We had a terrific windstorm last Friday night which is why there were so many fires here in California. I stood outside under the moon in the warm wind and just soaking it all in. I invited my family to join me and several came out and enjoyed the time just listening to the trees blowing and the leaves as they skittered across the deck. The wind chime was really serenading us and reminding us that the wind has a whole rhythm to itself. Wind music.
All that wind left our yards littered with leaves, small twigs, big branches, seeds, cones, and needles. The above photo shows just a snapshot of how many seeds came down out of the tulip tree. If you click on the photo you will see how the tree disburses its seeds with the little "helicopter style" winged seeds.
I really should have the boys complete the one small square activity on our front grass right now with all the interesting things to be found. If you look carefully you will even see an acorn that some bird had stored somewhere and it fell out of its hiding spot during the storm. There are no oak trees anywhere near this grass so some creature had to bring it here...probably a woodpecker or a Scrub jay. The boys and I had a discussion about how the various trees in our area disperse their seeds.
You can also see the large cone from the magnolia that has already lost all of its beautiful red seeds. There are probably over a hundred of these cones in our front yard right now.
This is a perfect example of how when you examine something up close it is truly amazing. Look at the texture and the pattern! The magnolia tree is always giving us something to look at: beautiful green, glossy leaves, huge fragrant flowers, cones, red seeds. The bees love this tree when it is in bloom.
I could not help but try to capture a few of the red seeds that are left after the storm. I love the reds of the autumn and this one is a bright, cheery red.
Here is a very, very cool video on seed dispersal that I found on YouTube and my boys and I watched it about three times! It is a fantastic video about nine minutes long but very much worth the time. Be warned that at about 9 minutes during the segment with the rhino, it actually shows the rhino "dispersing" the seeds with his excrement....my boys were grossed out but watched it several times so it can't be that bad. My favorite segments on the video are the dandelion seeds blowing by the millions and the squirting cucumber seeds. Don't miss this video or just watch a few minutes and invite your children to share the great information.
This was a very unplanned nature study but very rewarding. We have not had any "weather" at all here except the wind. There hasn't been a cloud in the sky to look at or an precipitation except for maybe a bit of dew a few mornings. We are experiencing unusually warm weather in the 70's right now and very dry.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom