Nature Walk

Yesterday the Weather Channel predicted rain for today. This morning we found that they had pushed the rain back till tonight and predicted 63 degrees. I decided then that we would go for our first Nature Walk of the year. I have been inspired by a homeschooling mom on the internet who posts an Outdoor Hour Nature Challenge. Next fall we will be doing these as a regular part of our school routine. It's actually scheduled in Aly's curriculum. Hopefully, we will be able to fit them in this spring and summer too. It was a beautiful day. Very windy, but beautiful. We had a couple of errands to run before we could go to the park and by the time we got there the sun was gone and it was a little cooler. The girls didn't mind a bit. Spring has definitely not arrived yet. Things are still looking pretty brown and bare. I wasn't sure exactly what we'd see, maybe a couple birds or ducks. At first, I didn't think the girls would see anything. Aly was busy throwing sticks into the lake and Skyeler wanted to run on ahead (missing any possible nature). Surprisingly, we found quite a few interesting items to investigate. We took the short nature path that wound around the lake (.7 miles around the lake) and here is what we found...

Cattails. Skyeler still remembers when she picked some when she was little and the "exploded" in my car :)

This little guy was a surprise. A painted turtle (I think). He's a little blurry 'cause I zoomed in to make him bigger in photoshop. Aly had just thrown a stick in nearby and we were surprised he was still sitting there. Skyeler took this picture.

Now this was a find! Aly's Five in a Row book the last couple weeks was Owl Moon. One of the things we studied was woodland habitats. One of the books we read was One Small Square Woods (which was excellent). We studied about trees and how the rings tell how old the tree is. I counted at least 15 but I am sure that I missed a few. Aly was impressed that it was older than Skyeler :)

A huge tree next to the path. Of course the girls thought it needed climbing. This was one of the "running by the nature" parts of our walk. Aly did see some tiny bugs on the tree, but I wasn't going up in it to see them. Not pictured was a dome of sticks and twigs next to the tree with a hole going down in it. I would love to know what was living in there.

Now comes the part where I need a Nature Guide of some sort. We found quite a few things that we can't identify. This being the first. Aly actually brought one of these home. Very prickly.

Oh, I could identify this. A cattail that has already "exploded." Skyeler loves how soft they are. She finally was able to pick a couple (without falling into the lake) and give them to Aly. Aly promptly put them in her backpack and by the time we got home, less than an hour later, they were "exploding." She had to shake out her backpack :)

We have no ideas what this beautiful seed pod is. The fibers inside were so smooth and silky. It's a little blurred 'cause the wind was blowing hard. We found this on the edge of the "prairie" next to the lake.

Another beautiful seed pod of some kind. Skyeler found this on the edge of the prairie as well. It looked like a bird's feathers. Also soft and silky. This was was more fragile than the last. It was breaking apart and flying everywhere.

Skyeler with the above seed pod. She is watching the wind carry the seeds away. You can't see it but they are on her shirt. As we walked a little way up the path, we saw some caught on other grasses. I think we were helping to pollinate today :)