It’s that time of year when I am publishing my annual nature study goals for all to see. This provides me with the incentive to progressively work on my goals and to keep myself accountable at the same time. There are no surprises on this year’s list because the simple goals are actually the ones that end up being the most meaningful and reachable. For those that have been readers here for the past few years, you will see a few repeats of goals that have gone unfulfilled and this year I am determined to be better at planning a way to reach my goals.
A friend of our family says to “plan your work and then work your plan”. There is wisdom in that thinking.
Nature Study Goals 2016
Complete 2 out of 4 Outdoor Hour Challenges each month posted on Fridays. I think this is ambitious goal. I will be including our experiences in my monthly nature study recap posts.
Research and learn about four birds. Learn the call, field marks, and create a nature journal.
Focus on learning my local wildflowers. Create some sort of record of each flower. I have not decided what form this record will look like but once I get started I am hoping it will come together.
Take Yosemite photos from the Yosemite photography book- Since this was a fail last year, I am going to aim to take three photos during each trip in 2016.
Visit a new national park. (You can see a list of my national parks entries below.) We are thinking Bryce Canyon, Olympic, or Rocky Mountain depending on which way we head out from California.
Visit two new state parks.
Identify three rocks from my original challenge. This has been more difficult to accomplish than originally anticipated but with a more concentrated effort I think we can really make this happen.
Read 10 nature related books!
I always love to read your goals so leave me a comment with your goals or a link to your blog if you post an entry there. Thank you for always being so supportive of my goals as the year rolls by.
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Contents of this edition of the newsletter include:
Bird related resources and articles with a contribution from Shirley Vels of Under an English Sky.
Starling bird study and notebook page
Bird Tally List printable
Resources for your Nature Library: I have started to build a nature library store on Amazon that will feature by category my favorite nature study books and resources. Take a look and see if there is anything you would like to put on your wish list for your family’s nature study library: Handbook of Nature Study Nature Library Suggestions on Amazon.com.Note this is my affiliate store to items I personally recommend and have read or seen in person.
Please note that Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level members have access to members only printables each month in addition to the newsletter printables. You will need to log into your account and then go to the “Other Releases” section.
Need help getting started with your nature study using the Handbook of Nature Study? Check out the fresh “Getting Started” page here on the website!
I am thoroughly enjoying my Project Feederwatch counting this year…we added a few new feeders that are closer to my viewing window and that makes counting super easy. Even watching our “ordinary” birds gives me such pleasure. Here are some images from my counting days of my fine feathered friends.
Finches!
Loving our mockingbird and watching him visit every morning to a particular tree and then to a blackberry vine in the corner of our yard…always sitting at the top.
I caught this sparrow with his mouth full of seed. Love his feet too!
This is one of the woodpeckers that visit our feeders and trees just about every day now. They aren’t very big but they are beautiful birds.
Here is my list of birds that have come to visit during the months of November and December.
November and December Bird Lists
White-crowned sparrow
Dark-eyed junco
House finch
White-breasted nuthatch
Western scrub jay
Anna’s hummingbird
Spotted towhee
Northern mockingbird
Evening grosbeak
American robin
Mourning dove
Nuttall’s woodpecker
Lesser goldfinch
Titmouse
Northern flicker
European starlings
California towhee
Bewick’s wren
Fox sparrow
What birds did you see this month?
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I am sharing our family’s nature photos for the month of December after enjoying the November entry so much. With my grown children so far away and all of our busy lives, this is a simple way we can connect and share our love for the outdoors in a simple way despite the distance. I hope you enjoy the McCoy family December nature photos!
This is my husband’s entry for the month. He really enjoyed the refreshing trip to the ocean and taking a really long walk on the sand.
My daughter Amanda shared this photo on Instagram earlier this month with the hashtag, “I am my mother’s daughter.” Yes indeed. She has a new feeder outside her window and she is enjoying the birds that are visiting. In fact, she says the feeder can be emptied in one day they love it so much! Guess I better send her a gift card for some birdseed.
This is one of my favorite images from the month. I took this through the window of the squirrel eating under my birdfeeder. He was posing so nicely and looking right at my camera. Don’t you just love his little paws?
One last image from my son in New York. They have had unusually warm weather this month…quite the opposite of last year. I love the misty morning view from his street.
Hope you enjoyed a wonderful December and created some of your own family memories too!
Many people have asked if there is going to be a new nature study ebook posted for the first quarter of 2016. The answer is no…but there will be fresh ideas each Friday posted here on the blog for you to use with your family. I will be sharing those specific topics in this month’s newsletter and providing specific direction on how to complete the week’s nature study challenge as well as informing you which ebook from the archives the challenge is taken from.
