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Posted on November 21, 2017 by Barb — 1 Comment

Outdoor Mom – November 2017

Outdoor Mom – November 2017

This has been a true month of transition. November has the feel of a real autumn as the aspens turn yellow and the snow comes in small storms, never sticking around but melting on sunny afternoons.

If you read my entry earlier this month, you know that I’m dedicated to the idea of walking to the river every day regardless of the weather for the whole of November. I’ve tried to faithfully keep to the goal and have only missed a couple of days so far. My walks are sometimes in solitude but often my husband or one of my sons will accompany me to see what there is to see. The sky is really the star of these walks and often the clouds put on a show. I benefit from these walks the minute I put on my shoes and step out the back door. It helps keep things in perspective and I feel far less anxious.

Also, adding to my nature happiness is my participation in some simple citizen science. I can’t tell you how happy I am to be counting birds again as part of Project Feederwatch. I’ve been super eager to get started, printing out my tally sheets and hanging and filling my feeders. I haven’t been disappointed in the number or variety of birds that I have observed. I love that this is a way to feel connected to my habitat and I don’t even need to leave the house to have an encouraging experience.

My favorite images from this month are from a walk we took in Bend, Oregon at Drake Park. It was a dazzling day of sunshine and the trees along the river were ablaze with color. There were lots of geese along the pathway and some mallard ducks too. I could have taken 1,000 photos and still not captured the glory of the experience. You will have to take my word for it!

We’ve been wondering what animal makes these mounds of earth out in the space behind our house. There doesn’t appear to be any openings but just random groups of dark earth mounded up, sometimes 2 feet in diameter and about a foot high. I’ve researched online and in my Central Oregon field guides but haven’t found a definite answer as to who is creating the mounds. I’m leaning towards a badger but my friend is trying to convince me it’s a marmot. I would appreciate any of your guesses.

In our yard, we’re still cleaning up debris and were able to light our burn piles since the weather has turned and they lifted the burn ban. The photo above shows the amazing sky we have and the variety of clouds in various layers that drift overhead. It doesn’t feel like work when you’re cleaning up under a sky that looks like that. It makes me feel grateful and small and humbled.

Here is one last image from the month that captures the feel of my outdoor life. You can see “my” river there in the photo as well as the back of my son as he hikes back home along its edge. If you look to the far left of the photo, you may be able to spot my house in the distance. I’m so grateful to be able to share this place with my sons.

Want to join in the Outdoor Mom post?

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…

It’s been a wonderful month outdoors…looking forward to a wonderful December.

Posted on November 17, 2017 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Queen Anne’s Lace

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Autumn Queen Anne’s Lace Observations

Seasonal Weed Study Option

From the Archives and from the Autumn 2010 ebook

With the change of the season, it’s time to make your autumn observations for Queen Anne’s Lace. Whether you’re just starting a year-long study of this pretty wildflower or you’re continuing from the summer season, you will find the suggestions in this challenge a great help in learning about this common wildflower. (Some call it a weed, but I prefer to think of it as a wildflower!)

If you don’t have any Queen Anne’s Lace to observe in person, choose two other neighborhood weeds to study and compare using the ideas in the challenge linked above.

If you own the ebook, there are two different notebooking pages for you to use for your nature journal entry.

I recently used one of the challenge ideas and collected a number of autumn weeds and seeds for a “weed bouquet”. This might be a wonderful idea for an autumn nature walk that combines observing weeds and seeds and then culminates in a lovely bouquet for your nature table. You can see my entry here: Weed Bouquets and Autumn Time.

If you would like to own this ebook, it’s part of the Ultimate Naturalist Library for members. You can find more details on how to get your own membership here: Join Us!

Posted on November 16, 2017 by Barb — Leave a comment

Project Feederwatch – November 2017

Project Feederwatch – November 2017

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the start of Feederwatch season here in my new habitat of Central Oregon. Our new yard has been a challenge of sorts for hanging bird feeders because of the other critters that have decided to partake of the seeds and suet. It was a mystery to me how I could fill up my rather large feeder late in the afternoon and then awake in the morning to a completely empty feeder! I didn’t realize how fast the deer could drain the feeder.

Then there are the squirrels that just help themselves.

My husband came to my rescue by fabricating rather tall poles for the feeders to hang on and so far this has solved my problems!

So what is our setup?

I have three different feeding stations, one in the front yard and two in the backyard.

The front yard feeder seems to attract the little birds like chickadees and nuthatches. I read somewhere that when the temperatures drop the birds like a suet feeder, so I added that when I took down our hummingbird feeder. There is still a bird bath but I’m not sure how I’m going to keep it from freezing. I saw at the Wild Bird store you can buy a little heater so if it’s within my budget, I will get one the next time I’m there.

Closer to the house in the backyard, I’ve hung a new suet feeder and a new cylinder seed feeder. I haven’t observed many birds at the new style of feeder so I’m wondering about location. We may move the feeder back to the fence line closer to the trees if we don’t start to see the bird traffic to the feeder increase.

