related blog posts. They will be removed.
By linking up with us, you agree for us to share your images and give you credit of course if we feature posts.
See all the great posts from The Nature Book Club’s co-hosts in March:
Use the links above to find out more information for the birds included in this Outdoor Hour Challenge. You’ll find links to listen to each of these bird’s beautiful songs and I highly recommend that you listen to each one carefully for future reference. Also, there’s a link to a free bird coloring book that many families have found helpful in their bird nature study as a follow up to viewing each bird.
In our area, we have several kinds of finches to observe as the season warms up, so we’ll be learning about finches in preparation of their arrival at our feeders.
Do you have American goldfinches, Lesser goldfinches or both in your feeders?
This yellow bird challenge is from the Learning About Birds ebook here on the Handbook of Nature Study. It’s found in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships for you to download and use with your family. If you would like to gain access to this ebook, you can purchase a membership now and have instant access.
Use the discount code BIRDLOVER5 for $5 off an Ultimate Naturalist Membership.
The Outdoor Hour Challenge tied for second place in the Elementary Science category in the Practical Homeschooling Reader Awards!
So much has happened in a month! We’ve been focusing on bird counting as part of both Project Feederwatch and the Great Backyard Bird Count. Because this was the first year counting birds in my new Central Oregon home, I was hoping that we would see a variety that represented what my Feederwatch results have been over the past month or two.
Sure enough, we had all our usual visitors and a few surprise guests too!
Great Backyard Bird Count 2018
Mourning dove-6
Eurasian collared dove-3
Northern flicker-1
Varied thrush-1
California scrub jay-5
Mountain chickadee-4
Red-breasted nuthatch-1
Pygmy nuthatch-10
Dark eyed junco-14
Hairy woodpecker-1
House finch-5
Pine siskin-2
Canada goose-37
Mallard duck-9
European starling-3
Western bluebird-50
Common raven-2
Red-winged blackbird-4
A huge flock of Western bluebirds swarmed our backyard feeders one morning during the count period. It was an amazing sight. Many of them stuck around for a few days and they would sit all over the feeders and on our fence, glistening blue and red in the sunshine.
We were also surprised during the count to see the return of the red-winged blackbird to our yard and feeders. It seems so early and we’ve had quite a bit of snow since their arrival. I did some research online and read that the sturdiest birds return first and they should be able to make it through until we have a real spring.
The return of the elk to our neighborhood has been a delight to watch. The best time to spot them is early in the morning as the sun is rising. We’ve seen them in small groups right behind our fence and in large herds in several areas around town. I never tire of seeing them as they graze and move on.
We took a trip to the San Diego area for a week to have a little beach and ocean time with our daughter. She flew out from New York to meet up with us for a week of camping and adventuring. There was a lot of outdoor time!
Bike riding along the coast at Crystal Cove State Park was gorgeous! The views of the ocean and the clouds on this particular day made it look like a postcard. We rode our bikes to a spot where we could go down to the shore for some tide pool observations.
We found lots of interesting things to watch and photograph in the tide pool area. We planned our visit to be there at the negative tide, so there were lots of things exposed for us to see that are normally under water. The most prevalent living creatures were sea anemones, mussels, hermit crabs, snails, and sea slugs!
We couldn’t get over the size of this slug! There were quite a few in spots we could watch closely and they moved amazingly fast.
We had a memorable day at the tide pools!
One last thing I want to tell you about is our visit to the NAT at Balboa Park in San Diego. If you ever get a chance to visit this area, make sure to plan some time here checking out the Coast to Cactus in Southern California exhibit. I found it to be top notch! The displays and the interactive elements make this habitat come alive. I could have explored this area for hours.
But, by far, my favorite exhibit they have on display currently is Unshelved: Cool Stuff from Storage. It has collections of things that are normally in storage, out for you to see. It’s an eclectic group of things from tiny bugs to big bones. My favorite things on display were the collections of butterflies. So astonishing to see how beautiful these insects are up close!
This last image shows my happy face on a happy day with my family at the ocean. The ocean just seems to wash away my troubles and refreshes me in a way that keeps me coming back time after time. I forget how much just the sound of the waves and the scent of the salt air can bring relief from the busy life I lead. This photo will remind me that an ocean visit may be just what the doctor orders when I start to feel anxious and overwhelmed.
Do you have a place that refreshes you when you are facing trials?
Follow me here:Instagram – outdoorhourchallenge.If you would like me to take a look at one of your images on Instagram, use the hashtag #outdoorhourchallenge.
Want to join in the Outdoor Mom post?
Answer all or just one of the prompts in a blog entry on your own blog or right here on my blog in a comment. If you answer on your blog, make sure to leave me a link in a comment so that I can pop over and read your responses.
During our outdoor time this month we went…
The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about)…
In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting…
This is a fun challenge that incorporates a study of blue birds and also the study of bird beaks. Even the youngest of children will be able to participate after you explain the challenge to look for various kinds of bird beaks.
Make sure to use the ideas in the archive link above to encourage the observation of birds and their beaks.
Additional Idea for Bird Study
Use the All About Birds website to look up more information about any birds you study this week: All About Birds. The archive link above includes links (bottom of the archive post) to this website for the particular blue birds we are learning about in this challenge. I always love to click on the “sound” tab to hear each bird’s particular song.
