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Star Gazing….Moon Gazing Too

We took advantage of a few clear nights last week to view the moon and stars. It is a good thing too because this week we have had cloudy skies every night along with a really good soaking rain which we desperately needed. It was time to complete our Winter Wednesday – Winter Sky Challenge.


I have one son that has taken an intense desire to know more about the subject of astronomy since we started these night time session.


Several trips to the library and then a really good deal on a clearance book at Borders has feed his need to know more about the universe we live in.

We are working on learning some of the constellations visible during the winter months and in addition to the Discover Nature in Winter book, we have found the Handbook of Nature Study to be very helpful. There is a section starting on page 823 on the Winter Stars. I have heard talk around nature blogs lately that many view the Handbook of Nature Study as “old fashioned” and they prefer to use more “modern” books for reference. I do not find it to be outdated in the least. The clear explanations of the constellations in the Handbook of Nature Study make it an excellent first resource for families. For example: the lessons on page 820 explaining the North Star and the Big Dipper are clearly put down for anyone to follow and are timeless. The language used in the Handbook of Nature Study makes it enjoyable to read.

“After the polar constellations are learned, we are then ready for further study in the still earlier evenings of winter, when the clear atmostphere makes the stars seem more alive, more sparkling, and more beautiful than at any other period of the year.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 823

“Orion is one of the most beautiful constellations in the heavens. It is especially marked by the three stars which form Orion’s belt, and the line of stars below the belt which form the sword.”
Handbook of Nature Study page 825

Doesn’t that capture your interest? We are looking forward to a few more nights of stargazing this winter.

Winter Wednesday Button

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Brightness to the Garden

“The daffodil, jonquil, and narcissus are very closely related, and quite similar. They all come from bulbs which should be planted in September; but after the first planting, they will flower on year after year, bringing much brightness to the gardens in the early spring.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 551

I don’t know if it is “early spring” but my narcissus/paper whites are all pushing up out of the ground among my violets. I know it won’t be long now until I have some fragrant beauties to enjoy.

Our birdfeeders are busy every day as many, many different waves of birds come through to feast. These finches are all sharing so nicely. I noticed that there have been quite a few birds in the birdbath as well.

We are getting ready to take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count from February 13-16, 2009.

I encourage you all to look into this family activity as well. Here is the link to find out all about it:
Great Backyard Bird Count

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Mammals on an Afternnon Drive…Birds Too

We decided to go for a long drive today to enjoy the very warm spring-like day. I was driving and observing as we went along that there were quite a few dead skunks along the road, more than usual. I started counting.

Here is our official count:

  • 7 skunks
  • 3 rabbits
  • 2 squirrels
  • 1 possum
  • 1 raccoon

All dead alongside the road.

Are there usually that many mammals to count? I have never noticed that many before but maybe my mind was just thinking about mammals since it is our focus right now.

We saw lots of cattle and horses on this drive as well….very much alive and enjoying the sunny day. Happy cows come from California…or so they say.

As the afternoon sun was fading, the deer started to be seen alongside the road. I was busy driving but my husband and son counted seven deer….one really big buck. In the past, both my husband and I have hit deer with our cars….actually, he has done it twice.

My husband told me today that his friend’s daughter not so long ago hit a bear on the road that we were driving on. I slowed down after that.

Just as a note to myself about the birds we identified today as we drove along and then hiked a little along the river:

  • Six red tail hawks and one other hawk that I couldn’t identify.
  • Two turkey vultures.
  • Vast amounts of snow geese…too many to number.
  • Canadian geese as well.
  • We also saw one gorgeous great blue heron in a dead tree alongside the Feather River.
  • Several gulls….white and gray.
  • Red winged blackbirds by the dozens.
  • Two flocks of crows in the trees.
  • White egrets in the trees.

Great day for nature study.

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Signs of a Squirrel: Our Outdoor Hour Challenge #45

Today ended up with a nature study of squirrels at my dad’s house. We had gone over to visit him this afternoon and somehow it was mentioned that we were studying squirrels this week. His eyes lit up and he took us out for a little walk on the backside of his property. He has been up there cutting wood and he had something to share with us.

This is what he wanted us to see up on the hill next to his woodpile. There was a whole area that was piled high with shredded pinecones. All of the reddish material that you see in this photo is the remnants of a squirrel feast. The squirrels have been very busy eating up in the trees and letting the litter fall to the ground in great heaps.

