Barb, Author at Homeschool Nature Study

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Great Backyard Bird Count – 2014 Results

Our winter bird study happens every week with Project Feederwatch, observing birds in our own yard for a few minutes at a time. We also participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count in February. Both citizen science projects are super easy to complete. Even when we first started counting birds, back when we couldn’t name every bird, we felt a sense of joy at awakening our admiration for birds.

This year our list was much smaller than previous years. We are guessing it is the weather we have been experiencing with much warmer and sunny days, very little rain. I am assuming this is valuable information to share with the scientists at the GBBC as they process the data and see where birds are in 2014 during the count.

Here is our official list for the Great Backyard Bird Count:

Nuttall’s woodpecker – 1
Anna’s hummingbird – 1
Titmouse – 1
Western scrub jay – 1
American goldfinch – 2
House finch – 10
Dark-eyed Junco 6
House sparrow – 4
White-crowned sparrow – 4

Other birds seen in February 2014:

Spotted towhee
White-breasted nuthatch
Acorn woodpecker
Fox sparrow
California towhee

We have a new bird that visits under our birdfeeder which is exciting. It is a Fox sparrow (sooty). I have yet to get a really good photo of him but I will keep trying. This is the type of bird that has flown into my window twice now. They are such pretty birds and it makes me sad to see them perish in such an undignified way.

I am also working on my Nature Study Goals for 2014 and trying to add some of my newer bird discoveries to my nature journal. Here is my Bewick’s wren entry…not very original but it works. Drawing birds is a challenge for me but I think this one turned out decently. I haven’t seen this particular wren in weeks but I am keeping my eye out to see when it returns to our yard.

Last summer we added a new suet feeder to the yard and it has now become a favorite of the Acorn woodpecker. He comes just about every day to eat and I enjoy watching him with all his colorful glory. I will keep it stocked with suet and see if he becomes a year-round resident.

March is the last month of Project Feederwatch for the season. I am always sad to see it go but I keep an informal record of the birds seen at our feeders just about year-round. It brings me such joy!

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nature Journal Topper Printable – Getting Started

This month in the Handbook of Nature Study newsletter I created a brand new printable for helping your children start working in their very own nature journal.

The printable Nature Journal Toppers are a simple way to help a child get over the “blank page” fear by providing a simple prompt.

What is a Nature Journal Topper?
The prompts in the Nature Journal Topper will allow them to cut and then adhere a short nature study idea to the top of any page, then complete the suggestion in their own way. Sometimes the page will include a suggestion for a sketch, a photo, a list, or an observation.

I chose to start with the spring tree Nature Journal Toppers as well as the list prompt provided in the March 2014 newsletter. Allow your child to create a page that fits their style. I used watercolors to paint a background on my page but that is my personal style. I will fill in the page as the month goes by.

Your child can complete as many of the prompts each month as they wish. I am hoping that these Nature Journal Toppers will give you family a little help in encouraging even the most reluctant nature journaler.

I will be including this feature in the up-coming editions of the Handbook of Nature Study newsletter. Some families really enjoy the nature study grids from the newsletter so we may go back to those in the future.

I would enjoy hearing how using the Nature Journal Toppers help your family.

Posted on March 7, 2014January 14, 2022 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Winter Birds

Outdoor Hour Challenge:
This week take some time to observe your neighborhood birds and document in your nature journal a bird you have noticed during the winter at your birdfeeder or in your yard. This is such an enjoyable nature study topic for the whole family. View from your window if you need to and use some of the ideas in the following challenges:

Winter Bird Study from Winter Wednesday – see this post for ideas to use without the Discover Nature in Winter book.
Winter Bird Challenge-focus some of your time on learning about bird migration using a field guide with migration maps
Bird Nature Journal Ideas – use some of these ideas to record your birds in your nature journal

Bird Themed Nature Table Ideas:
Use some of the ideas in this printable to find items for your children to have access to on your family’s nature table.

Bird Themed Nature Table Printable

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #5. Use the ideas in this challenge to start or continue your family’s list of birds observed. If you have the ebook, there is a printable notebook page in the back to keep track of your Running List.

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Channel Islands National Park – Tips and Images

This month I will be sharing another of the Western United States’ National Parks. The Channel Islands National Park is one many are not aware of and no little about its beauties.

