THEME - WINTER wildlife: tracks & scat

We made the best of a small group today! Ms. Paige found a stack of nature-themed calendars in the Nature Center and taught us how to make collages out of them. This is a fun and creative activity to do when you have outdated magazines and calendars sitting around. We talked about the different landscapes, animals, and birds we came across. Lots of them were found in Michigan and we talked about the differences between them and species found in the mountains or oceans.

Next, we hiked down to the Boardman River. Now that the snow and ice are melting, we are able to trek along the Sabin Trail, which leads to the frog boardwalk and bottomlands. Ms. Paige even gave us permission to explore off trail. She explained that the Mini Mac suspension bridge used to hang over a giant pond, Sabin Pond. When the Sabin Dam was removed in 2018, the pond slowly drained downstream and the original flow of the Boardman River was restored. As we walked down to the riverbank, we carefully watched where we stepped because the area is currently a restoration project. New grasses, flowers, trees and shrubs have been planted and are still in their early stages of growth. We noticed lots of old tree stumps as we walked–some taller than us! These stumps are potentially centuries old trees, having been submerged by the pond for roughly 100 years. Where we stood, the water would have been over our heads if the pond still existed.

On our hike back to the Nature Center, we found numerous signs of animals. Lots of branches and small trees had been gnawed on by rabbits, squirrels, and deer. We also searched for scat and animal tracks. By the frog boardwalk, we noticed a set of prints that looked almost like mini human hands. At first glance, we thought they might belong to a raccoon, but after researching a bit further, they could be opossum tracks–notice how they are placed one after another rather than side by side. Either way, it was a cool discovery!