Hello one and all, welcome back to the best nature program of all! Pack a few trail snacks, grab your binoculars and follow along for a day in the lives of your Knee High Naturalists.
A wet and misty morning welcomed us to class, melting the snow and leaving big puddles behind! With the disappearing snow, we felt it would be ok to flip our favorite rocks and logs over in search of any bugs still hanging out. We gently moved aside pieces of wood until we found sleep roly-poly’s, sow bugs and even one little millipede. These little guys are really good at crawling all over our mittens! We made sure to put them back where found them and gently cover them with fallen leaves and pine needles for extra insulation. We worked together and very gently rolled the rocks and logs back on top, tucking them in tight for a long winter’s sleep. We looked for tracks from bunnies or our new resident skunk, but the snow had melted too much to tell who was here recently! We decided we wanted to visit the pond today before it freezes over for winter, so we jumped right into our Good Morning song before heading to the pavilion.
We found the warmest spot, washed our hands, unpacked our snacks and settled in for silly book called Snack, Snooze, Skedaddle: How Animals Get Ready for Winter by Laura Purdie Salas. We followed along as many different animals from butterflies and hummingbirds to snakes, bears and foxes prepare for a long winter. We learned that there are three main types of animals, migrators, hibernators and tolerators! Migrators leave for the winter and head to warmer places where they can find plenty of food and find mates—think of monarchs and geese or loons. We learned the blue whales also migrate for the winter and that they have baleen instead of teeth to help them filter feed! We followed along as earthworms made their way deeper underground before the deep freeze set in and saw how snakes all snuggle together to stay warm during the cold winter months. Our favorite animal we learned about was the Wood frog, who burrows under leaves and freezes solid all winter, waiting for a warm spring day to thaw and hop away! We were amazed to hear that it makes its own chemical to help keep its heart and lungs from freezing and hope to find a wood frog of our own soon.
We finished our snack quicker than usual and all rushed to color until everyone was bundled back up and ready to hit the trail. Before we even got to the woods, we saw the resident skunk, Flower, eating acorns in the grass! We stopped and watched from afar as it scrounged around and nibbled before making its way into the woods, in search of more snacks. We noticed that it waddled back and forth as it walked away, its big fluffy trail dragging behind. It was so cute, we had so much fun watching it and wondering about its life, home and favorite things to eat! Once it had moved on, we continued to make our way down the trail, searching for other animals getting ready for winter or signs of them. We noticed less acorns on the ground and think that many animals like chipmunks, deer, squirrels, bunnies and birds have been collecting and storing these delicious little treats for the chilly months ahead. We made our way down a slushy set of steps, giggling as it squished under our feet!
We passed over a small bridge and picked our way over roots and rocks until we got to the boardwalk. We noticed water coming out of the sides of the hill, making little streams and pools that weren’t frozen. After talking about groundwater and watching it magically trickle out of the soil, we realized that this water probably wouldn’t freeze during the winter because it’s always moving! We explored a new section of trail overlooking the river and made plans to come back later and explore the rest of it. We finally made our way to the pond where things looked a little different than last time we were there! It was covered with a thick layer of slush and had so many leaves laying on the bottom. We saw one tiny mud minnow flash by, but no other critters out and about. We watched all of the slush in the pond roll and move when we dropped something in and began to clear out little channels with our shovels, in search of our favorite turtles and frogs who are sleeping soundly in the muck for the season. All too soon, it was time to head back up! We investigated mysterious holes, mushrooms and our leftover pumpkins before packing our gear up and heading home! We checked in on our praying mantis ootheca before tucking it in for winter, too.
Thank you all for another wonderful week in the life of your Knee High Naturalists! We hope you have a wonderful weekend and look forward to seeing you next time when we learn about Terrific Turkeys!