Channel Islands National Park – link to the official website. There are many things to do if you visit this national park like hiking, camping, kayaking, whale watching, diving, and learning more about the plants and animals that make their home here.

Our family visited in 2008 as part of a trip to the coast of California. We stayed a couple nights in Santa Barbara and then went down to Ventura where we could catch a ferry boat to the Channel Islands. On the mainland in Ventura, California there is a Visitor’s Center that has telescopes where you can look out over to the islands but not much else.

For the rest of the entry…click back to an archived entry to see super images and lots of details.

Channel Islands National Park

You can read more in this series of posts to learn more about specific national parks:

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Redwoods National Park

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Winter Insect Nature Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge:
This could be the most challenging of all winter nature study topics…winter insects. Don’t give up before reading the challenges and some suggested activities.

Winter Wednesday – Winter Insects
Gall Dwelling Insects

You may wish to see one of our winter insect studies: Winter Insects.

Special Activity:Insect Study Notebook Page

I am reposting the Insect Notebook Page for you to use with any insect your observe or research as part of this Outdoor Hour Challenge.
Insect Study Notebook Page Printable

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #7. Use the ideas in this challenge to start your own personalized field guide to your backyard and neighborhood. Keep it simple and start with a common insect to your area.

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival – February 2014

I want to thank all the participants this month for sharing your February nature study entries with the carnival. I so enjoy reading your entries and sharing all the wonderful insights your family’s have along the way. You inspire me…really!

Our family’s February entries from this month’s study (in case you missed one):

Winter Weed Gallery – Our Weed Study

Be inspired. Be encouraged. Get outdoors!

Image credit: Lisa from Pilgrims at Tinker Creek

Tree Silhouettes
Lisa from Pilgrims at Tinker Creek shares their Winter Trees entry with carnival readers. They did an amazing job on their maple tree study. Don’t miss the journals!

Kerry from Keeping Up With The Kordishs has submitted their Tree Silhouette entry for you to enjoy. They have picked a plum tree to watch throughout the seasons. Excellent!

Angie from Petra School shows us their Winter Tree Silhouettes in the Pacific Northwest. I especially like the images where the trees are reflected in the lake water. Take a look!

Barbara from The Schoolhouse on the Prairie has put together their Updates and Trees entry for this edition of the carnival. Take a look at all their lovely tree silhouettes!

Janet from Pursing Joy in the Journey joins the carnival this month with her entry Winter Tree Study. They completed a winter tree observation and drew the silhouettes on their notebooking page.

Alex from Life on a Canadian Island submits their Window Nature Study – February entry for you to view. She shares their view and a wonderful tree silhouette…love the lighting in this image.

Winter Cone Study
Cristy from Cristy’s Nature Journal would love for you to click over and read all about their Pine Tree, Pine Cone, and Winter Tree Study. She was encouraged to get outdoors with her children and take a walk in the woods to find some pines to study. They followed up with a pine cone study.

Winter Weeds
Kerry from Keeping Up With The Kordishs has put together a full and enjoyable entry of their Nature Study in February. Take a look at their winter weeds and more.

Angie from Petra School submits their entry, Winter Weeds and Seeds , for you to read and enjoy. She has a new camera and has taken some wonderful images as part of this entry.

Image Credit: Jennifer at Royal Little Lambs

Potpourri
Jennifer at Royal Little Lambs has submitted their Bird Study entry for you to enjoy. Their family has been busy studying birds and they would love for you to see their images, journals, and a birdfeeder. Jennifer also shares their Winter Nature Hike.

Alex from Life on a Canadian Island would love for you to pop over and see their Great Backyard Bird Count 2014 results.

Barbara from The Schoolhouse on the Prairie shares their Winter Wish List Continued entry with the carnival. She has some wonderful images of their table top garden. Be inspired.

Eva Varga shares an exciting story of life and death in their entry, Our Local Bald Eagles. Pop over to read all about the on-going story of an eagle.

Colleen from Sola Gratia Mom shares their The Physics of a Snow Day entry with the carnival for this edition. Also, she has written, Nature, Creating an Eye to See Him.

Janet from Pursing Joy in the Journey would love for you to read their entries, Constellations! and Big Garden Birdwatch. They look like they enjoyed both activities.