This means if you are an Ultimate Naturalist member here on the blog or you have the ebooks from past year’s purchases, you will be able to pull those up on your computer and print the notebooking pages that go along with each week’s challenge.
January 2016 Challenges:
The four challenges are found here on the Handbook of Nature Study, three from the archives and one new one. I am pulling information and ideas from the Handbook of Nature Study book by Anna Botsford Comstock as well as the book, Discover Nature Close to Home by Elizabeth Lawlor. ISBN 9780811730778.
Pine Trees and Pine Cones
Winter Seeds
Squirrels
Starlings
Make sure you are subscribed here and you will get the January 2016 newsletter on the first of the month with a planning page to print and to use with the new challenge format.
This is going to be a lot of fun to revisit many of the old topics that so many new participants have never had a chance to use. Stay tuned for the first Friday in January and you will see how it is going to work!
As the end of the year draws nearer, I am thinking about and wrapping up my nature study goals for 2015.
2015 was a year of change and of upheaval in our family…I am not all that great at handling changes so having some nature study goals and a plan to keep myself from ignoring the restorative power of being outside was a huge blessing. I need to balance my life with not only thinking about nature but actually getting out into it on a regular basis. It grounds me. It comforts me. It keeps my mind more positive….the quiet time for prayer and meditation under the sky is one of the best ways I know to keep putting one foot in front of the other when you face challenges in life.
Goals Update
1. Yosemite Photo Project: As I determined in the third quarter, this photo project was just not going to happen in 2015. I’m not sure why I had such a hard time with getting going but I’m pretty sure it had to do with lack of planning. I have a spring trip to Yosemite on the books and reservations made so perhaps I will get my act together before then to actually accomplish this goal in 2016.
5. Take one new hike: We did a lot of hiking this year but none from the local hiking guidebook that I purchased last year. I realized this also didn’t happen because I had no clear plan…the spot in my planner is blank still. Lesson learned.
6. Read ten nature-related books this year:I accomplished this goal with flying colors! I enjoyed having the books chosen ahead of time and I have already started to compile my list for 2016 which I will be sharing soon!
7. Rock project: None added in 2016. I either don’t like rocks as much as I thought or I can’t convince myself that I want to pursue this goal. But, one of my books for 2016 is on rockhounding and it has specific places that we can visit to collect rocks for our collection. I am excited about this goal again!
8. Create one nature journal entry each month: Yes! Using the Once a Month Nature Journal ideas, I have been able to create at least one page a month.
You might like to read the Planning Nature Study for the Year post from last month for some ideas to get you started.
Here are some of my favorite entries from the year if you haven’t seen them already.
Summer Days Filled With Goodness: I loved this hike that my husband and I took back in July. Keeping a blog helps keep those memories alive and I love sharing them with all of you readers.
Zion National Park:This was a fantastic road trip to Zion and Grand Canyon National Parks! Wish I could do it again right now!
So that ends another year of nature study…now to create goals for 2016! Reflecting on my circumstances in life may alter the goals on the list but I will make the goals and see what happens. I invite you to join me in 2016 with your own list that helps your family get outdoors together and learn more about the plants and animals that share your world.
There is always something new to learn!
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Pinnacles National Park – a park for exploring talus caves, rock spires, and geologic wonders.
Here in California there is a new national park…Pinnacles National Park! Well, it was made a national monument back in 1908 but they changed the designation to a national park in 2013. This park is located in central California about 125 miles from San Francisco which makes it an ideal day trip if you are planning an extended trip to this part of the world.
The drive into the park takes you through the rural farm lands that grow some of the vegetables you may be eating at your dinner table. The oak trees and rolling landscape create one of my favorite California views.
I have to admit as we drove into the park I was wondering why this area had received national park status. It doesn’t have the dramatic Yosemite granite rock features or the towering redwoods of the Northern California parks. But, once you drive up into the park a few miles, the view opens up and you can really see the striking rock pinnacle peaks that have given this unique place its name.
I suggest you start your visit at the east entrance of the park at the visitor center. This is nothing more than a glorified store at this point but there are park rangers there that will direct you to the appropriate trailhead and trail for your amount of time and interests. See this page for directions and information about the two different entrances to Pinnacles National Park: Plan Your Visit.
During our visit, there were shuttle buses taking people from the Visitor Center up to the Bear Gulch trailhead because of the limited parking available at the day use area. There are several other trailheads that you could drive to if you wanted to experience a different part of the park.
We decided to do a long hike with our boys and parked at the Bear Gulch day use area where there is a small but helpful nature center that had limited hours. Check at the visitor center before heading up there if you want to make sure it is open. We watched the introductory 14 minute long movie and highly recommend it at some point during your visit to Pinnacles. There were also restrooms available in the parking lot in addition to numerous picnic tables that are situated under trees for much needed shade.
