Nighttime Critters - Our List from the July Newsletter

Summer evenings outdoors....with our chiminea.

We have been working on our July Newsletter Nighttime Critter Challenge all month. I wanted to post a little of what we are observing and learning to give you an idea of how you can pick a few things from your area to study in the evening hours.  I will update our list after the end of the month with any new finds.

Our most predominant nighttime critters of interest are the Brown bats that come every single night to fly in our backyard. I wrote about them back in May as part of mammal study.  For the July newsletter challenge for Nighttime Critters, I decided to share a few of our other nighttime visitors of interest. This study was sort of on-going because when the weather is hot, we tend to drag sleeping bags out to the back deck to sleep in the cool night air. We all lay awake and listen and watch as the nighttime settles in around us.

Shooting stars, satellites zipping across the sky, the moon, the swaying trees in the breeze, and the night sounds all entertain us as we wait for sleep to come.

Fill In The Circle and Fill In With Color Example - Poor owl sketch...he has such a crooked beak.

One of the things that we have discovered sleeping outside on hot summer nights is that we have quite a few great horned owls in our neighborhood. We can hear them calling back and forth right after the sun goes down and then again at around 5 AM. Here is a link to AllAboutBirds.org and if you click the sound button, you will hear the two types of sounds we hear from our owls: Great Horned Owls. We have yet to actually see them but they are out there...no doubt about it.

We also are serenaded by crickets when the temperatures get just right. It is amazing how you don't hear any crickets and then all of a sudden it is as if someone turned on a cricket soundtrack and they all chirp at the same time. The lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study gives a great illustration showing the parts of the cricket and an excellent explanation of how he "sings". (Lesson 82)

 "The wing covers are much shorter than the abdomen and beneath them are vestiges of wings, which are never used. The male has larger wing covers than the female, and they are veined in a peculiar scroll pattern. This veining seems to be a framework for the purpose of making a sounding board of the wing membrane, by stretching it out as a drumhead is stretched." Handbook of Nature Study. 

Turn in your copy of the Handbook of Nature Study to read much more in the lesson explaining this interesting creature.There is such a simple explanation of the mechanics of the crickets chirping that it is perfect for sharing with younger children. The crickets and the frogs compete in our neighborhood for the winner of the "background" noise. It seems as if one or the other is singing their little hearts out. 

We smell skunks quite a few nights a week. Sleeping outside we hear rustling in the garden and I think it is the skunk. I know they dig around the base of the birdfeeder outside our window but over the years I have decided that if he leaves me alone, I will leave him alone. Here is another entry where I talk about our nighttime visitors.

List from the July Newsletter. I cut it out and taped it inside my nature journal.

One last nighttime critter we have had around the neighborhood is the raccoon. Our neighbor has been sharing how they keep forgetting to bring in the dog's food dish at night and the raccoon has decided that it makes a easy snack taken just outside their patio door. We have had our share of raccoons in the yard over the years but we haven't seen any lately. Here is an entry sharing one raccoon experience: Raccoon Visitor.

 
Well that gives you a taste of what we have around here in the evenings. I just thought of something else I need to put on my list....moths.

I look forward to reading about your nighttime critters. Don't forget to post your entry and then submit it to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival before 7/30/11 for a chance in the July Newsletter giveaway!

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Raptors of the Night-Owls: Summer Series #5

As much as we tried over the past few months to observe an owl up close, we just were not able to make it happen this time around. We are hoping to at least hear some owls when we go on our next camping trip to Yosemite National Park in a few weeks. We heard Western screech owls last year. Don't you think they sound like bouncing rubber balls?

We listened to Western Screech Owls, Great Horned Owls, and Spotted Owls online as part of this challenge. We rarely see owls but we do hear them frequently in our part of the world.

We took the challenge to dissect an owl pellet. One of my sons was eager and the other one was not so eager to complete this activity. The mood changed once we got started and they each ended up learning quite a bit about owls from this activity.



(Maybe we should have found some smaller gloves.)

We each had our own pellet to dissect and I decided I am not very good at this sort of thing. I am not a "detail" sort of person so this was a frustrating activity. In the end, I let the boys finish my pellet. The boys on the other hand were awesome at this activity. I was amazed at the minute bones they were able to extract from the mass of fur.


We all think we had mole and mouse bones in our pellets and we each found skulls and jaws with teeth.


