November Nature Study - Autumn Hiking Delights

The mountains and forest had been calling for us to come and explore the season before the winter sets in any time now. The forecast was for partly cloudy skies and perhaps a few snow flurries so we didn't plan too long of a hike just in case we needed to move quickly to shelter. The sun actually poked through the clouds a few times and that was a welcome treat.


Right near where we parked the car and started on the trail we noticed that a beaver had gnawed this tree down...can you believe how strong that beaver must be? We weren't sure if he was going to come back for the log but we marveled at his ability to bring down a rather large tree.


We hiked through the mixed conifer and deciduous forest, noting that the aspens were all bare but still very beautiful. We listened to the bird sounds and a squirrel chattering too. We saw and heard Steller's jays, common ravens, California gulls, mallard ducks, white-headed woodpeckers, Canada geese, and an osprey. It was a great day for birds.


We stopped along the trail to view the meadow and marsh. This spot is known to be an eagle habitat so I had my eyes open wide hoping to see one this day. And.....I was not disappointed. A bald eagle flew very majestically above the meadow from the pine forest and then out over the lake. I was very excited to see this graceful bird as he flew right overhead and then disappeared. It was a moment.

In the photo above you can see how it was snowing up on the mountain peak and we even at one point had soft flakes of snow coming down on us but it didn't last long or stick to the ground at all. It was a perfect day for a hike.


Journal tip: It can be overwhelming when you have so many subjects to write about in your journal. It helps to focus on just one of the highlights like our encounter with the eagle and a list of birds. I don't like to draw birds so I used a photo and then answered the three main questions: when, where, what.


When I take my creative daughter with me, we always find a way to do something fun. This time we settled on making an Andy Goldworthy style art piece using natural items. There were loads of pinecones on the ground so we decided to feature those in our sculpture.


While we were busy with our sculpture, my husband added this line of pinecones leading down the stairway to our artwork. It made me smile and feel appreciative of the support of a great guy for his nature-loving wife.


On the hike back we found a patch of thistles to admire. After studying them this autumn I have a new found appreciation for their features. So pretty even now.


We also saw where the beaver is attempting to build a dam across the creek. The creek is flooding part of the trail right now because of the water backed up behind the dam. We had to circle around to avoid needing to wade through the creek. This is exactly where we saw the mama and two baby bear cubs earlier this fall...no signs of them now.

As always, we were rewarded for our efforts to get outdoors and do some exploring. The informal nature study opportunities were everywhere and I made some mental notes on topics we were curious about as we hiked along. Some afternoon on a cold winter day I will pull out some field guides and we will research a few of the answers to our questions. Nature study truly is a life project.

Music While We Walked, Catkins to Look At, and a Squirrel Entertainer

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Click this photo! Gorgeous!

We had a unique experience the other day out on a walk in an area where at this time of year there are very few other people. It was a quiet, bird watching sort of day as we hiked along until one section of the trail where I swore I heard music. We all stopped and listened and sure enough, far in the distance we could hear music playing....I thought banjo music. We had no idea where the music was coming from. We were pretty far from the parking area, we had only seen one other person the whole afternoon, and I was fairly sure it was someone actually playing the music since it sort of started and stopped and wasn't like it was a CD or something like that.

We rounded one bend in the trail and we had our answer. You can listen for yourself here in this very short video. (I felt really weird taking a video but I was sure we would want to remind ourselves of this in the future...it made us smile.)




We did eventually catch up to these two walking along and they were just out enjoying the spring weather, making some music. I have no idea what kind of instrument he was playing. It looked to be homemade. It sort of looked like a guitar/banjo/cigar box stringed instrument.

Sometimes I feel like playing music when I am out on a hike too. No, I won't be doing it anytime soon.

Here is a little friend that entertained us on this afternoon as well.

California ground squirrel....he was posing for us for a very long time.

We also had a chance to observe up close the catkins of the Quaking aspens. This is something new and interesting that I want to do some more research about.....the boys were not impressed with this subject but I will do research on my own. :)

The photo at the top of the page is a bunch of catkins hanging on the tree. Aren't they pretty?

Something I learned about the Quaking aspen is that is the preferred food of the beaver. It makes total sense to me since this is where we saw the beaver's dam and there is an abundance of aspens. I love making connections.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Beavers, Fur, and Rocks: Our Family's Outdoor Hour Challenge

This week we took time to review a little bit about beavers since we regularly visit an area where we see evidence of them. If you read my blog regularly, you have seen photos of the beaver lodges and the trees gnawed on by beavers.


My son really enjoyed watching the YouTube videos on beavers and we read the section in the Handbook on muskrats.