Pinnacles National Park is HOT during the summer and the recommended window for visiting is during the months of October to May. Our visit in November was very enjoyable during the daylight hours but it was freezing at night….literally. I think it got down to 25 degrees one night!
There is a nice campground if you are inclined to stay the night that has restrooms, showers, and a swimming pool. I highly recommend reservations during peak travel times. See this page for more information: Camping At Pinnacles.
High Peaks Trail to Condor Gulch Trail: This is a long loop which on the map said it was 4.3 miles in total, starting and finishing at Bear Gulch day use area. My Fitbit measured quite a bit longer and I can’t decide why there was such a discrepancy in mileage. We began early and had the trail pretty much to ourselves as we left the parking lot.
It was super cold and we had layered up. At some point in the first mile and a half, the trail breaks out into the sunshine and we began peeling off layers.
Then the gorgeous rocks of the pinnacle formations came into view as we hiked the ridge line.
My son had to try climbing up a few of the rocks, of course! We were on the lookout for the famous California condors that are residents of the park but we didn’t see one on this hike. Read more about the California condors at Pinnacles National Park on their website: California Condors.
Once up at the top, the view goes in all directions. We could see down to the west side parking lot and visitor center from here. The park has two entrances but no road between the two. You can hike up from either side of the park to the High Peaks and on the west side there are the Balconies Caves.
We opted to take the “Steep and Narrow” section of the High Peaks trail. I wasn’t even sure what that meant until we got there. There are handrails to help you climb up and down and prevent you from slipping down the rockface as you squeeze through the narrow and sometimes low hanging rock openings.
This part of the trail was created by a series of small narrow steps cut right into the rocks. There are portions that are almost like a ladder going up to the next section.You can see one at the top in the middle of this image…below see the stone step cut straight into the rock? I climbed up that!
It was a great hike but much longer and more strenuous than I expected. The park literature really doesn’t give you a lot of details about each hike and the map is not all that great either. Make sure to take plenty of water and food for you hike since it could take you 3-5 hours to make the loop.
The other hike we took at Pinnacles National Park led us up from the Bear Gulch day use area to the Bear Gulch caves. These are unlike any caves we have been in since they are talus caves that are formed as giant boulders get wedged into steep canyons, creating a sort of roof over the area. You will need a flashlight for these caves but much of it is naturally light by sky lights created in the jumbled rocks. There is a clear trail through the cave area and stairs and a handrail that help guide you through.
Note: Check at the visitor center or nature center before hiking up to the caves. There is a colony of Townsend bats that live in the cave at certain points of the year and they will close them off. During our visit, they were 90 percent open so we got to experience most of the cave.
The caves are for the most part wide and tall but please note that my son had trouble in once section near the end of the cave where you will need to crouch down fairly low to get out of the opening. He had to take his day pack off and crawl on his knees which he didn’t like. I had to squat down and sort of duck walk through it but I did it!
This was a winter trip to Pinnacles so I am sure each season would be a different experience. I am thinking a spring trip when the temperatures are still cool enough to hike and the park is filled with wildflowers would be a perfect time to visit. (I may have to add that to my wish list.)
Tips:
There is an entrance fee of $10 per car as of the writing of this entry. (Free if you have a national parks pass.)
At the time of this post, there is no cell service or internet in the park.
125 miles from San Francisco, 190 miles from Yosemite National Park, 170 miles from Sequoia National Park, 270 miles from Los Angeles
Picnic area at Bear Gulch. There is a small selection of grocery type items at the camp store at the east entrance. Closest town with a large grocery store is Hollister, CA which is 30 miles from the park.
There are many places for rock climbing and designated rock climbing trails.
There is a Junior Ranger program available.
You can read more of my national park entries by following these links:
Read pages 736-742 (Lessons #207-208) in the Handbook of Nature Study. These lessons are helpful in learning more about a local brook or stream in your area, noting the changes and movement of soil, sand, and rocks.
Advanced study: View this video to learn more information about River Erosion.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Take the Handbook of Nature Study along with you to your brook or stream visit. Use some of the suggested observations in the lessons to take a more careful look at what you are seeing. If you can, visit a brook before and after a storm to note the changes.
Make a note of where you took your observations and then mark your calendar to come back in the next season to create a year long picture of your brook.
Follow-Up Activity:
Create four pages in your nature journal for your seasonal brook observations. Label them at the top with the season’s name and leave room to write the actual dates as you create a year long study of your brook.
If you collected water as part of Lesson #208, use the experiment instructions to learn more about sediment.
Advanced study: Create a nature journal entry that explains how a brook’s water carries stones, gravel, and sediment. Make sure to include a diagram of where and how the water deposits its load.
