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Posted on May 25, 2009 by Barb — 3 Comments

Cascade Falls: Getting Away From the Crowds

This weekend we took an afternoon trip to hike up to a waterfall. If you read my post about nature study in ripples, we were rippling out about an hour’s drive from our house and then hiking up one mile into the Desolation Wilderness.

The challenge on this afternoon was to find a place to park. We actually had planned on hiking to a different waterfall a few miles down the road but there were no parking places. Not only were there no spaces left, but all available space alongside the narrow highway was filled. We were disappointed but determined. I love the age of cell phones. We found a place where we had cell coverage and phoned Amanda. She had opted to stay home on this particular afternoon and she was happy to look up an alternate hike for us in the area. She picked a good one and we were able to find a space at the trailhead of this hike after waiting a few minutes for someone to leave.

Here we are hiking down the trail. We were so surprised after seeing all the cars at the parking area that we did not see but a handful of people on the trail with us. Sigh, fresh air and space.

This was our goal, a series of cascading waterfalls. This part of the trail is along a steep ridge with very uneven rocks to hike up. You do not want to lose your concentration on this part of the trail.

The thing about hiking in the high country over big slabs of granite is that sometimes you have to be very observant in order to know which way to go. Someone was very helpful and left this line of rocks that pointed the way to the next section of the trail. We could hear the waterfall by this point so we knew the general direction but it was nice to have confirmation.

Success! Here we are at the top of the waterfall. Springtime is such a great time for waterfalls. My hubby and I sat on a log and just soaked in the sounds and the sights while all three of our sons scrambled and hopped and climbed up over the boulders and up the waterfall.

This photo was accompanied by me hollering a stream of warnings.

“Don’t fall in the water.”
“You don’t have extra shoes.”
“Rocks are slippery when they are wet.”
My personal favorite, “If you fall in, I’m not coming in after you.”

Someone always has to go higher than someone else. No names mentioned.

Something that happens in the high country at this time of year are afternoon thundershowers. We had checked the weather before leaving for the hike and it had warned of possible thunderstorms moving in late in the afternoon. We kept our eye on the horizon as we hiked and the clouds did build up a little at one point but no storm on this afternoon.

The lichen on the rocks was so beautiful. The color really stands out on the granite.

This is a really bad photo (taken into the sun) of my boys climbing up a dead tree. This area looks as if it received quite few lightning strikes in the past because of all the single burned trees. It is very exposed and on the east side of the mountain and I really would not want to be up here during a storm. The boys enjoyed the view from up their tree and wanted me to take a photo of them.

At this elevation and at this time of year, there are not too many wildflowers. We did see this one growing in the cracks of the granite in a few places. The splash of green with the white and yellow flowers amidst all the grayness was a delight.

Here is one of the trail markers. For some reason we didn’t find this one very helpful, although we knew we had not strayed too far off the trail.

We had a great afternoon and were home in time to grill some burgers. I will confess that I was not in the mood to hike on this afternoon and wanted to stay home but the boys wanted to “do something”. I know they are just wanting to get out when they suggest a hike because they know that I rarely turn down an opportunity to hit the trail.

Thanks boys for encouraging me to get outside and experiencing this amazing spot so close to home.

Posted on May 20, 2009 by Barb — 1 Comment

Wednesday Flower Study #8: Dianthus/Carnations/Bachelor’s Buttons/Cornflowers

We have two varieties of dianthus in our garden…one red and one white.

I have been thinking all along that they were the same thing as bachelor’s buttons but apparently not. See, I learned something this week. The dianthus in our garden are actually varieties of carnations. Bachelor’s buttons are composite flowers and carnations are not.

They smell like spicy vanilla…my favorite.

“Each bachelor’s buttons is made up of many little flowers…”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 579

Apparently I have no actual bachelor’s buttons in my garden.

I am thoroughly confused about the different names of these two flowers…..bachelor’s buttons and cornflowers.

as well as dianthus and sweet williams and then………..

there are carnations.

We are going to do some more research. 🙂 I am going to list some links below for my reference and you are welcome to read them if you are interested.

