Chipmunks or Squirrels? Our Study Using the Outdoor Hour Challenge

When you spend as much time outdoors as our family does, you eventually come across squirrels and chipmunks. Squirrels are an everyday occurrence in our yard but we do not see chipmunks at all. Chipmunks sometimes find us when we are out hiking, always when you stop to eat a picnic at Yosemite. I think the Chipmunk study as part of the More Nature Study series of Outdoor Hour Challenges will be one that is on-going since we were unable this week to observe any up close.

This past summer we had an experience where we thought we had seen chipmunks but turns out they too were squirrels.



This little rodent was very curious about us as we sat on the granite rock taking a rest after a long hot hike. He was not afraid of us in the least bit, begging a bite of our granola bars. We know better than to feed wild animals but he didn't understand that people food is not good for him and insisted that he investigate our pack from the inside out.



We thought he was a chipmunk because of the stripes but when we got home and pulled up the field guide we realized he was a Golden-mantled ground squirrel. Our book says he is "medium sized" but we thought he was rather small compared to our other squirrels that we observe in our backyard, the Western gray squirrel and the Fox squirrel.



So how can we tell in the future that what we see IS a chipmunk? They have stripes on their head and our little ground squirrel does not.

Interesting facts:

• Traditional hibernator- subject of much research on hibernation.
• Eats leaves and seeds of grasses, occasionally eats nuts, roots, bulbs, and other underground plant parts.
• Lives in the coniferous forest at elevations of 5,200 to 12,500 feet.
• It is prey for hawks, jays, foxes, bobcats, and coyote.
• Has cheek pouches for carrying food.
• Digs shallow burrows (up to 100 feet) with hidden openings.
• Cleans itself by rolling in the dirt.

Since we don't have chipmunks in our neighborhood but we know we see them all the time when we are at Yosemite. Sounds like a good reason to take the drive soon!

OHC More Nature Study #6 Chipmunks

"While the chipmunk is a good runner and jumper, it is not so able a climber as is the red squirrel, and it naturally stays nearer the ground."
Handbook of Nature Study page 239




OHC More Nature Study #6
Chipmunks


Inside Preparation Work:

• Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 239-241 (Lesson 58). Take note of the differences between a squirrel and a chipmunk.
• Listen to Chp. 6 in The Burgess Animal Book For Children: Striped Chipmunk and His Cousins.
• View this website that has simple information for chipmunks and squirrels: Backyard Nature: Squirrels.
• Optional YouTube video: Chipmunk in Slow Motion.

Golden Treasury of Natural History from 1952

Outdoor Hour Time:

• Go on a chipmunk hunt! Spend a few minutes of your Outdoor Hour time for this challenge looking for chipmunks. Chipmunks and squirrels are diurnal, or active during the day.
• If you observe a squirrel instead of a chipmunk, make some observations and comparisons. Compare color, stripes, tail, and behavior. 

Golden Treasury of Natural History from 1952 - love the expression

Follow-Up Activity:

• Give the opportunity for discussion and follow-up to your chipmunk hunt. Complete a notebook page (ebook users), a nature journal page, and/or the coloring page (ebook users only) for you nature journal.
• Advanced Follow-Up: Compare a chipmunk and a squirrel by careful observation. Subjects can include: stripes, tails, behavior, diet, size, voice.
• Advanced Follow-Up: Research and record in your nature journal about the method the chipmunk uses for building his home. There is a notebook page in the ebook to record your study.

Additional Links:
Chipmunk Lapbook and Unit Study on HomeschoolShare.com
For Advanced Study: Chipmunks 101 on Squidoo.com


Make sure to share your entry with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. Please jump in even if this is your very first OHC. All you need to do is share the link to your blog entry. Easy as pie. 







Now for our Giveaway!


The winner of the Circle Time - Plan The Best Part of Your Day is Kelsey from Mud Puddles.
Congratulations!

Of Mice and Snow

Last night my boys were going down after dark to put our cats in their basement room for the night. They have to walk right past our bird feeder along the way and this night they saw some kind of creature inside the feeder eating.

They ran back up and had me go outside to see and by the time I got out there the creature was climbing up the supporting rope and up into the tree. I got just a glimpse and I actually saw two critters climbing up. The boys were sure it was something like a possum or rat but I didn't think so from what I had seen.

We pulled out our mammal field guide and started paging through. What was the tail like? How was the head shaped? How big was it? What color was it? We went through all the pages and decided it had to be some kind of rodent.