Our outdoor time this week was spent exploring an area off the trail we normally take. It led us to what we are now calling Fern Gully. This area is found by following what we think is a deer trail down off the main trail and into a steep little gully. We have heard water running in this area before and we presume that when it rains hard enough there is water running down the rocks. We will test our theory the next chance we get.


Here is another photo looking the other way down the gully.

There are lots of blackberry vines. We are interested to see how this area looks in the summertime. We imagine it being a cool place to sit in the shade. It should be interesting to see how the area changes as the seasons change.

We found more fur on the side of the trail...a lot this time.

We still are puzzled by the fur mystery. I looked at it very closely and it is really fluffy and very soft. It is white...with a slight yellowish color to it. There is no blood or tracks or other signs of struggle. I have no idea where it came from but this is the third spot on the mile and a half trail that we have seen this fur. Last week we began to wonder if it was a dog's fur but it just doesn't feel like any dog fur that I have felt before. Someone suggested in a comment that it could be sheep's wool but it is no way the texture of wool and there are definitely no sheep in this area. Hmmmm...still wondering.


We came across an area that has these wonderful quartz rocks. Really, really pretty.

Here is the backside.

I am so interested in studying rocks but I am nervous about being overwhelmed with trying to identify them. Any suggestions?

Well, that wraps up this post for our Outdoor Hour Challenge this week. We had some adventures and some good questions this week. Last night we had two inches of snow so we were able to complete our Winter Wednesday snow activities from a few weeks ago. I was glad that we had planned ahead of time and had the experiments in our mind as it began to snow. I will post those results soon.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

If you would like to have the first ten challenges in eBook format, they are now available for purchase.

Outdoor Hour Challenge #48 Mammals-Rats and Beavers

Things have seemed to slow down around the Outdoor Hour Challenges lately....not sure if you are all hunkered down for the winter or if you are not following along with mammals. Either way jump in where you want and I will come visit your entries on Mr. Linky.

How about some beaver videos to get some interest started for your Outdoor Hour Challenge?

YouTube Video with Beaver Information:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZVbKwDmr-o

YouTube Video on Beaver Lodges:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuMRDZbrdXc

YouTube Video: Beavers in the Snow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgAux-KaaMk

We found what looks like a beaver lodge on our walk a few days ago. This one isn't as large as the one that we observed before but it was still exciting to see in real life. If you look closely, you may be able to see where something has been going in and out. It may be that this is an old or abandoned beaver lodge and something else has taken up residence...not sure.


Outdoor Hour Challenge
#48 Rats and Beavers

1. Read pages 219-223 in the Handbook of Nature Study. As you read, highlight or underline some facts you can share with your children. Share some interesting facts about the muskrat with your child.

You may wish to share what makes a rodent different than other mammals. Here is a link to read with them about rodents.
What is a Rodent? (information and activity page)

2. Supplemental reading in The Burgess Animal Book for Children: Read Stories 12-14. After you read each story, pause and let your child narrate back some facts they learned from the reading. Pages 60, 73, and 79 show illustrations for the animals discussed in this week’s challenge. Use these illustrations if needed to help your child narrate some facts about the animals in this week’s challenge.

3. This week during your 10-15 minutes of outdoor time, look for any mammals in your neighborhood or in a near-by park. Many of us do not have muskrats or beavers in our region but we can still take this opportunity to spend time outdoors with our children. If you are fortunate enough to have access to an area with muskrats, the observation ideas in the Handbook of Nature Study suggest looking for muskrat tracks in the mud along a creek, pond, or marsh. The book also suggests looking to see what kind of mark the muskrat’s tail makes in the mud and snow.

You can also use this week’s walk to use all of your senses. Challenge yourselves to touch, observe, smell, listen, and perhaps even taste something while on your nature walk this week. (Caution your children about tasting anything without asking you first.)

4. For your nature journal you can sketch something you observed during your outdoor time or you can complete a mammal notebook page for the muskrat or the beaver. You may wish to sketch the simple diagram on page 220 showing how a muskrat makes his burrow. You could also do some additional research and find two different kinds of rats to learn about and then record what you learn in your nature journal. Another idea would be to compare and contrast a muskrat and a beaver in your nature journal.

5. Make your journal entry and share on Mr. Linky. All the challenges are listed in the sidebar of the Handbook of Nature Study blog.

Additional resources for this challenge:
Common Muskrat-more information
Muskrat information on Enchanted Learning

Fact Sheet on Beavers: NatureWorks.com

Desert Woodrat

Kangaroo rat
More information on the Kangaroo Rat and a notebook page
Texas Kangaroo Rat coloring page-you will need to scroll through to page 7

Rat Notebook Page
Rat coloring Page

Beaver information on Enchanted Learning
Beaver coloring page for younger children
Another great beaver coloring page

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

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.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

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.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom