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.)
Please read the following explanation outlining how to get this month’s newsletter.
The newsletter link is not in this email but will come separately. There may be a delay in your receiving the email so please don’t email me until the second day of the month if you haven’t received the link on the first. For some reason, some email providers take longer to receive the newsletter email.
If you don’t receive the separate email with the download link, you probably aren’t subscribed to the blog yet. This will take less than a minute to do if you follow the steps below.
If you are a subscriber and you haven’t received your newsletter email yet, check your SPAM inbox. Some subscribers have found the email buried in SPAM inbox.
If you need to subscribe:
You will need to go to the Handbook of Nature Study, look to the top right corner for the box to type in your preferred email address, and then confirm the email that comes to your email inbox.
Once you subscribe, you will receive a thank you email from me with the download link.
This month’s newsletter link will be available only during the month of December so be sure to download it before 12/31/15.
Contents of this edition of the newsletter include:
Weather Nature Study Ideas: You will find weather and seasonal weather nature study ideas, links, journal, topics, photo ideas, and printables for any season and learning level in this month’s newsletter.
December Nature Study Planning Page printable.
My article this month is a wonderful reminder to not talk too much during your nature walks. I am also sharing a weather nature journal idea that you can complete with your family.
Weather Study Big Grid, Weather Chart, and Seasonal Weather Notebook Page – There is something in the newsletter for everyone this month as we try to observe our weather more closely. Save this edition for future use in any season!
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. This month I have a special treat for you! My daughter designed this complete lapbook unit for her Hearts and Trees site a few years ago. She is adding it to my Ultimate Naturalist Library this month for members to use as part of their weather study!
This printable weather lapbook is available to Ultimate and Journey level members only!
Don’t miss downloading, saving, and using this lapbook as part of your nature study soon!!!
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!
Members:You may also wish to download the December 2012 newsletter. You will find additional articles, printables, and links to support your weather nature study. Note: All levels of membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study include all back issues of the newsletter.
I have been attempting to take a photo of my front yard from my office window each month for comparing. This was an idea that came from Alex over at Life on a Canadian Island when she shared her photos each month with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. I looked back through my images and I found that I have been fairly successful in capturing an image each month. I thought today would be a great day to share a few of the pictures with you because they show the autumn colors we have finally experienced.
This is from March 2015 back when everything looked so neat a tidy. You can see the daffodils and the forsythia are the stars of the show.
This one is from August 2015. The butterfly bushes and the sage have taken over and are created shelter for the birds, bees, and butterflies.
This was from the beginning of November 2015. The dogwood tree, the redbud, and the butterfly bushes are all starting to take on their autumn colors.
This is the view out the other window in my office…looking out into the Chinese pistache trees. I love having these trees in our yard because there are many birds that are attracted to them at this time of the year. I get to see flickers, robins, starlings, and bluebirds as they hover and perch around the nutlets that are crimson red on this tree.
Now this week we have had hail twice and it has changed the look of the view out my living room window. I spend lots of time observing the birdfeeders from this particular window and since we trimmed a few of the butterfly bushes and the lavender and the yarrow I have a clearer view of who is visiting.
If you would like to read more about starting a window study or any year long nature study, members can look at the July 2014 edition of the Handbook of Nature Study newsletter. There are quite a few ideas and suggestions in that issue. Or, you can start a year-long tree study by using the ideas in this entry: Four Seasons Tree Study Photo Project.
You might also like these nature color ideas:
Color Cards– These printable cards are perfect for younger students.
One of my favorite all-time products is having a massive Cyber Weekend Sale on their Lifetime Membership!
Incredible deal from 11/27 through 11/3o/16 only. This $25 off event will bring your cost down to $72 for all current and future notebooking products available on their website.
I have been a customer and affiliate for NotebookingPages.com for probably a decade. I love their notebooking pages and you will find them in literally every notebook we have ever created in our family. I have written numerous reviews showing how we use them and create personalized records of our learning and exploring. I highly recommend purchasing a lifetime membership.
If you purchase now, you will receive many bonus items:
12 months access to Notebooking Publisher where you can create your own notebooking pages!
$100 in bonus gifts from various sponsors
Plus you can choose to pay in three monthly installments of $24 each
New products available now on NotebookingPages.com!