I crept back to the door with the flashlight and quietly tiptoed out to the deck rail. I flipped on the switch and there in the feeder were the biggest mice I have ever seen. They looked straight at me a few seconds and then made a leap from the feeder to the tree, out onto a branch, and then hopped over to another tree and out of sight.

As long as they stay outdoors I can live with a few mice in my feeders.


This morning we woke up to snow on the ground and more coming down as daylight broke. I was so glad that I had gone out yesterday and cut a lot of my tulips and daffodils to bring inside. The ones left outdoors look so sad.


Our dog thinks this is perfect weather to be outdoors. It brings out the Labrador in her.

We are off to enjoy our very snowy day....I think hot cocoa is in order since this will more than likely be the last of our snow for the season.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

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

Another Glorious Winter Walk-Searching for Mammals

We had another chance to take a walk up in the high country yesterday. The boys were snowboarding but we preferred to take a slower approach to our day. We took two hours to tramp around in the woods and see what we could find.

Here was something we found interesting. It looks as if an animal scratched the bark off this Jeffrey pine to get at something underneath...insects? If you look closely you can see the chunk of bark sticking out from under the snow.


Here is a close-up.


Lots of prints in the snow.....dogs and otherwise. We aren't sure about these. They seem too close together to be a dog and there are no marks for the claws like dogs have.


We think these are squirrel tracks.


Some squirrels had a feast on this stump that we came across as we crunched through the snow. I have come to appreciate that there are animals that depend on this food source in the middle of winter. As we stopped at one point along our walk, a huge cone came crashing down just a few feet from us. As you look around the forest floor, you see cones just about everywhere in various stages of being eaten.


Somehow we lost the trail as we wandered around looking at various interesting things. Yes, that is my hubby looking for a way back to the trail. He assured me he knew which way to go. :)


If you have to be lost, can you imagine a more peaceful place? It was quiet and sunny and warm and we knew generally that we needed to head towards that mountain to get back to the main trail.

We eventually found our way back and it was a really good thing because I was getting tired and hungry. We saw so many other things but I will share those in another post.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Foggy Day Walk: Our Groundhog Study Week

The Outdoor Hour Challenge this week was to learn about groundhogs/woodchucks, prairie dogs, and marmots.

Since we do not have groundhogs, prairie dogs, or marmots in our area, we just enjoyed reading the information from the Handbook of Nature Study, the Burgess Animal Book, and watching the videos.

After that we needed to take our outdoor time.


We didn't feel much like going for a walk but once we were on the trail....it was refreshing and it felt good to stretch our legs. The fog was drifting in and out of the trees as we walked and there was a squirrel chattering at us from high up in the trees.

Here is a short little video where if you listen closely, you will hear what our squirrels sound like. My husband and I were trying to spot the squirrel up in the tree but we were not being very successful. I think that actually the squirrel was scolding our dog.


The boys remembered that we had seen a prairie dog at the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum and I pulled up the photos to remind us a little more.

Wow, I totally forgot that we saw prairie dogs when we were in Arizona. (We saw so many interesting things at this museum that it isn't any wonder that I forgot.)


I thought the prairie dog was posing for us because he looked right at us as I snapped the photo. He was rather cute for a rodent. Click on the photo and then tell me....is he posing or not? That is his hole right there between us and it was really big.

Okay, back to our walk.

On our foggy day walk, we started to notice more and more muddy trails off the main trail. We are assuming these are made by animals since this area does not get many visitors this time of year....or any time of the year for that matter. This particular trail heads down into another gully and I can hear in the distance the faint sound of water so I think there must be a creek. One of these days I will convince someone to go exploring with me down one of these trails. The photo looks crooked but it really is a very steep little gully and I imagine in the spring this will not be as noticeable as the trees put back on their leaves.

After completing a little more research, we found that there are marmots in the Sierras and in Yosemite National Park. I have never seen one there but now you know that it will be a goal to see one. :)

This was a great challenge for us and we learned a lot about these mammals. This challenge also encouraged us to get out on a day that we would have probably not ventured out as a family and that is the best part of the whole thing.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Signs of a Squirrel: Our Outdoor Hour Challenge #45

Today ended up with a nature study of squirrels at my dad's house. We had gone over to visit him this afternoon and somehow it was mentioned that we were studying squirrels this week. His eyes lit up and he took us out for a little walk on the backside of his property. He has been up there cutting wood and he had something to share with us.


This is what he wanted us to see up on the hill next to his woodpile. There was a whole area that was piled high with shredded pinecones. All of the reddish material that you see in this photo is the remnants of a squirrel feast. The squirrels have been very busy eating up in the trees and letting the litter fall to the ground in great heaps.


