Why is nature study a priority for our family?

I have lived here for 36 years.  Locally speaking, I love to hike in the foothills, bike along the trail system, visit Horsetooth Reservoir and go up the Poudre Canyon and watch the rafters on the Cache la Poudre River when it is full to the hilt with spring runoff.  We are very fortunate to have such a wide variety of outdoor activities within a fifteen mile radius of our front door.

But

I can count on one, maybe two hands, the different number of local trails I have been on.  We hike the same trails, over and over, because familiar is comfortable.  It feels safe, and I know what to expect.  I've rafted - once.  Most of the hiking and exploring that I have done is when I was single and stupid.  I had my dogs with me, but that was not really smart.  I have a cursory working knowledge of the plants and animals in this area.  I can sum it up this way:

1.  "Leaves of three, let it be."

2.  If it makes a rattling sound, get the hell out of there.

That is not much to go on.  So I purchased a wonderful book, Handbook of Nature Study, by Anna Botsford Comstock.  I bought it two years ago.  Baby Steps!  I've read about five pages.  It takes up about as much shelf space as Gone With the Wind.  I bought a bird guide with last year's Christmas money.  Baby steps!  We used it to identify a bird about a month later.  I can't remember what it is now... the point is, I am not getting anywhere very fast in closing this knowledge gap.

I just feel that it is time to get the kids 'out there'.  Jordan is in Boy Scouts, and a wealth of knowledge about all things natural will help him immensely.  We are more mobile - we are down to one child in a backpack, so that makes it possible for me to foray out on my own with the kids in tow.

Here are some things I want to be able to accomplish:

* Locate milkweed later this spring, so that we can also locate some butterfly chrysalises.
* Start nature journals and have the kids work on sketching.
* Take some water samples and determine the health of the marsh by the variety of insects present.
* Study a prairie dog town.
* Become familiar with different animal tracks
* Research with the kids so they know what a rattlesnake sounds like.
* See a rattlesnake.  (Yes, you read that correctly)
* Watch a beaver.
* Watch an elk herd.
* Do a bird count (next month!!) - build up our knowlege about local birds
* Be able to identify local plants

And a host of other things.  Most of all - I want to know what I am seeing, hearing, smelling...and so forth.  I don't like answering the question, "Is this poisonous?" with an, "I have no idea".  I want to know more about where we live - and what else lives here too.  It is very sad (in my mind) that I don't really know much about the area, despite living here for so long.  Sure, I've been on numerous field trips over the years with school, Camp Fire Girls, Master Naturalists and so forth... but none of it has really stuck.

We have some tasks to do before we can make a real 'go' of this. 

1. We need to assemble our "Nature Outing" backpack.
2. I need to print off and familiarize myself with our Winter nature studies book.
3. Make a short-term plan for the next few weeks of what we want to accomplish before winter turns to spring.
4. Make a long-term plan.. have a family meeting and determine where our particular interests lie.
5. Get in the habit of going outside, EVERY DAY - even if it means just a quick walk around the neighborhood.  Realistically, there will be days where the weather is going to be nasty.  Those are the days that I need to have a backup - a video queued up on Discovery Ed. that discusses a topic we are learning about.

That is all I can think of right now... I am pretty excited about this.  This can go in all sorts of interesting directions, and I can't wait to get started!

Fossil Creek Reservoir Regional Open Space - First Visit

For background information and directions, go here

So.  I made it a New Year's 'intention' to get our feet wet in nature study.  I down-loaded the Book 2 Winter 2012 ebook from the Handbook of Nature website.  I shuffled our school schedule around so that we would have a dedicated time of day to do this - EVERY day.  I even built a new blog to show and tell about our adventures!  Now comes the hard part.  The actual DOing.