If you aren’t in a position to purchase a NotebookingPages.com Lifetime Membership right now, you can take advantage of their free product sampler that contains printable nature related notebooking pages for your to use in your family. Click the graphic below to take a look at everything you can use in your homeschool and in your family’s nature journals for free. Please note I am an affiliate for NotebookingPages.com and I receive a small commission for every purchase you make after clicking my links. I hope that you find their products as valuable as I do!
The last book in my nature book project for 2015 is California Forests and Woodlands by Verna R. Johnston. I have had this book on my shelf for a few years but have never dedicated much time to actually reading it. I have skimmed through it and looked at the photos many times but to take time to sit and read with a pencil in my hand didn’t happen until this month. Amazing what a little effort will bring as far as rewards of new understanding and connections with places and trees that I have visited hundreds of times.
Here is the book ISBN if you want to look for it on Amazon or at your local retailer: California Forests and Woodlands– ISBN 978-0520202481 (Note this is an affiliate link to Amazon.com)
The first chapter spends some in-depth time showing how to recognize the different conifer trees found in California. I needed this simple explanation along with the detailed drawings to help me sort out in my mind the best way to distinguish one conifer from another by patterns of growth and numbers of needles, size and shape of the cones, and the placement of the cones on the branches.
After this chapter, the book jumps right into its first forest type, the redwoods! Then it continues with each of the other nine types of forests found in California with descriptions, facts, maps, and illustrations.
Included in each forest description are the animals that coexist in each habitat. I found this aspect of the book very informative and helpful as an amateur naturalist. Making these connections between habitat and inhabitant has given me a new respect for the interdependence of the plants and animals that thrive here in California.
222 pages
This is not a field guide but rather a more narrative style book with mostly pen illustrations.
There are 16 full color photograph plates (or pages) in this book that give a sampling of what you will see when visiting each type of forest. I found these very well done and helpful.
Forests included: redwood, north coast, Douglas Fir/Mixed Evergreen, closed cone pine and cypress, foothill woodland, midmountain forest, Giant sequoia, red fir and lodgepole pine, subalpine forest, pinyon pine-juniper.
This book is a little expensive (around $29) but it looks like you can order more reasonably priced used copies on Amazon (approximately $3 plus shipping).
I am planning on using this book as I travel to different parts of my state as a way to introduce my thoughts ahead of time to what I might see during a hike or camping trip. Although this book is not a field guide, it has a section color plates with images of living things that can be seen in a particular forest habitat.
I highly recommend this book to families who live in California and would like a supplement to the Handbook of Nature Study and a field guide.
This book would make an excellent advanced study resource for older and more experienced nature study students.
This is the last book for 2015! I am currently working on a new idea for 2016 that you can use to create your own book list (think printable for your planner). I will post my 2016 Nature Book Project list soon.
This month I asked my family members to help me create a November Nature Photo entry to share with you. Since we all live in different parts of the county, I thought it would be fun to see what each of us picked as our photo. This turned out even better than expected! What an awesome gallery of autumn themed photos in the collection!
I hope you enjoy the McCoy family November Nature Photos!
This is my husband’s contribution to the gallery. He hikes a certain trail down by the American River about three times a week and each time he sends me a photo right from this spot. I have so enjoyed seeing the change of the season and the change in the lighting as we have worked our way from summer to autumn.
This is my daughter’s image taken on a day hike near her home. I love the way the woods appear to go on forever in the background. The woods in her part of New York are so different than they are here with mostly deciduous trees. Thanks Amanda!
This is Mr. B’s image for November. He chose to use the sky as his background and I love the way the orange and yellow complement the pretty blue sky. Awesome!
I love Mr. A’s photo with the colorful bands of trees bordering the orchards near his New York home. The sky is amazing too. I have finally been able to see some colorful leaves in my yard. I love our dogwood tree and find the way it subtly starts to change color and then goes a crimson red color all in one night. Here I caught that transition from green to red.
I think my family should do this every month! It makes me feel more connected to them even though we live thousands of miles apart. They are dreading the winter months with the cold temperatures, snow, and ice. This may help them to find some beauty in their surroundings despite the winter blahs.
Read page 725 (Lesson #201) in the Handbook of Nature Study. This is one of the shorter lessons in the Handbook but it will get you started with your fungi study.