Bachelor’s Buttons/Cornflower
Sweet Williams/Dianthus or Carnations

Posted on May 19, 2009 by Barb — Leave a comment

Black Birds: Our Family Outdoor Hour Challenge

We have had our eyes out for black birds of all kinds. We have a short list of black birds that we observed for this week’s bird challenge:
American crow
Red-winged blackbirds
Turkey vultures
Brewer’s blackbirds
Ravens

The most abundant black bird we observed for this challenge was the Brewer’s blackbird.

Our field guide says that it has a “distinctive yellow eye”. It is very easy to identify.

blackbird

Here is a short video of a red-winged blackbird eating some sort of seeds washed up alongside the river. You do hear him at the end of the video.

We all decided that the turkey vulture, although it is as ugly as can be, is the best flier of the bunch. They soar and soar and soar on a good day. We often see groups of six or eight turkey vultures all gliding and soaring over our house.

Crows and ravens are the noisiest bunch of the black birds we observed. You always hear them coming before you see them. My son observed that they are also the most obviously useful birds of the bunch. When we were at Yosemite last week we saw a pair of ravens cleaning up a dead squirrel off the road….gross but useful.

Our favorite black bird we learned about this week was certainly the red-winged blackbird. We had the opportunity to see quite a few and it has quickly become a favorite bird because of its flash of red as it flies. Now that we can identify its call, we hear him more often as we hike in different areas.

We realized during our hiking adventures last week that birdsong usually fills the air as we go along. If you stop and listen, you will usually hear some sort of bird singing you a tune. We had an especially happy bird on this day.

We made a joint journal entry later back at Curry Village. Someone forget to bring the boys’ nature journals…oops. I started the entry with the Steller’s jay and Mr. B sketched the ground squirrel after that. I was trying my best to notice with each bird the color and shape of their eye. The Steller’s jay has a very black eye and beak.

So that was our black birds challenge this week. We will continue to look for starlings since they do come to our yard on occasion.

Great bird week for our family.

Posted on May 14, 2009 by Barb — 7 Comments

Yosemite Research Trip: Waterfalls, Dogwood, and Birds

We had a family trip planned for the last few days to Yosemite National Park. A wildfire in Santa Barbara came along and changed our plans. Instead of the four of us going, three of us headed to Yosemite and one went to the coast to fight fire. This is the way fire season goes in our house….be flexible and make the most of it.

Yosemite at this time of year is all about the waterfalls. Big waterfalls. It seems as if the walls sprout water. Bridalveil, Yosemite, Ribbon, Staircase, Vernal, Nevada, and Illillouette are all going strong! The sound of water is everywhere and it gurgles and bubbles along just about every hiking trail.

Another outstanding feature of spring in Yosemite is the blooming of the dogwood. It fills the forest with its beautiful white blooms.

We had a lot of adventures in three days. One morning we got up early and jumped on our bikes and were off to watch the sunrise over Half Dome.

It was a beautiful experience and if you could hear the soundtrack in the background of this photo….you would hear birdsong and water running high in the creek from Mirror Lake down to the river.

Although getting up early wasn’t necessarily their favorite idea, the boys were great once we got off on our adventure. It helped that there were quite a few other people up on the trail already as well. Most of them had big camera outfits with tripods but since we were on bikes and I don’t own any fancy camera equipment, I was happy just to be there and capture a few good photos with my point and shoot.

Here is a photo of Mirror Lake….it’s not hard to figure out how they came up with the name. 🙂

This is not your traditional birdwatching pose but it works. We also did some water observations as we sat here early in the morning. We saw some sort of larval insect in the water wiggling around and there were mosquitoes and some other winged creatures as well.

Later that morning our bike ride took us by this view. I think I took about a hundred photos of Yosemite Falls on this trip, from every angle possible. The sound of it is just incredible as it thunders over the rocks.

Oh, we did see two bear cubs at two separate locations…no mama bear but we figured she was probably close by. We just keep on going about our business and the cubs would scamper off into the woods.

Another day found us hiking in the Tuolumne Grove of giant sequoias. I have given up trying to get an entire sequoia into a photo. This is a great hike if you have an afternoon to spend under the big trees. I am working on a Squidoo lens describing some easy day hikes for families. This hike will be in it for sure.