In our new schedule, Mondays are dedicated to Project Wet.  Years ago, I spent about $30 bucks and attended an all-day training with my fellow teacher-ed students and we all did a couple of lessons out of the manual and got to take the book home at the end of the day.  I haven't looked in this book since, except to teach a co-op about the water cycle a few years ago.  The projects are all interesting, but not all are doable for us (like, for instance, we don't live near a saltwater marsh or the ocean).  So, to get the ball rolling, each Monday we can visit a local natural area that involves water (and around here, there are an incredible amount to choose from - river, stream, wetland, lake...) and improvise.

Last Monday's choice (mine) was to revisit the Fossil Creek Reservoir.  We've been here once before, with our homeschooling group, for a Bald eagle talk/watch a couple of years ago.  Back then, we did see an eagle as it soared over the water.  We didn't see much else.  When you are in a crowd of about 10-15 chatty families with busy children, the wildlife is going to duck for cover.

This time around we made our visit in mid-morning.  Our nature walks are timed to be a good break after an intensive early morning of math and reading lessons.  Everybody is in need of some wiggle-time and fresh air by that point.  It also lessens the chance of there being scads of other people about.  I like it when it is just me and the kids... we all enjoy ourselves much more and there is a lot less distraction.

I brought my camera and Jordan brought his new camera that he purchased with his Christmas money, and his assignment was to take a decent picture of every bird that he could find.  I also brought our binoculars, since this is a rather large lake.

Fossil Creek Reservoir is a favored habitat for Bald eagles in our area - along with several other species of birds.  We went with the high hopes that we would spot one.  We did, but it was on the far side of the lake from the viewing area we were watching from, and we couldn't get a photo of it before it veered off into the distance.  We didn't see any other birds (besides the ever-present Canada Goose) - quite surprised and disappointed by that... but it is January after all.

We did learn some things:

HOW TO BE QUIET

As we made our way from the car to the viewing area, the gigantic stillness began to take hold, and the kids realized how noisy they were actually being.  Noisy 'shushing' ensued...  but finally, we were all quiet enough that we could listen to what was going on around us.

* constant tiny 'cracking' noises coming from the icy shoreline

* the honking sounds from the geese, which carried over the water and ice

* a very strange, but distinct 'booming' sound coming from across the lake

* Noisy traffic from the interstate to our east, and the road to our south

* air traffic from overhead as the planes landed or took off from the Loveland Airport.

HOW TEDIOUS RESEARCH CAN BE

We were very puzzled by the booming sound.  My only reasonable guess is that it was a frog (well, several of them, actually).  After investigating on the internet and combing through the list of amphibians native to our area, the only one that (sorta) fits the sound is the Bullfrog.  I have never heard a frog in the wintertime - let alone the middle of January!!  Even after listening to each and every species of local frog call on youTube - I still think that it must have been bullfrogs we were hearing.  It seemed to surround the northern side of the lake.  We will be going back next Monday (we didn't go yesterday because it was freezing and threatening snow, and Dean was home for MLK day... and we were in the midst of a dryer repair that Dean was doing - so skipping out of the house to go on a nature walk was not in the cards...)

What we liked:

* We were one of three vehicles in the parking lot - but we didn't see anyone else.  It's nice to have the place to yourself.

* The paved walkways.  I still like to take Colin in the stroller when I can - we can go further and it kills my back to carry him very far.

* The signage.  Lots of information about what you are looking at.

* The sightings board - up-to-date info about the latest eagle sighting.

* The public restroom - nice and clean!

* The viewing platform

What we didn't like:

* The traffic noise.

* The limitations posed by the limited number of trails - but it also goes with the territory.  Wildlife is 'king' here - and they limit your mobility to give the wildlife maximum habitat.

Wildlife we saw:

Bald eagle (maybe)

Canada Geese

Wildlife we heard:

Canada Geese

Bullfrog (Rana catesbiana )

So, as our first official foray into all things nature... I would say it went pretty well. We didn't drag out the sketch books or identification books yet, but those days are coming. We just have to keep practicing the fine art of being quiet. (yeah... that'll be the day!)

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I hate setting up a new blog... uugh.