We had a great month getting outside and enjoying our autumn color. This year in our neighborhood we had blazing colors…more than any other year in our memory.
Fish: A classic fish found in ponds all over the place but these had some beautiful water lilies blooming in their water. I also love the reflection of the palm trees in the water’s surface.
Feather: These are such amazing birds that we saw on our trip. Look at those feathers on their heads! They are some variety of African crane.
Here’s what I have left….
Crystals, cold, refreshing, energy, bubbly, sparkle, self-portrait, Just do it!
I am really going to need to get myself motivated to get these images done before the end of the year!
Here in California we do not have a witch hazel to study up close. We decided to do a more general tree study and take a trip to the U.C. Davis Arboretumsince it is just an hour drive from our home. For those that are not familiar with arboretums, they are botanical gardens devoted to trees. This particular arboretum has a three and half mile loop you can walk adjacent to Putah Creek.
Just a note: In doing some researching even after I wrote the Autumn Nature Study Continues ebook, I discovered that the sweetgum tree is in the same family as the witch hazel (Hamamelidaceae). Although it isn’t a late fall bloomer like witch hazel, we do enjoy our sweetgum trees and their autumn color. I will be creating a page in my nature journal for this tree instead of the witch hazel.
Back to our arboretum visit…
In several sections there are walkways on both sides of the creek with picturesque bridges connecting the two sides. On the afternoon we visited, there were few people and it was calming to stroll along taking in the beautiful surroundings.
Each section of the arboretum has a theme, a collection of trees from various parts of the world like Australia or South America. My favorite area was the Redwood Grove where there were many coast redwoods and sequoia trees planted like a small forest. There were benches and picnic tables at which there were people sitting and enjoying a quiet afternoon. I wish I could share with you the delightful aroma of the warm redwoods in the sun.
Many of the trees had small signs that gave you their name, family, and native habitat. I always like to know what I am looking at so this added to my enjoyment of the walk. The valley oaks are plentiful in this area and there were some majestic specimens to enjoy with their large sometimes colorful leaves and acorns scattered all around the trunks.
This made a perfect habitat for lots and lots of squirrels. Watch out for squirrels darting across the trail or sitting in trees above and chattering at you as you walk.
Here’s an image looking up at the valley oak…we wondered how old these trees were.
We truly enjoyed this afternoon at the arboretum. Not only the trees, but the ducks and turtles in the water. From the bridges you could get a clear view of the many Western pond turtles that were swimming and basking on this particular day.
I always find it interesting to take a few close ups of the ground in different places. Here are two of my images from our walk.
Can you tell it is autumn? Look at all those acorns!
Finally, I collected a few leaves to sketch into my nature journal….love the colors all together!
We continue to have warm sunny weather and we are trying to take advantage of the opportunity to enjoy walks to note the autumn trees.
You may wish to start a new year-long study this autumn using some of the ideas above. If you have a continuing year-long nature study project, don’t forget to put it on your calendar or you may forget to make your autumn observations. If you are using the new planning page from the newsletter, there is a box on each page to note the seasonal observations you wish to make during the month…we all need reminders!
We made a trip to our cattail spot for our summer observations. We are in the middle of a drought in my part of California and I was sure that our cattail spot would be dry. I was right.
There was no water at all in the pond for this summer observation. The cattail plants were still green but the ground was bone dry.
The cattail flowers were really large and the soft parts were much longer than in previous years. What does that mean I wonder?
I am estimating that if I was able to stand on the ground next to the cattails that they would be taller than I am…much more than 6 feet I think.
The area has filled in a lot since April but the water is all gone making it look very different. We shall now look forward to making some autumn observations.
This week we are going to use our senses and do a little cattail observation! Make sure to click over to the original challenge to see the list in the Train Your Senses section to get some ideas for your family to try. Also in the challenge, make sure to read the lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study. If you already started a year-long cattail study, revisit your spring spot and note the changes.
As a bonus for this challenge I am including the Summer Pond Study notebook page and the Pond Study Grid from the August 2011 Newsletter!
Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #3.This week you should take a trip to your cattail patch and make some drawings. You can use a blank page in your nature journal or use the notebook page included in the ebook.
You may wish to start a new year-long study this spring using some of the ideas above. If you have a continuing year-long nature study project, don’t forget to put it on your calendar or you may forget to make your autumn observations.
This week we are going to do a summer frog study using the Outdoor Hour Challenge. Here is a link to the original challenge for you to use for ideas and suggestions for your family’s frog study:
Use the activities in Lesson 47 in the Handbook of Nature Study to learn more about frogs.
Printable Activity: Seasonal Pond Study Notebook Page
Use this notebook page to record your spring pond study observations and then revisist your pond in each season to compare plants, insects, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Printable Seasonal Pond Study Notebook Page
Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #10.Take a picnic lunch to a near-by pond and combine your frog study and a little pond study after you have a little something to eat. Food always tastes better when you eat it outdoors! Use the notebooking page in the ebook as a follow up to your outdoor time if you wish.