Our last big hike of the trip was on the Panorama Trail. The road to Glacier Point was open which was a surprise so we took advantage of the afternoon to hike down towards Illilouette Falls. The view of Half Dome and Nevada Falls from this trail is breathtaking. We decided to sit on a downed tree and just take in the splendor of the moment. The photo above was our view.

We also did a little birding as we hiked on this gorgeous afternoon. There was a bird singing a beautiful song as we hiked. We spotted him and we think he was a Hermit Thrush.

Okay, so I have spent a lot of time out in the wilderness over the years but this hike gave me something to ponder over. We heard a sound. Not quite sure how to describe it. At first it sounded like drums….sort of like tribal drums…..thump, thump, thump. But not quite like a drum….it was more of a vibration. The boys thought it sounded more like when you blow air over the top of a bottle and it makes that vibrating sort of sound. We went through a list of animals it could have been but nothing seemed right. We thought about wind blowing in or over something but it was not quite what we heard either. It was not a steady sound but would come and go but always in a series of three….thrummm, thrumm, thrumm. We heard it on the same section of trail both going out and then coming back. It was sort of eerie.

EDIT TO ADD: Shannon suggested a grouse and I did a little research. Turns out there are several kinds of grouse in Yosemite. I listened to the call on All About Birds and it is very similar to what we heard. Here is a link:
Dusky Grouse
Doing a little more research it turns out that it probably was a Sooty grouse. The Blue grouse was split into two species: dusky and sooty. I found a list of Yosemite birds and it lists the Sooty grouse. No way to know for sure without having seen it but it sure sounds like what we heard on our hike. 🙂

The habitat is right on. Here is what WhatBird says, “Preferred habitats include burned areas, montane forests, slashes, and subalpine forest clearings.” We were in a burned area with lots of downed trees and it was a subalpine habitat. Bingo!

So many adventures, so little blog space. 🙂

I may be home from Yosemite but it is a place that never leaves my heart.

Posted on May 9, 2009 by Barb — 3 Comments

Music While We Walked, Catkins to Look At, and a Squirrel Entertainer

Click this photo! Gorgeous!

We had a unique experience the other day out on a walk in an area where at this time of year there are very few other people. It was a quiet, bird watching sort of day as we hiked along until one section of the trail where I swore I heard music. We all stopped and listened and sure enough, far in the distance we could hear music playing….I thought banjo music. We had no idea where the music was coming from. We were pretty far from the parking area, we had only seen one other person the whole afternoon, and I was fairly sure it was someone actually playing the music since it sort of started and stopped and wasn’t like it was a CD or something like that.

music while we walked

We rounded one bend in the trail and we had our answer. You can listen for yourself here in this very short video. (I felt really weird taking a video but I was sure we would want to remind ourselves of this in the future…it made us smile.)

We did eventually catch up to these two walking along and they were just out enjoying the spring weather, making some music. I have no idea what kind of instrument he was playing. It looked to be homemade. It sort of looked like a guitar/banjo/cigar box stringed instrument.

Sometimes I feel like playing music when I am out on a hike too. No, I won’t be doing it anytime soon.

Here is a little friend that entertained us on this afternoon as well.

California ground squirrel….he was posing for us for a very long time.

We also had a chance to observe up close the catkins of the Quaking aspens. This is something new and interesting that I want to do some more research about…..the boys were not impressed with this subject but I will do research on my own. 🙂

The photo at the top of the page is a bunch of catkins hanging on the tree. Aren’t they pretty?

Something I learned about the Quaking aspen is that is the preferred food of the beaver. It makes total sense to me since this is where we saw the beaver’s dam and there is an abundance of aspens. I love making connections.

Posted on May 7, 2009 by Barb — 8 Comments

Nature Study is Not Just About Nature Journals

I was reading a post on a discussion board about nature study and documentation this week and it reminded me of this post, Nature Study vs. Nature Journal , that I wrote a while back. The board discussion was more or less about some parents’ thinking that it did not count as “real nature study” if the children do not document the experience in their journals.

