Great Backyard Bird Count ~ February 19

We decided to go to a local park which is close to a marina, since there was a couple of showings at our house this afternoon. We brought the camera and observed the birds there for about fifteen minutes. It was windy and cold!

We reported seeing:

Canada Goose - 15
Mallard - 11
Ring-billed Gull - 7
Herring Gull - 12.

We think there was probably more, but we counted at least that many before heading back to our car for some warmth!

You can still participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count tomorrow. 

Wordless Wednesday :: Robin

Summer Nature Study :: At the Pond

We have been fortunate to be able to see wildlife at the man-made pond close to our home. I often notice birds while I am walking our dog in the morning and always run back home to grab my camera.  Whenever I do bring my camera along on my walks, I rarely spot any birds!

I take photographs, sometimes accompanied by one of my children, then we all look at the photos I took on our computer screen. We research more information in the Handbook of Nature Study, in our field guides, or online. Sometimes we just talk about what I saw and captured on film. That is how we have been enjoying nature study at our house this summer. Simple but very enjoyable!

I wanted to share with you a few photographs from our nature study at the pond.

Widow Skimmer Dragonfly

I first noticed this dragonfly while I was trying to get a good photo of the Great Egret. I believe that this particular dragonfly is a female Widow Skimmer. Their larvae live in the stillwaters of ponds, lakes and marshes of the US, Southern Ontario and Quebec in Canada. I noticed a lot of these flying around. The one in the photo above is an adult female. The male has a blue body and more defined black spots on their wings, along with the white markings. A few days later, I was able to photograph a male:

Widow Skimmer Dragonfly

I love watching the Great Egret at the pond. This bird is so majestic and moves very slowly at the edges of the pond. It seems to be watching me and if I get too close, just flies a little bit away from me. After I circled the pond twice in this way, always trying to get a little closer but still at a distance, this particular Great Egret seemed to be used to me because it stopped flying away!
I wonder if it is the same Great Egret that keeps coming to our little pond. Every year we have lived here, I have been able to photograph this beautiful bird in the summer. I read that they have a life span of 23 years.

I see you!

I got too close again.





The Great Blue Heron is a bit more rare for us to see. This bird is also much more quicker at sensing my presence! I was able to only take one photo this morning before it flew away.

Great Blue Heron

Ducks and a (dead) Mudpuppy :: (Unplanned) Nature Study!

It was so nice outside today that we decided to go on a picnic at our local park. Another homeschool family joined us and we had a wonderful time playing and chatting.

Without planning it, we ended up doing quite a bit of nature study.

First, we went to the little pond near the park and observed a family of Mallard ducks. The kids really enjoyed watching the ducklings swim around and listening to them.  I thought it was interesting to see the mom duck round up and direct her little ones. We counted 15 ducklings!

We then went over to the beach area and found some other interesting creatures to look at...even if they were dead!

There were quite a few dead fish washed up on the shore, which we didn't think was a good sign, but it made for interesting nature study. The beach is on Lake St. Clair.

We saw one that we couldn't identify while we were there. Andre thought it was a salamander, and after some research tonight, I think he was right. I am pretty sure it was a Mudpuppy.

They are from the salamander family but spend their lives underwater, which is why they never loose their red gills. You can see them in the photo that shows the underside of it. They are also nocturnal. The one we found was about 12 inches long, including the tail. You can see the four toes on each leg. It looks like this particular was injured on the top. I read somewhere that because of their size, mudpuppies make good canditates for dissection. My kids are really wanting to do this type of science activity, but we didn't think of bringing it home (or if that was even ok to do!).

Wilderness Wednesday ~ Seagulls in the Field

We've had a lot of rain  here lately, which is wonderful for the grass, but not so great for us! It is still cold too. Yesterday, we noticed a flock of seagulls in the farmer's field near our house. Maybe they were getting worms. I thought the little spots of white looked nice against the brown of the fields and the grey of rainy sky.  

This is our first post for  Wilderness Wednesday hosted by Homeschooling Newbie. I hope the weather will cooperate soon so that we can share more spring nature photos!

Book Sharing Monday :: Wings

Wings is written by Sneed B. Collard III and illustrated by Robin Brickman. This book is full of interesting facts about bats, birds, butterflies, moths, and insects. We learned about many of the animals that have wings, and some birds that don't, and how they use their wings. Each of the animals featured has a fascinating ability. I added a few photos from the book, that my son chose. He really enjoyed this book. I thought the illustrations are amazing! Each is made by hand with painted paper, cut and sculpted and glued. There are resources listed at the back of the book, websites and other books about bats, birds, butterflies and moths, along with a short glossary.

The same author/illustrator team also wrote a book called "Beaks!". We found it at our library, just need to wait for it to get to our branch!

"Some of the most unusual wings belong to the clearwing butterflies of the American Tropics. As transparent as glass, these see-through wings make the butterflies difficult to follow when they are flying. Many clearwing butterflies are poisonous, so the colored edges and veins of their wings may warn predators to stay away."

If you would like to participate in Book Sharing Monday, please add the link to your book sharing post below. Happy reading!

Great Backyard Bird Count ~ February 18 to 21

The Great Backyard Bird Count starts next Friday! We participated last year (you can see our post here), counting birds at our neighbour's feeder from our bedroom window. We spent 15 minutes a day for three days counting how many birds and recording which types of birds we saw. We then submitted our findings to the GBBC site.

Here is the description of the activity from their site:

"The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes on one day, or you can count for as long as you like each day of the event. It’s free, fun, and easy—and it helps the birds."



The site is filled with helpful resources! There are special pages for kids (games, colouring pages, puzzles...), links to online bird guides, and more. I especially like the checklist that you can create by entering your location (postal code, zip code, or city). It lists all the birds that you could see in your area for this time of year. There are also more resources under  "For Educators".  

Let me know if you participate too!

Canadian Geese and more...

We are very fortunate to be able to watch Canadian Geese and a few other birds at a pond near our house, along with a few rabbits, to the delight of our dog.

We noticed 2 nests with geese eggs a few weeks ago at this pond and now both Canadian geese families have their goslings!

The last three photos show a Great Blue Heron. I noticed this magnificent bird last year at the pond. I don't know if it is the same one or not.