Here in the center, probably easier to see if you click the photo, are some of the many, many pinecones stripped of their tasty seeds.

Here is a closer shot of another cone.
Can you believe how big this pile is? They are busy squirrels.


Here one of the seeds from the cone after the squirrel has finished with it.

Now for a few more mammal signs from our walk.

We also saw these “signs” from some mule deer that live in this area. Just last week we saw seven deer walking down to my dad’s pond late in the afternoon. They seemed not to care that we were watching in awe of their beauty.


Then right down the hill from where we were, we saw these tell-tale signs of a busy gopher. You could not walk easily on this slope because the ground was just full of holes and tunnels.


Here is another view of one of the holes. My dad was thinking about making a new garden in this area but I told him he better think twice….deer and gophers don’t mix very well with a vegetable garden. Even though it is a perfect spot for growing with lots of sunlight, he would need to fence it like his other garden area….a very tall fence.

What a great way to study squirrels. My dad thinks of his property as a sort of nature study laboratory for our family. He will call us over if he sees something interesting and I love that about him. My dad and I did not spend much time together when I was a child because he was always working but now that he is retired, he and I share our love of all things that have to do with the great outdoors. He has not always been a fan of homeschooling but I think he now has changed his mind and is eager to help us out with our nature study.

More Nature Study Book 2 Winter Wonder cover

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Outdoor Hour Challenge #45 Mammals: Squirrels


Here comes this week’s challenge. I happen to have a squirrel that visits my backyard and from time to time he gives us a little show. You can be sure we will be doing some direct observation this week. We also noticed some signs of squirrels on our last Winter Wednesday walk so we will be looking up some information about that too.
Outdoor Hour Challenge
#45 Squirrels
(You may also like to use the Autumn Series Challenge for Squirrels for additional information.) 


1. Read pages 233-237 in the Handbook of Nature Study. Use your highlighter to mark the sections with facts you can share with your children. There are plenty of observation suggestions in Lesson 57 on pages 236 and 237. Keep these ideas in mind as you take your nature walk this week.

“The squirrel’s legs are short because he is essentially a climber rather than a runner; the hips are very strong, which insures his power as a jumper, and his leaps are truly remarkable.”

“The squirrel has two pairs of gnawing teeth which are very long and strong, as in all rodents, and he needs to keep busy gnawing hard things with them, or they will grow so long that he cannot use them at all and will starve to death.”

“During the winter, the red squirrel does not remain at home except in the coldest weather, when he lies cozily with his tail wrapped around him like a fur neck-piece to keep him warm.”
Handbook of Nature Study, pages 234 and 235

Here is an additional fact sheet on squirrels:
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/eastern-gray-squirrel/#eastern-gray-squirrel-closeup.jpg

2. Supplemental reading in The Burgess Animal Book for Children: Read Stories 4-6. Take a few minutes after reading each story to have your child narrate to you some interesting points from the story. Use the illustrations on pages 30, 36, and 41 of the book to get the narration going if they are having trouble getting started.

3. Spend 10-15 minutes outdoors on a nature walk. As you walk, discuss where you might find a squirrel in your neighborhood. Remind your child where a squirrel lives and what it eats. If you know you have a squirrel in your yard or at your local park, take along some nuts or seeds to put out and observe the squirrel eating. Never feed a squirrel by hand. Don’t worry if you cannot observe a squirrel this week. Enjoy your outdoor time and observe any mammals that you come into contact with during your walk.

4. For your nature journal you can write out your observations from your squirrel watching. Use the observation suggestions for ideas to include in your entry: describe the color of the fur, how the eyes are placed, what do the paws look like, how does the squirrel climb up and down a tree, the sound the squirrel makes as he expresses himself, show the tracks that the squirrel makes in the snow. If you did not observe a squirrel, you can use any of the additional resources to include in your nature journal this week.

Would you like a printable notebook page to use along with your squirrel nature study?

Squirrel or Rodent Nature Study

Rodent+Notebook+Page+image.jpg

Note this is an Amazon affiliate link to a product that I have used and loved for many,many years.

 

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Wednesday Walk in the Snow: Beavers and Jays

Winter Wednesday-Week 2 Snow

We haven’t had much snowfall in our area since last week so our plans to complete the snow melting measurement activity are on hold for the moment. We did observe something that the book talks about on page 28 and 29, Snow Melt and Trees.

“During the day, the tree absorbs heat from the sun. The tree radiates heat and melts the snow.”