I tend to disagree with that statement.

The *most* important part of nature study is the actual time spent observing something in nature…..first hand and hopefully in your own neighborhood.

More is always better when it comes to outdoor time in my opinion. It seems to take a period of time to find your stride when you are just starting out with nature study. At some point though, each family finds a way to balance the outdoor time with some follow up activity.

I try to remember that we each have a different learning style. We can learn to apply that style to nature study. I remember reading about the multiple intelligences and how they applied the nine (used to be seven) ways children learn to a study of birds. I can’t remember the details so I will do my best to come up with my own examples.

Nature Study Using Multiples Intelligences

Musical learner: Enjoys listening to and learning to imitate bird calls. Easily identifies a bird by its call. Writes a song about birds.
Verbal-Linguistic: Records a birding experience in a nature journal using words or tells a story about the nature walk. Writes or copies a poem about a bird into their nature journal. Learns the Latin names of birds as well as the common names. Reads the biography of Audubon.
Mathematical-Logical: Tally birds at a feeder. Keep a running list of birds seen over a period of time in a nature journal. Collect bird feathers and categorize them into groups. Studies migratory maps and learns where local birds go for the winter. Learns all the state birds. Experiments with different kinds of bird seed to see which ones particular birds like best.
Visual-spatial: Makes a model of a bird from clay. Sketches a bird in their nature journal. Notices the differences between birds: beaks, wing shapes, tail shapes, size. Builds a birdhouse. Designs and builds their own birdfeeder.
Kinesthetic: Loves to take a walk and look for birds using binoculars. Climbs a tree to find a bird’s nest or just experience a “bird’s eye” view. Hangs a bird feeder and keeps it full. Plants a bird garden.
Interpersonal: Joins a birding group and learns from the more experienced birders about their local area. Volunteers at a bird reserve with a friend. Organizes a field trip to a bird aviary for their co-op.
Intrapersonal: Spends quiet time outdoors observing birds, perhaps recording their experiences in their own nature journal that they don’t share with others. Has a pet bird.
Naturalist: Enjoy lots of time outdoors looking for birds and learning their life cycles. Learns the names of birds, keeps a bird life list, learns the calls, and keeps a nature journal. Remembers easily the names of birds and their habits. Has a collection of bird’s feathers, bones, and nests.
Existential: Learns about endangered species of birds. Spends time contemplating a bird’s life cycle. Keeps a journal of their thoughts about birds and how they fit into the web of life on the earth.

You can see how if your child has a particular way of learning that fits him better than keeping a nature journal, you can provide a variety of experiences to tap into their natural learning style. If you feel the need to keep a journal of your outdoor experiences, go ahead and model how it is done for your child. Your children may catch on and want to keep one as well. I always try to give the option to complete a page in the nature journal but I rarely require it of my boys.

I listed some ideas for applying the seven/nine intelligences to a bird study but you can apply the principles to any nature study subject.

You are only limited by your imagination.

If you still are stuck on the idea that nature study needs to be followed up by a nature journal entry, I highly recommend that you find the book Last Child in the Woods at your local library and spend a few hours reading it to see how important any outdoor experiences are to our children. It will give you some valid reasons for putting effort into getting your children, as well as yourself, outdoors.

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Barb — 3 Comments

North and South Forks of the River

One of our Spring Break days was filled with a delightful hike in the river canyon. The weather could not have been better for this trip. You can see at the top of the photo the really tall bridge that they built when they thought they were going to dam this area and fill the whole canyon with water. This area would have been flooded with water and this beautiful stretch of the river would have been gone forever. I know there are reasons for dams but for now, I am really glad that they haven’t built it so we all can enjoy this natural beauty.

The boys opted to ride bikes this day and my hubby and I walked. I am just now feeling confident to give the boys the freedom to take off on their own. I know we live in a different world than I grew up in, and it seems sad that I have to think twice about allowing them to have an adventure on their without worrying that something bad might happen. It feels better to allow a little more freedom gradually and build up my confidence and trust that they will make good decisions.

This particular hike along the confluence and then the North Fork of the American River starts off fairly level. It is then what we like to refer to the up, down, up, down kind of trail.

You hike up out of the canyon to the top of a small dam that holds back water to form a lake. You actually hike above the dam and then you hike back down again. This means when you turn around to go back you repeat the up, down, up, down process over again in reverse.

Here the trail comes out of the woods and out into the open at the spillway. If you look closely, you will see a rainbow above the mist.

This shows the lake behind the dam. This lake is a beautiful lake that we have spent quite a bit of time boating on as well as camping up at the upper end. You have to boat in all your stuff since there is no road access. It is quiet and peaceful and in the summertime the water is cool and clear. The boys made it up to the lake quite a bit faster than we did since they were on bikes. They spent some time exploring the boat ramp and the little marina.

They got tired of waiting at one point and here is where we met them on the road to the dam. We met only one other couple hiking and one other bike rider so we felt like we had the trail to ourselves which is nice.

The hike back down from the lake was very enjoyable and the trail meanders along the side of the river. The wildflowers were blooming in masses and we would take a break every now and then to just enjoy the experience quietly.

The sound of the river was pleasant and we heard lots of birds as well.

You might not believe me but we live about 30 minutes from this place and we have never hiked here before. I am always amazed that we have missed out on so many beautiful places just because I am too lazy to research new areas to hike.

I found a book that includes local hikes of all types and I am determined to find new and interesting places to try more frequently.

Here is a place we took a picnic lunch to this past Monday. We had rain all weekend but when the rain stopped late Monday morning, I prepared some sandwiches and drinks and loaded the car. It is the first time we hiked down to the river here although we drive by many times a week. We never knew there was a trail alongside the river, but now that we know about it, we will be here frequently to enjoy the water.

We took a short hike and found a great place on the shore that had rocks perfect for sitting on and watching the water flow by. This is a shot from my rock as I enjoyed my sandwich.

The river was really high and normally you can walk out to these rocks but not today. 🙂

This is a prime place for kayakers and in the summertime they boat this stretch of the river en masse.

If anyone is interested, this is the South Fork of the American River. The hike at the beginning of the post is the North Fork. Both hikes are on the same river but above where they meet at Folsom Lake.

I think I have one more hike to catch up on from our Spring Break romps but then I will have a treat for you next week…..Yosemite again. Can you hardly wait?

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Barb — 3 Comments

Wednesday Flower Study #7: Mullein

Mullein-Handbook of Nature Study page 537-539

“This felt on the mullein is beautiful when looked at through the microscope; it consists of a fretwork of little, white, sharp spikes…..I soon discovered another means by which the mullein resists drought, when I tried to dig up the plant with a stick; I followed its taproot down far enough to understand that it was a subsoiler and reached below most other plants for moisture and food.”
HNS, page 537

This is the first time I have left the mullein in the flower bed. I am curious to see just how large it will get and I am anxious for the boys to study the flower stalk once it starts to blossom.

I think I am beginning to see the value of learning about a plant *before* it blooms so we will be vigilantly watching its progress. We read through the information in the Handbook of Nature Study. We had already experienced the long tap root when we were pulling it out of the pathway a few days ago. I would say that the root was about two feet long and at the top it looked like the shape of a carrot. The plants we left in the bed are growing like crazy!

That was our flower this week, now you can pick your flower and see if you can be prepared for your next flower study. 🙂 We have three more flowers we want to study before we finish with Wednesday Flower Study day. You can join us any time you want to, with any flower you want to. You do not need to study the same flower we are if you don’t want to.

Posted on May 5, 2009 by Barb — 5 Comments

New Beginnings: Square Foot Garden Updates

Our garden has always been grown in raised garden boxes using the square foot gardening techniques but this year we replaced all of our string grids with wooden grids. Wow! It looks great and I am anxious to get started on this year’s garden.

You knew it was coming…the transition from wildflowers to garden talk. I’m so predictable. Now that we think our last frost is past, we will be spending more time in the yard with our hands in the dirt. We have a few things sprouting in pots on the deck but not much. My dad has been busy sprouting seeds in his garage for a few weeks and he always shares so I’m not worried.