Are you enjoying your bird study? You may wish to check out the complete series of bird challenges included in the Learning About Birds ebook.
This blue bird challenge is from the Learning About Birds ebook here on the Handbook of Nature Study. It’s found in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships for you to download and use with your family. If you would like to gain access to this ebook, you can purchase a membership now and have instant access.
Use the discount code BIRDLOVER5 for $5 off an Ultimate Naturalist Membership.
Simple definition: A survival mechanism employed by some mammals and birds where there is a temporary reduction of body temperature on cold days. Torpor is triggered by ambient temperature and food availability. Note: Hibernation is an extended form of torpor.
We came across this term for the first time when we were learning about the life cycle of the pygmy nuthatch. Reading in our field guide, we came across the term “torpor” and didn’t know what it meant. This led to some research online and it amazed us how this little bird is able to survive the below freezing temperatures we have here in Central Oregon by going into torpor and huddling together with other nuthatches in tree cavities.
These things all work together to conserve energy and keep the tiny little birds alive through the long winter nights.
Please note that I am just skimming the surface of this topic here in this post and I intend on continuing to learn about this topic as time goes by. It fascinates me to see how there are such amazing mechanisms for survival in the seemingly ordinary animals right in my own backyard.
What is torpor? -includes a short list of mammals that go into torpor
You may wish to check out the Learning About Birds ebook here on the Handbook of Nature Study. It is found in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships for you to download and use with your family. If you would like to gain access to this ebook, you can purchase a membership now and have instant access.
Use the discount code BIRDLOVER5 for $5 off an Ultimate Naturalist Membership.
This month we are starting a series of bird nature study challenges as noted on the planning page. I am hoping you will join us as we learn more about the colorful birds all around us! Please note there are are additional nature study ideas listed on the planning page for you to use if you have access to the newsletter library. (Right now use the discount code OHC10 for $5 off any membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study.)
Plus, I have included a poem for your nature journal…copy it into your journal if you wish.
New printables are now posted in the Member’s library!
Members have access to several brand new printable notebook pages.
1. Mammal Set #3 – Bison, Pronghorn, and Weasel: I have created three more notebook pages for mammals. These are less common to most of us but doing the research and then completing a notebook page with interesting facts will help you be prepared for a possible future sighting.
2. Torpor:This page is for use by more advanced students after researching the term “torpor”.
Print a complete list of printables available to Members for easy reference:Printables for Members
I’m excited to share my nature journal pages this month! I’ve had some great experiences to record and that makes all the difference in my attitude. When I have things to write about and sketch, I’m eager to open my nature journal to put those memories on paper.
When you have fun nature observations to include in your journal, it makes it super easy to be motivated!
Make sure you are spending time outdoors looking for interesting things to create nature journal pages about each week….or as often as you can.
Have you seen my Pinterest board for the Once a Month Nature Journal Project? I started this board but there are some really nice pins from group members. Take a look: Once a Month Nature Journal Project.
Here are my weekly entries for February!
There have been so many interesting things observed during our outdoor time so I decided to create a page featuring four of those items. I’m not super happy with the sketches but each one will remind me of a special item we saw and then learned more about during our outdoor time.
I love ponderosa pines and I created a page with some of the interesting things about these magnificent trees. I even managed to draw a decent looking ponderosa pine for the page.
What a surprise! We found this garter snake in our front yard and it became the star of a page in my nature journal.
From Nature Observer journal
I scheduled a hike at the Deschutes River just so we could complete these two pages in the Nature Observer journal. We had such a wonderful time walking along the riverbank and then it was easy to create a map of the trail and a list of ten things we found interesting.
If you need a little nudge in your nature journaling, I would highly recommend the Nature Observer journal as a starting point to record your nature observations and be inspired to make particular activities happen each month.
Are you keeping a nature journal? What is your biggest challenge to creating entries regularly?
Don’t forget that I’m sharing a nature journal page each week on my Instagram account if you want to see the pages as they unfold. Follow me here:Instagram – outdoorhourchallenge.And, if you want to create a page and share it on your Instagram for me to see, use the hashtag #OHCnaturejournal.
Have you looked at the sample for the newly revised Getting Started with the Outdoor Hour Challenge ebook? I updated and revised the original ebook as part of my 10 year anniversary. The nature study challenges in this ebook can be used over and over for as long as you would like with your children. It’s appropriate for all ages and includes custom notebooking pages for you to print out and use alongside the nature study ideas.
This edition of the Getting Started with the Outdoor Hour Challenge is available in every level of membershiphere on the Handbook of Nature Study.
I’m really looking forward to the nature challenge this week! I’ve spent a lot of time this winter following and photographing animal tracks in the mud and snow, and now I want to slow down and really try to identify who is making these tracks.
You’ll find a fantastic online resource in the archive link to a website to use along with your field guide. I would love to hear which animals you’ve found tracks for this winter.
Another resource that I love and use all the time is the North American Wildlife book from Reader’s Digest. I wrote a review of this book in 2015 that shows how beneficial it is as a supplement to the Handbook of Nature Study.