This is where all the action happens! We see lots of birds at this feeding station, both at the feeders and under the feeders. I have mostly black sunflower seeds in the hopper feeder and I rotate the variety of suet I use in the suet feeder.

Here are our Project Feederwatch results from our first count:

Scrub Jay -2

Mourning dove -3

Chickadee -5

Junco -5

Varied thrush -2

Red breasted nuthatch -2

Hairy woodpecker -1

Spotted towhee – 1

House finches – 6

Pine Siskin -1

In addition, we heard and then observed a Red-tail hawk in one of the pines in back of the house and two ravens flying overhead. They don’t officially make the Project Feederwatch list since they were not in the feeder, but I made a note of their appearances in my records.

I will be posting monthly Project Feederwatch data as the season continues.

Don’t forget about the Outdoor Hour Challenge – Learning About Birds ebook that is available to both Ultimate and Journey level members.

Posted on November 13, 2017 by Barb — Leave a comment

Weed Bouquets and Autumn Time

My Autumn Weed Bouquet

Our neighborhood is mostly evergreens with a few deciduous trees mixed in. The view from my back window is over a slope leading down to the river and it has very few trees and lots of shrubs and grasses. The grasses are what most people would call “weeds” and in between those grasses there are a few wildflowers like yarrow and asters. The river is lined with willows, the shrubby kind and not the trees. For what it’s worth, I find the view from any of my windows beautiful and refreshing.

As the winter snows have already started, I’m seeing fewer and fewer short plants as they get buried and mashed down by the snow and ice. There are still a few plants surviving so I took the opportunity a week or so ago to cut some of the autumn weeds for a bouquet to have indoors. It was pretty late for gathering much but I still managed to create a bouquet that makes me happy. Once again, it is a matter of perspective in determining whether a plant is a weed or something amazing to look at as part of an autumn bundle in a vase.

My husband and I debate about the definition of a weed, an on-going discussion in our family. I say a weed is something growing where you don’t want it to grow, like in a flower or vegetable garden or in the middle of your manicured lawn. But, if the plant is growing, like most of those in our yard, in a natural landscape, I try to leave it as part of the habitat.

In my eyes, my autumn weed bouquet is as pretty as any flower shop bunch of roses.

Invite your children to gather some of your autumn weeds to be indoors as part of your nature display.

Other Entries of Interest and Inspiration

Poetry in Your Nature Journal

Winter Weed Gallery – from my archives, showing lots of winter weeds

Posted on November 9, 2017 by Barb — Leave a comment

November Nature Walk Project

November Nature Walk Project

As the winter approaches, the temperatures have dropped significantly here in Central Oregon. This makes it hard to remain enthusiastic about getting outside for my daily walk. I did purchase a pair of winter boots to help keep my feet warm and dry on my outdoor excursions.

All I needed now was some motivation.

Then it came to me! Create a daily challenge to walk to the river.

I am such a creature of habit and I know making myself put those new winter boots on and get out the door every day would soon be something I looked forward to doing. So, I started on the first of November and have so far kept my determination to take the short walk down from my back door to the Little Deschutes River every day.

I chose a spot to take a daily photo, showing the changes and conditions each day. It is just a few paces down from the back fence and it faces towards Paulina Peak centered between two trees and centered over a stump.

November 1^st– just a typical autumn day

November 2^nd – this was a weather transition day and there were quite a few gray clouds and it was getting cold

November 3^rd– woke to a few inches of snow and we took our first snowy walk out to the river.

November 4^th– a lot of the snow had melted but the weeds were still crunchy with ice and the river was getting icy on top.

November 5^th– Back to a snowy landscape…the most snow we have had to date. We were out on our walk and it started to snow with large amazing flakes. Note: I forgot to take my traditional “over the stump” photo so this one will have to do!

November 6^th– The sun came out in the afternoon and I ventured out with our Kona dog. What a joyous walk! If only every day were this brilliant.

November 7^th– Still a little snow on the ground and the air temperatures never left the 30’s. The Kona dog and I took our romp down to the river’s edge, noted how cold the water looked today and then rushed home to warm up.

The value of a daily nature walk, even in the same place every time, is something I hope you can experience in your family. It doesn’t have to be an elaborate affair or take very much time for you to see a difference in your attitude and that of your children. The fresh air does wonders for blowing away the cobwebs of an indoor life.

Here a few nature walk ideas from my archives:

No Technology Walk

Use Your Senses Nature Walk

Members here on the Handbook of Nature Study have access to newsletters with nature walk ideas:

October 2013 – This whole edition is filled with nature walk ideas.

December 2016 – You will find the “3 Questions Hike” idea in this edition.

Posted on November 8, 2017 by Barb — Leave a comment

Weeds, Seeds, and Myrmecochory

Harvester Ants Myrmecochory — Photo credit: Bob Forester

Myrmecochory -Here’s a link to learn more!

In a nutshell, it means seed dispersal by ants.