If you want to purchase the Autumn Nature Study 2015 ebook so you can follow along with all the notebooking pages, coloring pages, and subject images, you can join the Ultimate or Journey Membership Levels. See the Join Us page for complete information. Also, you can view the Autumn Nature Study 2015announcement page for more details.
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It isn’t until I look back over my photos for each month that I realize just how many outdoor related activities fill my days. I love taking photos of my backyard birds and I really do take a lot of them throughout the month. Many are blurry and not worth saving but every now and then get lucky and capture a beauty like this grosbeak.
November is always exciting because I start participating in Project Feederwatch. I think this is such a simple way to remind me of all the beautiful birds that come to visit my yard each week. I don’t spent lots of time sitting and watching the feeders out the window but I do it consistently each week. We have lots of birds to count and I think I will create a recap of my lists later in the month.
The highlight of our month was a trip with our two sons to Pinnacles National Park. Of course I will be sharing more thoroughly about our visit in an up-coming blog entry but I wanted to share a few images as part of my Outdoor Mom’s Journal too. Pinnacles National Park is off the beaten path a bit but it was surprisingly close to our house, only about a three hour drive on really good roads.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you have never heard of Pinnacles National Park. I went there once as a young girl but we had never taken our family there. It is a beautiful place to hike and explore. The rock formations are so pretty and unique in that they form a perfect habitat for the endangered California condor! We actually saw one from a distance on our trip!
We did quite a bit of hiking during our stay. It was cold but the sun was out…at the beginning of this hike, the thermometer in our truck said it was 27 degrees. Now that is cold!!! We set off on the shady side of the mountain but within the first mile you break out into the sunshine and from going uphill you generate quite a bit of your own heat.
Happy mom! I love hiking with the boys…they make it a lot of fun. We did a little over seven miles on this day and I lived to tell all about the High Peaks Trail, especially the “Steep and Narrow” section where there are stone steps and handrails.
We also made a visit to Sunset Beach…it has a long stretch of sand to walk. What is it about beach walking to relax and rejuvenate your spirits? There was this rather large flock of gulls taking over this area of the sand but they let us walk on by with no issues. Some afternoons you wish you could just bottle up for a cold winter’s day and this was one of those afternoons. Perfect!
We were surprised by the number of intact sand dollars we found, many of them with some sort of plant growing on them and some barnacles too! This one was purple and pink…amazing!
Outdoor Mom’s Journal
Whether your family spends a few minutes a week outside or hours at a time, share what is going on in your world. I hope you have enjoyed your October nature adventures.
How Do You Join?
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 week 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….
I added nature journal pages about….
I am reading…
I am dreaming about…
A photo I would like to share…
I will be posting my Outdoor Mom’s Journal entry once a month. Look for it during the first week of the month each month.
“They are particularly fond of the sap of the mountain ash, apple, thorn apple, canoe birch, cut-leaf birch, red maple, red oak, white ash, and young pines. However, the sapsucker does not live solely on sap; he also feeds upon insects whenever he can find them.”- Handbook of Nature Study
Inside Preparation Work:
Read pages 74-75 (Lesson #16) in the Handbook of Nature Study.
Read all about the Yellow-bellied sapsucker, the Red-breasted sapsucker and the Red-naped sapsucker, noting their ranges. The Handbook lesson features the Yellow-bellied sapsucker but for those of us in the western United States, we can hope to see the other species in our location.
Advanced study: This may be a great bird to use as a subject for a winter bird migration project. Read more about bird migration on Wild Birds: Bird Migration. Migration information for each sapsucker species is found at the links above.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Go on a sapsucker hunt! Make sure you know the sound that the sapsucker makes so you can listen as you take your nature walk. Also, look for signs of the sapsucker in trees. Keep up the watch for sapsuckers since they may not be our woods at this time of the year. Make this a fun outing by scouting any birds in your deciduous or coniferous forests.
Follow-Up Activity:
Create a nature journal entry for the sapsucker. What an amazing bird! Make sure to include any interesting facts you learned about this bird along with the field marks and a sketch.
As an alternative, create a nature journal entry for any bird that you observed this week.
Start a bird life list using the printable in this entry: Bird Life List.
Advanced study: Read this article and summarize any interesting facts into a concise nature journal entry: Master Sap Tapper.
If you want to purchase the Autumn Nature Study 2015 ebook so you can follow along with all the notebooking pages, coloring pages, and subject images, you can join the Ultimate or Journey Membership Levels. See the Join Us page for complete information. Also, you can view the Autumn Nature Study 2015announcement page for more details.
Please note that I am an affiliate for NotebookingPages.com. This is a product I have used for many years and highly recommend.
Use code discount5 to save $5 on any purchase $10 or more from the NotebookingPages.com Shop. (This does not include membership purchases.)