Don’t forget to share your blog entries with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. All entries done in March are eligible for the next edition. The deadline for entries is 3/30/14 and you can send them directly to me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com or submit them at the blog carnival site (link on the sidebar of my blog).

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nature Study Weekly Photo Recap February

February has been a strange month…weird weather, very few birds to count for the Great Backyard Bird Count, and hardly any special nature study events in our home. Just a February that I am glad is melting into March. We are hoping to take a few hikes to stir up some nature interest…hoping you all are enjoying the Nature Photo of the Week Pinterest Board.

Here are my February entries. Look for more images in the up-coming newsletter.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/156640893264006302/

Hidden- Acorns in a fallen tree alongside our walking trail. The Acorn Woodpeckers were busy storing acorns!

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/156640893263953146/

Stone: Rock cairns at the river…we had a big hike to the river and found these on the rocks at the beach.

Found: We had a bunch of ladybugs in our front yard one afternoon. I love the contrast of the red ladybug and the gray-green of the lavender.

Details- This is a Bordered Plant Bug climbing on my grape hyacinth. His details make him easy to identify.

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Winter Weed Gallery – Our Weed Study

Winter Weed Study – Outdoor Hour Challenge

When you spend a lot of time outdoors during the winter months, you are bound to notice the various shapes and sizes of winter weeds. Maybe it the lack of other nature study subjects or the more subdued color palette of the winter landscape, but weeds are hard to miss.

These particular images were taken at Yosemite National Park during our last visit in January. The stalks are still standing tall and the fruits are still visible on many of the plants. I am pretty sure this is Common Cowparsnip.

What a lovely pattern found in the winter Cow Parsnip.

This set of images comes from our hike at Lake Tahoe last month. The winter weeds are clearly seen emerging from the snowy landscape.

This is a different plant and had far more seeds left attached to the stalks.

Rather pretty isn’t it? Focusing on winter weeds is one way to see the beauty even in the winter scene. I hope this encourages your own winter weed study…one that you can fit in while taking a short walk.

Have you looked for some winter weeds to study?

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Barb — 1 Comment

Ponderosa Pine Cone Study

We have been on the lookout for tree cones for the past few weeks (as part of the Winter Tree Cone Study) and picked the Ponderosa Pine as our subject for a tree cone study. There are many Ponderosa Pines in our neighborhood and they are easy to spot because of their size and trunk pattern. Our family has done a thorough tree study of the Ponderosa Pine in the past but this time we focused just on the cone.

Here is a close up of the cone showing it’s scale pattern and the sap too.

Here is a cone that the squirrels have taken apart to find the seeds hidden inside. This is a common sight along our local walking trail. It seems where there are Ponderosa Pines, there are squirrels.

I completed the tree cone observation page for my nature notebook. I included an image and some facts about the Ponderosa Pine cone. You can find the printable notebook page here: Winter Tree Cone Study.

Flexible scales
Egg shaped cone
Tipped with slender 1/8 inch prickles that can curve out
Seed is 3/8″ and the wing is 1″
Red and gray squirrels eat the seeds. California quail also eat the seeds.
Overall cone length is 3-6″

All information is from my Peterson Western Trees field guide.

You can read more about our Ponderosa Pine tree study here: Our Pine Tree Study.
We share more about our cone study here: Pines, Evergreens, Cones, and Needles.

Posted on February 14, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Winter Tree Cone Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Tree Cone Study

This week we are going to look at tree cones. Such a simple nature study that children love! Use the challenges listed below for ideas on getting started with your family’s cone study.

There are a couple challenges you can use for this nature study:
Winter Wednesday – Tree Cones from 2009
Pine Cones – Autumn #9 from 2010

You may also be interested in reading this entry from The Teachable Heart:
Autumn Series #9 – Pine Cones

Printable Notebook Page – My Tree Cone Observations
Here is a simple notebook page to use with your challenge this week. Have some fun observing a tree cone and help your children make a record of their thoughts for their nature journal. I left the box large enough that you can adhere a photo of your cone if you don’t want to sketch.

My Tree Cone – printable notebook page

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, completeOutdoor Hour Challenge #6. Start a cone collection this week and complete the notebook page provided in the ebook if you desire. See this Pinterest board for display ideas: Nature Display.

Author: Barb