Ants harvesting seeds — Photo Credit: gailhampshire

I came across the interesting term while doing some research on seed dispersal. It always amazes me to learn about things going on right under my nose that I never noticed.

You can do your own research and use the printable in the member’s library to record your interesting facts.

Are you familiar with the Ultimate Naturalist Library membership? If not, you can read about it on this page: Membership Information.

The Ultimate and Journey level memberships include access to the growing list of printable notebooking pages and activities. I add new things each month!

Click above to see a current list of printables available in addition to the 20 ebooks already included in the Ultimate Membership.

Posted on November 1, 2017 by Barb — Leave a comment

November Planning Page and Printables

November 2017 Nature Planning Page-Print out your own copy here!

Now that there is no longer a newsletter with a planning page, I decided that I am creating a printable page for you to use instead. Keep track of the month’s Outdoor Hour Challenge topics, be inspired to create a nature journal page, jot down notes for future study, and use the list of archived suggestions to go deeper into a particular topic.

Download your copy here: November 2017 Nature study Planner Page

New printables are now posted in the Member’s library!

Members have two new printables to use this autumn.

Autumn Insect Study Notebook Page: Use this page to record any autumn insects you discover during your outdoor time.
Myrmecochory: Research the term myrmecochory and then write a summary of what you learned for your nature notebook. (Look for a blog entry that talks about this interesting topic soon!)

Print a complete list of printables available to Members for easy reference: Printables for Members

Posted on October 30, 2017 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nature Journal Examples – October 2017

Weekly Nature Journal Project

October 2017

October is flying by and I have been trying to capture some of its glory in my nature journal. It’s easy to let things slide or think we will remember them, but I find that having a written or drawn record of special or even everyday observations makes my journal such a happy place.

I’ve been working on this page all month as I make observations of the aspens in my neighborhood and take images for the autumn photo project. I absolutely love the brilliantly colored aspens in my neighbor’s yard. (The topper is from the 10/14 newsletter which can be found with the autumn photo project in the Member’s Library here on the Handbook of Nature Study.)

I used crayons to outline the leaves on the page and then I filled in the colorful leaves with watercolors. We don’t have many colorful leaves in our yard but I still wanted to make a record of the walk we took looking for autumn foliage.

We had the awesome experience of watching sandhill cranes fly over in a group as they made their way south during this autumn season. I included both facts and the story of this event on my nature journal page.

I have learned that often the best pages are those that capture a moment taken on an ordinary day to record the season’s observations. We have had wintery weather over the past week, so today when the sun burst through the fog and the temperatures elevated to near 70 degrees, I took 20 minutes to sit outside on a tree stump in the sunshine and put my pen to the paper. Of course I included a list of birds…always a favorite thing to keep track of in my nature journal.

Perhaps I will complete a sketch on the page facing this one later on to round out the journal. There is a “new to me” bird on the list that may just merit a whole page to itself. We spied a flock of varied thrushes in our yard a few days ago and since then we have seen a few more.

Don’t forget that I am sharing a nature journal page each week on my Instagram account if you want to see the pages as they unfold. Follow me here: Instagram – outdoorhourchallenge. And, if you want to create a page and share it on your Instagram for me to see, use the hashtag #OHCnaturejournal

Join us for the autumn season series of Outdoor Hour Challenges using the ideas in the Autumn 2010 ebook.

Posted on October 27, 2017 by Barb — 2 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Autumn Horse Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Horse Study (compare to a dog)

From the Archives and the Autumn 2010 ebook

Horses are a favorite topic of study for many children. Can you arrange to visit a stable to observe a horse up close? Perhaps there is a horse at a nearby farm stand or apple orchard that you are visiting this season. Be on the lookout for a horse to see in person.

Even if you complete this as a preparation for a future horse visit, you will learn a lot from the lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study.

We are currently working through the Autumn 2010 ebook. For a complete nature study schedule for the next year, please click over and read this entry: Plans for October 2017 through August 2018.

Posted on October 20, 2017 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Goose and Duck Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Goose Study

From the Archives and the Autumn 2010 ebook

Here we go with the challenges that encourage you to create a Venn Diagram for comparison. This week’s challenge guides you through a study of the goose using the Handbook of Nature Study and then you will compare it to a duck.

See the entry from earlier this month showing how to use a Venn Diagram. (make this a link later)

If you’re using the ebook, there are notebook pages for a goose study and a more generic autumn bird study just in case you don’t have a goose or duck to observe in real life.

For more bird related nature study ideas, you can click over to view my page devoted to all things having to do with birds: Outdoor Hour Challenges for Birds plus other activities.

Go look for some birds!

If you would like to have a complete plan for studying birds using the Handbook of Nature Study, you can take a look at my Learning About Birds ebook.

If you don’t have a membership yet, I am offering a $5 off discount code that will be good towards your Ultimate Naturalist membership.

Discount Code: BIRDLOVER5

Outdoor Hour Challenges for families since 2008!