Now that was interesting to me! Little tiny jaws with tiny little teeth!


There were amazing amounts of bones in each little pellet.


Although this was not a challenge where we were able to see the owls in person or even hear them in the night, we learned so much from our reading, online research, and the dissection. We are all looking forward to being on the lookout for both hearing the owls and seeing owl pellets during nature walks.

"Owls and hawks are predators that have an ecological relationship with each other. This means that whereas owls hunt predominantly at night, hawks fill their niche durin ghte day. Both birds hunt similar prey species."
Discover Nature at Sundown, page 49.

Just one interesting thing we have been thinking about: There is a cycle of raptor activity-owls at night and other raptors like hawks and falcons during the day. There is always some sort of raptor activity going on in the woods. Fascinating.

Whose-Awake-Me-Too.....hopefully we hear a little of that call on our camping trip this time.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

OHC Summer Series #5 Owls

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Summer Series #5 Owls

Train Your Senses

• Sight: Look for signs of owls: nesting sites, owl pellets. Observe the owl’s eyes, ears, beak, feathers, claws. Keep your eyes out for birds all summer and try to study at least one bird for your nature journal.
  • Hearing: Listen for the screech and hoot of owls. See if you can hear an owl snap its beak. Listen for other bird’s songs.
  • Touch: Feel the feathers of an owl or other bird if you get a chance at a museum or zoo.
  
  
  Inside Preparation Work:
  1. Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 100 to 103 (Screech Owl, Lesson 26). Make note of any interesting facts as you read for future reference. Listen to the owl’s song on AllAboutBirds.org: Western Screech Owl and Eastern Screech Owl.
  
  2. Read in Discover Nature at Sundown pages 40 to 65 (reference to evolution). This section on owls is packed with interesting information, maps, and instructions for additional activities. Pages 59 to 63 outline a study using regurgitated owl pellets that you dissect to discover what the owl has eaten.
  
  Owl Pellets for a dissection activity.
  
  1. http://www.pelletlab.com/barn_owl_pellet
  2. http://www.hometrainingtools.com/search.asp?ss=owl+pellets&x=0&y=0
  3. http://www.acornnaturalists.com/store/STUDENT-OWL-PELLET-KIT-P2683C0.aspx
  
  Outdoor Hour Time:
  Spend your 10-15 minutes of outdoor time this week looking and listening for birds. Try some birding at different times of day and if you are in an area that has owls, plan on spending some time outdoors listening and watching for these magnificent birds. Use AllAboutBirds.org to identify any owl songs you hear, either hoots or screeches. Also, if in the course of your week you find another bird that you are interested in learning more about, please take a few minutes to do some observations of that bird as well.
  
  Remember that we are trying to learn to use more of our sense in our nature study and keep the suggestions above in mind when you are outside at any time this week. Birds can be seen just about anywhere: bird feeder, birdbath, ponds, parks, beaches, in trees, flying over your house, and places that you go each day. Although the focus this week is to learn a little more about owls, you can show interest in any bird that you come across this week.
  
  Follow-Up Activity:
  Complete the owl pellet dissection if you have collected or purchased one for this challenge. Follow the directions that come with your pellet and record your findings in your nature journal.
  
  Here is a free online chart of bones you might find in a pellet and some additional free instructions. You can watch a virtual owl pellet dissection HERE.
• Free set of owl notebook pages and dissection notebook page on NotebookingFairy.com.
  
  There are two notebook pages provided with the ebook, one for the owl and one for any bird you decide to study. You can also record your observations and thoughts in your blank nature journal if you wish. Extra coloring pages for six different owls can be found HERE.
  
  Please make sure to come back and post your link on Mr. Linky after completing this challenge and writing your blog entry.
  
  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
  
  
  
  
  

Owl Pellets

I am doing research for the Summer Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges and one of the challenges is going to be about owls. I would like to use owl pellets as part of the challenge but our family has never done that activity before and I would greatly appreciate any advice or recommendations for particular owl pellets or kits that you have used in the past. I know there must be families that read this blog that have completed this particular project who could help me out with some direction.

I looked on Amazon.com and there are quite a few different products available but I'm not sure which ones are the best even after reading the reviews. Here are a few I am looking at:
Owl Pellet (vole) or this one Student Kit or this book and pellet.

Please email me with any information or recommendations you might have:
harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com

Thanks so much!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom