I have been so annoyed with mosquitoes lately, both in the daylight and in the evenings. Perhaps it is because I am spending a lot of time outdoors in my garden and on the hiking trail. It seems as if I have a mosquito bite at all times (thank goodness for tea tree oil!).
This week, use the Outdoor Hour Challenge for mosquitoes to learn more about this flying winged insect using both the Handbook of Nature Study and the Discover Nature At Sundown books if you own them.
This challenge was originally shared in the Summer Nature Study ebook. If you have an Ultimate Naturalist membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study website, you will find this ebook in your library. You can pull the ebook up and find the corresponding notebook page for the challenge.
If you would like all the Summer Series Challenges in one place, I have an ebook gathered for you to purchase for your convenience. Here is a link to a complete description: Summer Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges
We had the chance to camp for a few days at Calaveras Big Trees State Park.We waited too long and we couldn’t get a campsite at Yosemite National Park so we decided to try Calaveras as an alternative (the parks are about 80 miles apart). If you are looking for a spot to camp and hike under the tall trees, this is a wonderful place to do it. Of course, there are no spectacular waterfalls at Calaveras but there are lots of trees, wildflowers, and a river to satisfy your nature loving spirit. Yosemite National Park has three groves of sequoia trees and Calaveras has two main groves – the North and the South groves. We hiked both groves during our visit.
I have visited many of California’s sequoia groves in my life time but the South Grove at Calaveras Big Trees is my favorite because of the quietness and wildness of its location. It takes effort to get there on a hike of around four miles round trip after a nine mile drive from the park entrance but that makes it less crowded so you can enjoy the natural beauty of a ancient sequoia grove.
Take a quick stop at the visitor center before you head down the road to the grove. I loved this visitor center because of its very well down exhibits that provide a decent background to the sequoia story, the local habitat, and the cultural information about this area.
Now you can drive down to the trailhead, perhaps stopping briefly at the view point. The hike to the South Grove starts at a large parking lot adjacent to a picnic area with restrooms. There are no sequoias here but the forest is full of tall pines and cedars and a creek. Across the creek you start the trail to the South Grove. I picked up the interpretive trail guide for fifty cents at the visitor center but there are some at the trailhead as well. Now the hike! It was a good trail that isn’t too steep…gradual incline. If you are using the interpretive guide, it will describe some of the specific things you are viewing along the way to the actual grove and then a little background and information about certain trees as you hike the loop. We encountered a handful of people during our hike and it felt as if we were there all on our own. I love that! We had a friend along with us that had never seen sequoias before and it was interesting to hear her comments about the massive size of these trees. The quiet is broken only with babbling creeks and birdsong. Imagining these trees growing for thousands of years boggles the mind. We learned a lot about the sequoia life cycle on this hike, the interconnected web of seed dispersal that includes a certain squirrel and a beetle, and the value of a good fire to the stability of this forest ecosystem. We also saw a snake! If you want to see some sequoias and are not wanting the crowds of Yosemite, this is a great alternative place to visit. There are two large campgrounds if you like to camp. We stayed at North Grove and it was very pretty. There was a creek running through the camground and there were places for kids to dip in a net to catch a minnow or a tadpole. The large meadow adjacent to the campground has a boardwalk across it so you can walk out and enjoy the plants, insects, and other sights in this habitat. Please note that the main highway runs alongside the campground and it might be smart to check the area map when you are making your reservations to see if your site backs up to the road. We could hear the cars go by from our site but it wasn’t distracting. Here is the obligatory image from atop the big stump (Discovery Stump). We enjoyed our stay at the park and highly recommend it to families who are looking for camping, hiking, and exploring in Northern California.
Additional Tips
Distances: From San Francisco – about 150 miles. From Reno, Nevada – about 125 miles. From Sacramento- 100 miles. From South Lake Tahoe- about 90 miles (gorgeous drive!)
There is a fee to get into the park for day use.
It does snow here in the winter so you will want to check the park’s website for information on road closures.
In winter, there is a warming hut for those that use the trails for snow shoes and skiing.
Towns near-by for hotels, restaurants, and gas: Arnold, CA and Murphys, CA.
You can read more of my national park entries by following these links:
I have been diligently working on a new ebook that gathers together many of the bird challenges here on the Handbook of Nature Study website. The challenges have all been revamped, updated, enhanced, and supplemented with images and notebooking pages for your nature journal.
New Ebook Available for Ultimate Naturalist and Journey Level Members!
Here are the specifics:
This 65 page digital ebook has 8 challenges and supplemental activities that will help you learn more about your local birds using the Handbook of Nature Study as well as the book, Backyard Birds.
There are 6 notebooking pages included in the ebook. Two of these are general bird study pages that can be printed multiple times to meet your family’s needs.
Full color photos of every bird included in the ebook.
Additional information on birdfeeders, bird seed, nature table ideas, life lists, field guide help, and online identification.
There is enough material in this ebook to provide 8 weeks of bird study or more depending on how long you take to complete each challenge. Every challenge has more than one bird-see list of birds included below.
The ebook contains a chart that links every bird discussed in the Handbook of Nature Study (the book) to a challenge here on the website. This chart will help you find the bird challenges found in other OHC ebooks as well as the corresponding notebooking pages (if available).
Please Note: I am highly recommended the purchase and use of NotebookingPages.com’sBasic Bird Study pages and the North American Birds set of pagesto use alongside the new Learning About Birds ebook here on the Handbook of Nature Study website. She has such excellent pages that fit perfectly with the birds featured in my new ebook!
How do you get the new Learning About Birds ebook?
Members of the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey levels have access to the new ebook in their library. You need to click the “Members Area” button at the top of the website, sign into your account, and the ebook is there to download and safe for your family to use when desired.
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
Please note that I am an affiliate for NotebookingPages.com and these are affiliate links. I have used these pages and loved them for many years with my own family.
How To Get Started With This New Ebook!
Make sure you have a membership to the Handbook of Nature Study website! Click the Purchase Now button above or the Join Us button on the website. Ifyou don’t already have a membership, use the discount code above for $5 off an Ultimate Naturalist Membership. If you are a member, sign in to your library and download the book.
Make sure to collect your FREE Basic Bird Study pages from NotebookingPages.com by following the instructions above!
Purchase your North American Birds Notebooking Pages from NotebookingPages.com.
Enjoy your bird nature study using the convenient plan in this new ebook!
I will be including some of these Outdoor Hour Challenges for birds over the next year. You may wish to subscribe to the Handbook of Nature Study blog so you can receive the prompts in your email box each Friday.
This month I read and pondered over the Botany in a Day book, thinking about the suggestions given in this book for learning more deeply about the plants in my own habitat. Since it has been on my shelf for a few years, I am reviewing the fifth edition of the book. With the sixth edition, he added full color illustrations! (ISBN 978-1892784353)
It has turned my world upside down by showing me that there is more wisdom to using the patterns in the different plant families to identify a plant rather than by using the color and shape of the flowers. Most field guides organize their flowers by color and then by flower type. The Botany in a Day method uses the distinct attributes of a plant family to get you close in identifying a flower.
The author explains that by learning the most common and unique patterns found in plant families you will learn more about the plant…more than just a name.
There are a few pages at the beginning of the book that deal with plant names and classifications that I found rather interesting. There is a rather long section on the evolution of plants that I skimmed through quickly since it doesn’t interest me much.
Then the meat of the book helps you learn how to key out a plant using specific observations for every plant/flower. I think this is where the “botany in a day” title comes from…the method is easily understood in a day, not the learning of everything there is to know about plants. I can see how focusing first on the most common plant families first will help you get started with applying the method of identification, building your confidence to learn more families after that. The most common families are highlighted in the index and the author suggests you start with those.
I love that you are to learn about a plant family and then go out and look for plants that fit the pattern right in your own yard and neighborhood. The author also suggests paging through field guides to train your eye to see the patterns.
You will be seeing me work through this book in the months to come. I hope to learn one family at a time (starting with the mustard family) and then apply what I learn in my day to day observations of plants both in my yard and along the trails of California.
One of my goals each month is to take few of the nature photo suggestions from the Handbook of Nature Study newsletter. This month’s suggestions centered on insects but I can’t resist sharing some of my favorite (so far) images of flowers. I have been sort of addicted to the color orange in all its shades this month and these daylilies are perfect. The photo above was from our local daylily farm. We visited during their “Daylily Days”this weekend and the farm is a mass of blooms of all colors.
If you are a local, this is a great day trip and I suggest bringing a picnic and perhaps stopping at one of the neighboring vineyards to pick up a bottle of wine. Perfect day trip!
Here is one of the photo suggestions from the newsletter. I captured this bee with his pollen baskets as he buzzed around my front yard sage.
I think this is a bush katydid sitting on my rose bush. It looks as if he has devoured some of the leaves. The prompt in the newsletter says “insect antennae” and the katydid’s antennae were definitely one of his most prominent features. My field guide says they can be three times longer than his body. Amazing!
I suggested on Facebook that if you had trouble looking at insects and their wings that the ladybug might be a good first insect to study. They are very low on the “icky” scale and most of us can even pick them up without getting squeamish. This ladybug looks as if he is sleeping in the mum plant.