We set out to look for and observe some mosquitoes (as part of the OHC Mosquito nature study) a couple of evenings this week with no luck. I know…sad to NOT observe any mosquitoes which is a weird thing to say. We even sat by the little slow moving stream where we thought for sure we would find some mosquitoes but there wasn’t a single mosquito to be seen.
Instead, we decided to look at all of the interesting things we could find along the trail and here are a few of our images.
The deer are all coming in close to town because of the drought. This one was peacefully grazing along the trail in a meadow.
The Queen Anne’s Lace is blooming all over the place…not very tall this year but lots of flowers to enjoy.
There are Sweet peas blossoming as well…seen slightly in the background of this image.
Here is a side view of the Queen Anne’s Lace…so very interesting!
The Toyan berry is blossoming right now…this will be covered in red berries come the late fall.
The Manzanita is developing berries…I love the way they look.
I have the privilege of taking care of two little boys this summer…a little each week. We are going to be doing some of the Outdoor Hour Challenges together since they are avid outdoor kids and love anything that creeps, hops, and slithers. I took over some pond water for them and along with the water I also got four little fish in the jar. These boys spent some time finding a little aquarium, cleaning it up and watching the fish. I was not successful in capturing some mosquito larvae like I had hoped but the boys still had a blast with the little fish. It is going to be a fun nature study summer with them.
We have been spending lots of time outdoors in the evenings so maybe we will eventually see some mosquitoes.
“There is no better way to interest the pupils in mosquitoes than to place in an aquarium jar in the schoolroom a family of wrigglers from some pond or rain barrel.”
Make sure to note that in the Follow-Up section of the challenge on the blog there is a link to a set of mosquito themed notebooking pages that you can download and print from the NotebookingFairy.com. (Thanks Jimmie!)
Don’t forget there is a Nature Journal Topper in this month’s newsletter that can be used to create a simple nature study experience related to the study of mosquitoes. (Note the newsletter is available to all subscribers and to those that are Ultimate or Journey level members.)
Print out this mosquito coloring page for your nature journal. Or you can use this line drawing as a model for your own nature journal drawing.
Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #8.Take a few minutes to go through this challenge and then take a close look at any insect (dead or alive) that you have on hand using a magnifying lens. Make sure to record your observations using the notebook provided in the ebook.
I know that this has been a month of transition here on the Handbook of Nature Study. Please be aware that I have heard and tried to respond to every email and comment from readers, keeping up has been a big job but I value your thoughts and hope to clear up any questions you have as time goes by. The core of this blog is the Outdoor Hour Challenge and that will remain the core for the next few years as we finish up our work in the Handbook of Nature Study. There will be lots of new challenges starting this coming September (posted to the Ultimate Naturalist Library during August 2014.)
Today is the last chance to use the discount code for $10 off the Ultimate Naturalist Library.
Discount code: APRIL10
Keep sending in your nature study blog entries for the carnival! It is always such a joy for me to read and then share with everyone else the ideas and experiences that each contributing family has during their month of nature study activity with the Outdoor Hour Challenge.
Here are our family’s entries just in case you missed them this month:
Photo Credit: Janet from Pursuing Joy in the Journey
Spring Bird Observations
Janet from Pursuing Joy in the Journey would love for you to see their Spring Birds at a local pond there in the UK. What a beautiful place to take some time to observe the springtime birds. She also submits there Garden Birds entry along with some images of their nature journals. Excellent!
Kerry from Keeping Up With The Kordish’s shares their Spring Bird entry with you. They observed an early spring Red-Wing Blackbird and then created some journal entries.
Barbara from The Schoolhouse on the Prairie has submitted their Birds in Our Backyard postwith the carnival. You are going to LOVE their bird drawings this month!
Photo Credit-Lisa at Pilgrims at Tinker Creek
Spring Wildflowers and Dandelions
Alex from Life on a Canadian Island has a wonderful entry for you to enjoy: Signs of Spring – Crocus. She has some beautiful images and a few thoughts from the Handbook of Nature Study.
Michelle from Following Footprints shares their Outdoor Hours in April entrywith the carnival. They studied dandelions, took a nature walk, and found some turtles. make sure to see their nature journal entries!
Lisa from Pilgrims at Tinker Creek would love for you to take a look at their Dandelions entry. This entry will make you feel the spring time goodness with its dandelions and violets. They also have some wonderful nature journal examples.
Photo Credit: Shirley at Under An English Sky
Spring Cattail Observations
Shirley from Under an English Sky has started a year-long study of cattails. See their entry for a great start to their observations: OHC Spring Cattail.
Window Nature Study – April: Alex shares the next installment of her monthly window nature study…showing a bit of a sign of spring!
Kerry from Keeping Up With The Kordish’s has submitted their Nature Study April entrywith the carnival. They have had a snowy month still but they did manage to fit in some outdoor time. Take a look at her awesome images.
Nature Notebook April 2014:Carol from Journey and Destination shares their natural surroundings with some fantastic images from their nature walks.
Outdoor Hour Challenge #1- A Springtime Walk: Heather shares their “signs of spring” which look more like “signs of winter”. Hopefully they will see warmer temperatures and far less snow this month!
Don’t forget to share your blog entries with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. All entries done in May are eligible for the next edition. The deadline for entries is 5/30/14 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).