Here in the center, probably easier to see if you click the photo, are some of the many, many pinecones stripped of their tasty seeds.


Here is a closer shot of another cone.


Can you believe how big this pile is? They are busy squirrels.


Here one of the seeds from the cone after the squirrel has finished with it.

Now for a few more mammal signs from our walk.


We also saw these "signs" from some mule deer that live in this area. Just last week we saw seven deer walking down to my dad's pond late in the afternoon. They seemed not to care that we were watching in awe of their beauty.


Then right down the hill from where we were, we saw these tell-tale signs of a busy gopher. You could not walk easily on this slope because the ground was just full of holes and tunnels.


Here is another view of one of the holes. My dad was thinking about making a new garden in this area but I told him he better think twice....deer and gophers don't mix very well with a vegetable garden. Even though it is a perfect spot for growing with lots of sunlight, he would need to fence it like his other garden area....a very tall fence.

What a great way to study squirrels. My dad thinks of his property as a sort of nature study laboratory for our family. He will call us over if he sees something interesting and I love that about him. My dad and I did not spend much time together when I was a child because he was always working but now that he is retired, he and I share our love of all things that have to do with the great outdoors. He has not always been a fan of homeschooling but I think he now has changed his mind and is eager to help us out with our nature study.

Another great Outdoor Hour Challenge.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Outdoor Hour Challenge #45 Mammals: Squirrels

Here comes this week's challenge. I happen to have a squirrel that visits my backyard and from time to time he gives us a little show. You can be sure we will be doing some direct observation this week. We also noticed some signs of squirrels on our last Winter Wednesday walk so we will be looking up some information about that too.

Here are some videos to get your children interested in squirrels. The first one shows the squirrel's fantastic physical abilities. You will need to click over to my blog to actually view the videos.


This one tries to explain how they can find the nuts they hide.

Amazing.


Outdoor Hour Challenge
#45 Squirrels

1. Read pages 233-237 in the Handbook of Nature Study. Use your highlighter to mark the sections with facts you can share with your children. There are plenty of observation suggestions in Lesson 57 on pages 236 and 237. Keep these ideas in mind as you take your nature walk this week.

“The squirrel’s legs are short because he is essentially a climber rather than a runner; the hips are very strong, which insures his power as a jumper, and his leaps are truly remarkable.”

“The squirrel has two pairs of gnawing teeth which are very long and strong, as in all rodents, and he needs to keep busy gnawing hard things with them, or they will grow so long that he cannot use them at all and will starve to death.”

“During the winter, the red squirrel does not remain at home except in the coldest weather, when he lies cozily with his tail wrapped around him like a fur neck-piece to keep him warm.”
Handbook of Nature Study, pages 234 and 235

Here is an additional fact sheet on squirrels:
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/printable/squirrel.html
And here:
http://www.squirrels.org/facts.html

2. Supplemental reading in The Burgess Animal Book for Children: Read Stories 4-6. Take a few minutes after reading each story to have your child narrate to you some interesting points from the story. Use the illustrations on pages 30, 36, and 41 of the book to get the narration going if they are having trouble getting started.

3. Spend 10-15 minutes outdoors on a nature walk. As you walk, discuss where you might find a squirrel in your neighborhood. Remind your child where a squirrel lives and what it eats. If you know you have a squirrel in your yard or at your local park, take along some nuts or seeds to put out and observe the squirrel eating. Never feed a squirrel by hand. Don’t worry if you cannot observe a squirrel this week. Enjoy your outdoor time and observe any mammals that you come into contact with during your walk.

4. For your nature journal you can write out your observations from your squirrel watching. Use the observation suggestions for ideas to include in your entry: describe the color of the fur, how the eyes are placed, what do the paws look like, how does the squirrel climb up and down a tree, the sound the squirrel makes as he expresses himself, show the tracks that the squirrel makes in the snow. If you did not observe a squirrel, you can use any of the additional resources to include in your nature journal this week. Tina has a special Mammal Notebook page on the Save File site that you can download and use for your nature journal as well. (see the link below)

Additional resources for this challenge:
Squirrel notebook page and facts
Squirrel coloring pages

Here are some notebook pages for squirrels from Homeschool Share.com

A little more advanced notebook page that has a Venn Diagram to compare grey and red squirrels

Would you like to make a squirrel feeder?
Squirrel Feeder Directions

If you would like to purchase a mammal lapbook kit for your family, here is one that my daughter and I designed.
Mammal Lapbook Kit


Barb-Harmony Art Mom