My son had a zucchini seedling from his grandpa that he wanted to put into his box and I asked him if he would show us how to plant a seedling. I thought some of you might enjoy viewing a little video with your children to inspire them to get out and garden.

This guy has been my gardening partner since he was able to toddle around the garden. 🙂 He was a little nervous on the video but he is a very confident gardener. His favorite things to grow? Zucchini and pumpkins.

Here are some other views of our new grids on our old boxes. The second box in the photo does not have a grid…it is almost all filled in with strawberries at the moment. It will have dahlias as the summer progresses.

This is my box and it has been totally wiped clean and freshly composted. We are going to try some different veggies in here this year and we will see how it goes. I still need to fill in with a little more soil to level it out but we are all exhausted and it will have to wait until the weekend now…..I would rather play in the garden but my hubby has to go back to work tomorrow. He will haul some soil up from the other side of the yard where we are composting and building up some mulch in a stash.

Here is a view from the other side. The closest box is Amanda’s box and she grows mostly flowers in her garden. You also can see my new bird bath which the dog thinks is a doggie drinking fountain.

We added a new section along the fence for some more veggies. What do you think? How about pole beans in the back and something shorter planted in front? This area gets about 6-7 hours of sun in the summertime.

I also noticed that over the last week, I have a whole crop of sunflowers that have volunteered in this garden bed. I am not surprised at all because this is where we had the really tall sunflowers last year and I left them in pretty much all fall for the birds to eat from. We shall see how many plants we have as time goes on. I had quite a crop of sunflower seeds to save for the birds which was really nice. The boys enjoy harvesting the seeds for me and it is an easy job.

This is my flower section from last year that I started from seed. Read this entry to see how we did it and I encourage you to give it a try.

We are going to be adding two more sections of veggies this year along the other fence so we should have quite a bit to harvest once we get going. It is all on an drip irrigation system so it makes my life easier. The kids help with the little bit of weeding and the upkeep of the boxes. I give them ownership of their own box and that helps keep them interested. I also let them pick what goes in their box as well as let them decide how to plant the squares.

Posted on May 1, 2009 by Barb — 6 Comments

Hummingbird Study: Our Outdoor Hour Challenge

This week we were on the lookout for hummingbirds as part of the Outdoor Hour Challenge: Hummingbirds nature study. We haven’t had too many hummingbirds yet in our feeders, a few here and there that we have noticed. Summertime is hummingbird time in our backyard and we have several hummingbirds that perch on the tree behind our picnic table and in the evenings we see them sitting there watching us eat our dinner. There isn’t much information in the Handbook of Nature Study on hummingbirds but it is enough to answer a few of our questions.

The hummingbirds we have in our yard are Anna’s Hummingbirds and they are very pretty. They are green and pink and very fast flyers. They will soar way up high in the air and then suddenly swoop down.

The Handbook of Nature Study says, “Hummingbirds are not supposed to sing, but to use their voices for squeaking when angry or frightened.” We often hear the male Anna’s Hummingbird before we see him. He will fly up high in the air and then swoop down and make a chirping sound. They also make a sound as they sit on the branches of the tree…cuing us to look for his distinctive silhouette.

We found this video and now we are anxious to observe our hummingbirds to see if we think it is their tail that chirps.

There is always something new to learn.

I am fascinated with hummingbirds and our last trip to the desert was memorable because we visited a hummingbird aviary at the museum. I posted then about the hummingbirds.

Isn’t he gorgeous?

This one was not shy at all and we spent a long time watching him fly and sip.

Here is a hummingbird nest that we collected a number of years ago. I am in awe whenever I look at the way it is constructed.

Can you imagine how small the eggs are inside this miniature sized nest? Amazing stuff.

One last thing to share from this week’s Outdoor Hour time with the boys. We came across a very bold Spotted Towhee that let me come up fairly close and take a video of him singing his song. Enjoy.

Hope you enjoyed reading about our Outdoor Hour this week and our continued study of hummingbirds as well as any other bird that crosses our path.

Nature Study Using Multiples Intelligences

Outdoor Hour Challenges for families since 2008!