This year my garden is so alive with plants that were dormant through the drought. The sweet pea in the front yard greets me at the mailbox everyday with its beautiful pink blossoms. We have studied these interesting flowers in the past and you can find an Outdoor Hour Challenge for them if you look up on the garden tab on the website.
Welcome to my back deck flower garden! These are all in pots on my deck and provide brilliant color for me and the insects that visit. Flowers are from top to bottom, left to right: Chocolate Daisy (Rene’s Garden Seeds), Calla Lily, Blanket Flower, Oriental poppy, Coreopsis, Bee Balm, and a Dahlia.
If you enjoy my photos and are on Instagram, I invite you to follow my new Outdoor Hour Challenge Instagram account! You can follow the account for nature study inspiration and reminders. Or if you would rather, tag your photos with #outdoorhourchallenge and I will stop by and take a look at your photos! I would love to “regram” your images too! I would love for this Instagram account to become a large community of like-minded nature lovers.
Use the ideas in this challenge to look for lacewings to view up close.
“Flitting leisurely through the air on her green gauze wings, the lacewing seems like a filmy leaf, broken loose and drifting on the breeze. But there is a purpose in her flight, and through some instinct she is enabled to seek out an aphis-ridden plant or tree, to which she comes as a friend in need.”
“Look for the lacewing on any plant infested with plant lice, and the lacewing’s egg or eggshells on the long stalks are also readily found.” Handbook of Nature Study
Here is the link to the Outdoor Hour Challenge for the lacewing in the archives: Insect Study – Lacewing.
This challenge is found in the Summer Nature Study Continues ebook if you have an Ultimate Naturalist or Journey Level Membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study! Download a copy and use the custom notebooking page for your nature journal.
I saw this sign in the gift shop at Yosemite National Park and it expresses how I feel about the time I spend hiking in the mountains. I remember saying on a hike this month that I could spend all day, every day hiking and never get tired of it. The minute my feet hit the trail, my cares melt away. We have spent many days this month hiking and walking outside in the sunshine. May is a month of great contrasts in weather and by the last week, we hiked under a blazing sun.
My California habitat is shown in the photo above. I told my friend that oaks and poppies on rolling hills just feels like my “home”. We took a new hike at Hidden Falls Regional Park (about an hour from home) on a whim. I had read about it in my hiking book, did a quick search on the internet, and then we jumped into the car early one Saturday morning. The parking lot was almost full when we arrived and it sort of concerned us that we might have a crowd on the trail. But, our worries were for nothing and it is such a big place that we never encountered any congestion and felt as if we had the place to ourselves most of the morning.
Wow! It was a wonderful day of hiking. We did see waterfalls and an area called Seven Pools. This is definitely a spring hike because I’m sure it is HOT here during the summer months.
Our second most exciting day trip was to Yosemite National Park. We wanted to view the waterfalls and valley this spring after all of the wet winter weather. We were not disappointed. We took a friend along who hadn’t seen the waterfalls before and it was fun to see everything from her eyes.
This is Yosemite Falls from a distance, taken from the Swinging Bridge. The river is up over its normal banks and nearly to the level of the bottom of the bridge. There is a lot of water!
We hiked to the top of Columbia Rock and this is the view from my resting spot. What an awesome perspective! We sat up here for a long time, quietly taking in the view. That is the Merced River down there as it meanders through the valley, near Yosemite Lodge (newly named Yosemite Valley Lodge).
Here is the view from Columbia Rock turning the camera in the other direction. Half Dome dominates the landscape. We never tire of this place…I would go back today if I could squeeze it in.
Closer to home, we saw this Mariposa lilyon a hike near our home. We normally see one or two of these at a time but this year the whole hillside was covered in them. I love the side view!
I need to share one image from my backyard garden. I chose this image because it has my Disneyland rose in all its glory and my Kona dog in the background. Look at all that green grass! After 3 years of drought, it is wonderful to see my yard all lush and green.
It has been an amazing month for our family. We made lots of memories, saw gorgeous views, discovered new trails, and observed about 50 different wildflowers (kept track in my journal).
Outdoor Mom’s Journal
Whether your family spends a few minutes a week outside or hours at a time, share what is going on in your world.
How Do You Join?
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…
A photo I would like to share…
Need help getting started with your nature study using the Handbook of Nature Study? Check out the fresh “Getting Started” page here on the website!
Outdoor Hour Challenge Insects with a Magnifying Lens
“In elementary grades, nature study deals with objects which the children can see with the naked eye. However, a lens is a help in almost all of this work because it is such a joy to the child to gaze at the wonders it reveals.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 9
Let’s face it. Sometimes we need to add a little special interest into our nature time. We can be doing everything “right” by making time for outdoor exploring with our children but it can fall flat if the children get distracted. One of my secret weapons is a magnifying lens. Tuck the lens in with your nature study items when you go on a hike or even when exploring your own backyard. Pull the magnifier out if you see the attention of your children wandering. Model how to use the lens with something simple and then see if you can challenge your children to find an insect to view. Even better, for advanced students, challenge them to find an insect wing to observe up close.
You also may be interested in reading more ideas and suggestions for a Magnifying Lens Study that I wrote a for my readers.
Here is the original Outdoor Hour Challenge for a magnifying lens: Outdoor Hour Challenge #8(from the Getting Started ebook). The ebook provides the challenge as shown above as well as custom notebook pages for your follow up nature journal if desired.
This challenge is found in the Getting Started ebook which is included in every level of membership.
Are you looking for a pre-planned summer nature study idea? My daughter and I designed two kits for families to use to easily include nature study and art appreciation in their homes. These kits have been such a hit, we are offering them again this summer.
We have prepared a limited number of kits – first come, first serve.
US addresses only
Kits are $10 each or $16 for two kits, shipping included. This is a really good deal and we hope to sell out of these kits fast. If you want to buy a kit, click over to the Hearts and Trees website and look on the left sidebar for the appropriate Paypal buttons. It is possible to purchase one of each kit by clicking the option on the sidebar.
· Sticky Garden Fun Window Project (instructions and contact paper)
· Stiff Felt Magnet Project (instructions, 4 pieces of felt, magnet)
· Foam Stamp Project (instructions and foam)
· Easy Tissue Paper Mache Vase Project (instructions and tissue paper)
· Botanical Solar Print (instructions and 2 sheets of paper)
· Sidewalk Garden Scavenger Hunt (instructions and sidewalk chalk)
· Renoir print: Monet Painting in His Garden at Argenteuil
· Renoir art print notebooking page and index card for viewfinder
· Garden Journal (instructions, construction paper for the cover)
· 3 Garden-related notebooking pages/activity pages (2 lima beans, 3 kidney beans, 3 pinto beans, 1 sunflower seed, 1 corn seed, paper towel and baggie)
· Garden Scavenger Hunt laminated card
These kits include everything you need to complete the art and nature study activities. All types of learning will take place and these kits are appropriate and designed for children ages 6-12 years. Summertime is the perfect time to add in some meaningful activities without a lot of fussing from the parent.
I know you will love both kits…so much fun and learning to fill your summer hours!
Please read the following explanation outlining how to get this month’s newsletter.
The newsletter link is not in this email but will come separately. There may be a delay in your receiving the email so please don’t email me until the second day of the month if you haven’t received the link on the first. For some reason, some email providers take longer to receive the newsletter email.
If you don’t receive the separate email with the download link, you probably aren’t subscribed to the blog yet. This will take less than a minute to do if you follow the steps below.
If you are a subscriber and you haven’t received your newsletter email yet, check your SPAM inbox. Some subscribers have found the email buried in SPAM inbox.
If you need to subscribe:
You will need to go to the Handbook of Nature Study, look to the top right corner for the box to type in your preferred email address, and then confirm the email that comes to your email inbox.
Once you subscribe, you will receive a thank you email from me with the download link.
This month’s newsletter link will be available only during the month of May so be sure to download it before 6/30/16.
Contents of this edition of the newsletter include:
This month the newsletter focuses on taking a closer look at insect wings. For many people, insects are a difficult topic of study so choosing to look at just one part may help get you over the initial fear of an insect study. Choose a butterfly, a month, or a dragonfly to view up close and just look at the wings!
Contributions from Outdoor Hour Challenge participants- Heather Woodie from Blog She Wrote. Heather has gathered many of her family’s best insect study information for you to view and be inspired by. Thanks Heather!
June Nature Study Planning Page with field trip ideas, nature photo ideas, and a special 15 minute challenge for parents.
Insect Wing Study printable notebook page which can be used as a nature journal topper as well.
Resources for your Nature Library: I have started to build a nature library store on Amazon that will feature by category my favorite nature study books and resources. Take a look and see if there is anything you would like to put on your wish list for your family’s nature study library: Handbook of Nature Study Nature Library Suggestions on Amazon.com. Note this is my affiliate store to items I personally recommend and have read or seen in person. I added some things for your insect study!
Please note that Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level members have access to members only printables each month in addition to the newsletter printables. You will need to log into your account and then go to the “Other Releases” section.
Need help getting started with your nature study using the Handbook of Nature Study? Check out the fresh “Getting Started” page here on the website!