You can see in these photos how this looks out in the woods.

Here is another photo that shows the melted snow very clearly. Right after we took this photo we saw a coyote over beyond the trees. He was hurrying past on his way to somewhere else….we did not see him again all day.


On my the right sidebar of my blog I have a photo of my summer hiking boots….now here are my winter hiking boots. These are so very comfortable and warm. Don’t they look like brand new? They are two years old! I just love LL Bean. ( I just looked up on the LL Bean website and I can’t find these particular boots there anymore….just in case you were going to ask.)

The snow was just right for snow boots. I was really glad we did not need the snowshoes today because they are a lot of work and I wanted to just relax. Next time I am going to bring them along because there is an area that I wanted to explore but the snow was just too deep. I stepped of the trail and sunk down to about mid-calf.

We stayed on the trail….isn’t this a welcoming little entrance to this part of the wilderness? (Don’t tell Brittney…this is where we saw the bear last fall.)


Several people emailed me about the beaver dam in the header of the blog. Yes, it is a real beaver dam that is along one of our regular hiking trails. I promised a few more photos to go along with the beaver story. The photo above is a good example of what a tree looks like that a beaver has worked on. This particular tree is pretty far from the creek so I’m not sure why they chose it but it is still sitting in the woods. You can tell how big a beaver is by how far up the tree he was working.


You can see if you look closely or click the photo to enlarge it that the rangers have come through and protected some of the tree trunks with wire to prevent the beavers from falling the trees. There are quite a few trees that look as if the beaver got started and then the rangers wrapped up the trunks to keep the tree intact.


The turn around spot on this hike was this beach. This is the beach we spend hours and hours at during the summer and fall. This is a favorite with locals so there are lots of tracks and paw prints in the snow. There were a few mallard ducks hanging around today as well as a very chattery squirrel. More on the squirrels in another post soon.

One more friend from our walk this time.

Mr. Steller’s jay is a glorious blue and even more striking against the winter’s gray. They have to be some of the most loud and squawky birds you can ever imagine but they are so pretty when they hold still for a photo. Click the link above and scroll down to where you can listen to the call of the Steller’s jay….squawk indeed.

That was our Winter Wednesday this week. We are going to make sure to remember to actually do the activities we planned from chapter two when it snows here next….maybe soon.

Winter Wednesday Button

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On the Trail of Some Mammals: Outdoor Hour Challenge #44

We do not have many rabbits in our neighborhood although we have seen tracks in the snow up in the mountains not far from here. We read up on rabbits but we also tried to brainstorm other mammals we might see or see signs of on our Outdoor Hour hike this week. Here is our running list:

  • Western Grey Squirrel
  • Fox
  • Raccoon
  • Opposum
  • Skunk
  • Mule deer
  • Mole
  • Gopher
  • Deer mouse
  • Coyote

Many of these mammals are rarely seen during daylight hours but we thought we might see signs of them along the trail if we looked closely.

Here is a little glimpse of what we saw along the trail as we kept our eyes out for signs of mammals. We obviously don’t have any snow at the moment so we were looking for tracks in the damp earth. My husband thought it might be a deer trail but the branches of the bushes are too low for a deer to easily slip through. I think it must be a smaller mammal…maybe a fox? We looked very carefully but we could not see any clear tracks in the mud which is even more curious to us.

We also found several holes that looked promising and this one looked freshly dug. No prints in the dirt though.

Here is a pine cone that shows signs of having been someone’s dinner. Scattered around this area were parts of the cone as well.

Now for the photos for the more serious mammal hunters. Scroll down for some scat photos or you can finish here. 🙂 Seriously, these are really graphic animal dropping photos. Don’t feel bad if you skip them.


This was full of fur and very black. After looking in several reference books, including the Discover Nature in Winter book, I think this is fox scat.


This one was full of some kind of red skins, maybe from some berries or fruit. I am not sure at all who it belongs to.

Although we didn’t see any rabbits or signs of rabbits, we had a great time looking for other mammals during our afternoon walk.

https://naturestudyhomeschool.com/2010/01/winter-series-of-outdoor-hour.html

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Our Winter Color Walk

The weather has been glorious the last few days so it was easy to get out and explore. I even saw a hummingbird in my feeder yesterday if you can believe it. I can hardly believe it. I am so glad that I procrastinated and didn’t take the feeder down because he was drinking deeply. My husband and I were sitting on the deck enjoying the sunshine together as he recovers from his hand surgery and we both heard the little clicking sound of the hummer as he sipped at the feeder. I am so glad that there were the two of us so I had a witness to this event. No explanation for his appearance….just admiration for his beauty.