Within the lesson is the suggestion to read Lesson #198 on mushrooms. I would suggest using the lesson ideas from Lesson #198 to observe any fungi you find for this challenge.
Youtube: For the most part this video is about the hedgehog fungi: Hedgehog Fungi.
Advanced study: Use this page to glean more information about the hedgehog fungi.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Go on a fungi hunt! This challenge can help you slow down to look for any fungi in your area at this time of year. In my research, I found that the timing for looking for hedgehog fungi will vary by region. On the East Coast, you can look for this fungi from July through November. On the West Coast, prime time is in January.
If you find a hedgehog fungi, look for the fringe!
Follow up your nature study with a nature journal page. Use the notebook page included in the ebook, a printable Parts of a Mushroom page, or create your own page in your blank journal.
Advanced study: Draw the hedgehog fungi and label its parts. Include a complete and detailed description of this fungi for future reference.
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.
The Handbook of Nature Study newsletter topic this month was a focus on mammals. I was hoping that everyone could find a local mammal not only to learn about but to observe up close.
I know this is a challenge that depends on creating some opportunities to be in the right place at the right time AND to be ready to seize the time when it happens. Well, I have been keeping my eyes open this month. Here are the results.
We spied a deer in our front yard last week…a buck! This was a great reminder that I haven’t completed a nature journal page for our local and very often spotted mammal. This buck was just walking up the street, taking his time, and looking for an easy meal. This is a California mule deer…..this year, especially with the drought, we have seen more and more deer right in our neighborhood. We have no vegetable garden to speak of so they are not as unwelcome as in the past. They are just trying to survive in a very dry habitat.
Doing research for this entry I found out that it is illegal to feed deer in California: Keep Me Wild Deer.
Then, we saw these two in our neighborhood this week. The buck was most definitely keeping a close watch on the doe. She seemed annoyed more than anything else. We actually spotted this pair three times this day and the last time she had curled up inside a big leafless bush. He seemed to be trying to get inside the bush too but his antlers were in the way.
One thing we have seen an increase in is “near misses” as we drive along. I can’t tell you how many times there are deer that leap right out in front of my car. We had an incident just two days ago where we had to slam on the brakes or hit a rather large deer. My husband and I were a little shaken up and our dog riding in the back of the Highlander was knocked over but we all survived. My husband has had two major collisions with deer int he past and we have seen with our own eyes how much damage it can do. With the increase in the population of deer living in so close of quarters with humans and their vehicles, the increase in deer strikes on roads and highways is something to always be aware of in our part of the world.
Looking for tracks is easier after a good rainstorm! We drove down by the river after a day of rain and walked along the sandy shore until we found some prints. The ones above where just under the water line in the very shallow water. I couldn’t tell if they were old prints and the water had covered them up or if they were fresh prints where the raccoon had walked in the water?
There were many distinct deer trails along the river and this one is an easy identification with the two hoof marks.
The most useful reminder for me this month from the newsletter is the Mammals Big Grid Study page (page 4). It has lots ideas that can fit any habitat or any level of nature study interest. There are 24 ideas there to choose from or mix and match. If you are a subscriber to the blog, make sure to download and save your newsletter so you will have access to this Big Grid Study page for future reference.
Other Miscellaneous Mammal Related Experiences This Month
We had fox scat right in our own driveway. I didn’t take a photo….aren’t you glad? We know we have red foxes in our neighborhood but we weren’t able to actually observe any this month.
Squirrels! This is a busy time for squirrels in our neighborhood. We have lots of oaks and they can be spotted scurrying up and down, around and across. I never get tired of watching these little acrobats. We have Western gray squirrels in large numbers in our area. There are also red fox squirrels that visit us in our yard. Both of these squirrels are tree squirrels and can be found in, under, and around our birdfeeders. You can read my entries on fox squirrels here: Sad Story of Our Walnuts.
This image is from my archives…taken in my front yard.
You can find all of my current mammal related challenges under the “mammal” tab at the top of the website. There are quite a few specific challenges and some free printables for you to use with your mammal study. If you are a member here on the Handbook of Nature Study, you can find the coordinating notebook pages for each challenge in the ebook noted next to each mammal challenge.
– ISBN 978-0520202481 (Note this is an affiliate link to Amazon.com)