We are finally posting our color walk from last week’s Winter Wednesday. Our world is surprisingly colorful once you start looking carefully. Here are a few colors from our own yard.
Beautiful crimson pyracantha berries in our front yard. These berries are a favorite of the local birds in the winter although they do get a little “drunk” from them and fly into our picture window. Last week we had a bird fatality at this spot and it made me very sad.


Bright yellow-orange lichen on our tree….never noticed this before in our yard but my eyes spotted it as we were color searching.


The first of the violets are blooming….mmmmmmm…..can you smell the delicate fragrance? Lovely.


Something my son pointed out….red strawberry leaves in the garden. Wow!


Orange rosehips are covering the rose bushes in the front and backyards. Did you know that apples and roses are in the same family? I am tempted to try to make rosehip tea.

This was a great activity and now we have a simple journal entry to remember the afternoon by.

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Urchins on Oaks?

We took our usual walk the other day but we found something unusual.

These little pink growths were attached all over the leaves on the ground and we brought one home to identify it. I had an idea that it was gall of some sort but I thought it would be interesting to see if we could come up with an exact identification.

I Googled “pink gall oak” and here are a few of the things I found.

CalPhotos: Urchin Gall
Bingo!

Nature’s Oddballs
Fascinating article with a great explanation of galls.

So there you have it.
Urchin Gall Wasp Antron quercusechinus

“There are many forms of these gall dwellings, and they may grow upon the root, branch, leaf, blossom, or fruit. The miraculous thing about each of them is that each kind of insect builds its magical house on a certain part of a certain species of tree or plant; and the house is always of a certain definite form on the outside and of a certain particular pattern within.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 335

You can read more about galls in the Handbook on pages 335-338.

Gall Study - Handbook of Nature Study

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Winter Snow Hike: Joyful Refreshment

There is much to be said for a walk in the woods in the snow….no trails to follow and no one else to distract you. The crunch, crunch, crunch of the snow under your feet and the bite in the air that reminds you that it is winter. I know these woods well but something about the whiteness or the stillness captures me and draws me to go deeper and farther and find something new each time. You know by the tracks that someone has been there before you….human types and mammal types and probably some rodents too. That is okay since all they left behind are some prints and dents in the snow and you can choose to follow or you can choose to meander. We did a little of both.

We were alert to the many different kinds of tracks in the snow and it was fun trying to guess who they belonged to. It didn’t really matter if we were correct or not because it was fun to imagine who the creatures were and what they were up to. Tracks inspired talk of bears, foxes, rabbits, mice, coyotes, and beavers. It is a fun game to play as you walk through the snowy woods.

This was the most surprising find of the day…a beaver dam in the creek. We have seen evidence of a beaver here before with trees gnawed on and sometimes even a tree cut down but this dam was magnificent. Be sure to click the image to get a better look. You can really see it clearly now that the leaves are gone from the trees and bushes. This is almost the same spot that we saw a bear last fall when the salmon were spawning in this creek.

Have you ever seen something so colorful as this lichen? It really stands out against all the winter drab. Just beautiful.

I never fail to look up as we hike along and this was what I was given for the effort, a brilliant blue sky with fast moving clouds overhead. The trees were perfectly silhouetted as you looked across the horizon.

We had our eyes out for interesting things to discover and here are some little cones we found hanging on a bush.


Reflections have a way of creating a different dimension to a landscape. The stillness of the water made me feel peaceful and I took a few moments to say a little prayer of thanks to the one who created all these wonderful things for us to enjoy. What a gift…what a gift to enjoy as a family.

I told you on this afternoon we had the place to ourselves but there had been others before us. This area leads down to the lake but right through an eagle habitat and we decided to steer clear…are the eagles still here or do they migrate? I know, so many questions to answer. These tracks are probably all covered over by now since a storm blew in overnight.

This short video shows the creek where it is moving fast over the rocks. There were birds wading around in the water above this spot but we saw no real signs of life right here on the bridge.

Just so you know it wasn’t all peaceful and idyllic on this walk, one last photo of what happens when a teenage son nails his dad with a big snowball….a little of what my family affectionately calls “snow tussling“.

Boys will be boys. I wouldn’t have it any other way.