Snowbirds are Here!



Making treats for snowbirds.

I’m starting to see snowbirds again, and I’m not talking about people from up north who have winter homes in Florida.  I mean the actual birds that migrate to Florida when the weather turns cold where their summer homes are located. 

Just last week, I saw a very noticeable, American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos).  They are bigger than our year-round native brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis).  Although they usually tend to favor coastal shallow marshes for their winter homes, my family is lucky enough to live within a short drive to a few small, shallow lakes that seem to attract a growing number of them every winter.  The location must remind them of their habitat up north.

Another snowbird who is more common in backyards this time of year is the yellow-rumped warbler (Setophaga coronata).  Again last week, I noticed small groups of them darting from trees to bushes to the ground, hanging around in our local suburbs.  While they are in our area during the winter, they are attracted to many of our bushes with winter fruits and berries.  If you have the right plants in your backyard, you’ll see these gregarious birds often.  A favorite bush of theirs is the wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera), which provides an edible waxy fruit all winter long for them.

There are many other snowbirds here too, making Florida one of the best places to bird watch during this time of year.  Some additional Florida wintering birds include ruby-crowned kinglets (Regulus calendula), Eastern phoebes (Sayornis phoebe), American robins (Turdus migratorius), cedar waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum), palm warblers (Setophaga palmarum), and gray catbirds (Dumetella carolinensis).  If your child is interested in birds, you might want to start an annual tradition with him or her of joining in the Annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count, which takes place from December 14, 2014 to January 5, 2015.  For more information, check out http://birds.audubon.org/christmas-bird-count.  Children of any age who love birds will enjoy helping you spot them for the count.

To start getting your child interested in bird watching, you can attract birds to your backyard by feeding them.  It’s always good to have a permanent feeder located in your yard to keep birds around all year long; but during the winter, additional feeders are important to help birds increase their body fat to keep them warmer during the cold winter months.  To help birds with this, they often change their diets to more fatty foods.  This is a perfect opportunity to have your child help you make special bird feeders ideal for the winter. 

There are all kinds of creations that you and your child can make to help feed birds.  A simple bird feeder to make uses peanut butter spread on pinecones and rolled in bird seed.  Unfortunately, that keeps many children with nut allergies from feeding birds, but allergies shouldn’t prevent feeding and developing a love of wild birds!    



Adding bird seed to
suet-covered bagels.

Although my daughter doesn’t show any signs of allergies, we decided to make some nut free bird feeders today.  We used whole wheat bagels cut in half and threaded a long string through the hole.  My daughter helped me spread berry suet on each bagel, which you can buy at many pet stores or even grocery stores.  I then poured bird seed (nut-free) and small raisins into a bowl and had my daughter dip each suet covered bagel into the bowl so the seeds stuck to the suet.  Then we took them outside and hung them on several trees at different heights.



Hanging snowbird treats.

Unfortunately, any commercial bird seed, even if it does not have nuts in it, is likely made in a factory that makes other seed mixes with nuts, so there is the possibility of cross contamination.  However, even with severe nut allergies, you can still make a similar treat for birds in your home.  There are several recipes online describing how to make suet, which is basically beef fat.  Then you can add your own ingredients for taste from home-grown seed and fruit yielding plants or purchase seeds and fruits from manufacturers who specifically market to people with nut allergies.  

With or without nut allergies, everyone can landscape for birds by planting seed and berry producing plants, bushes, and trees, such as wax myrtle, American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), and dahoon holly (Ilex cassine).  Before long, these snowbirds will be enjoying your yard and bringing a smile to your child’s face. 

With Thanksgiving a day away, I am thankful for my family and the love we share of nature.  As well, I am thankful for the little birds that visit my yard and bring happiness and excitement to my home.  We hope they eat as well as my family will.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Bird treats hung around the yard.

Expedition ABCs

Loving Expedition ABCs

With the weather so nice here in Florida, my daughter and I just want to spend as much time outside as we can.  Today, we decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood and work on our ABC’s.  Our goal was to try to find an object (preferably in nature) that begins with each letter of the alphabet.  Before we embarked on our alphabet expedition, I wrote each letter of the alphabet down in a notebook that we took with us to keep track of our goal.  My daughter was in charge of keeping track of letters that we needed to find, and I wrote down each object that we found next to its beginning letter.  Since the weather was cooler causing fewer animals to be found, it was more difficult to come across objects in nature starting with every letter of the alphabet.  Therefore, we allowed some items that were not natural; as long as they were found outside.  During our walk, any objects that were new to her, I explained, as well as expanded on information for items that interested her.

This is what we found:

A – acorn

Discovering beautyberries

B – beautyberry bush, birds, butterfly

C – car

D – dragonfly

E – earth

F – flower, fern

G – garden, grass

H – hole (dug by an animal)

I – insect

J –

K –

L – leaves

M – mammal, mushroom

N – nest, nuts

O – orange tree with oranges

"Where'd the pinecone come from?"

P – pinecone from a pine tree

Q –

R – rock

S – sand, squirrels, stick

T – tree

U –

V – vultures, vine

W – water, wasp

X – xeriscape

Y – yard

Z –

In charge of finding objects in nature

As you can see, we didn’t find all of the letters of the alphabet (and I was really disappointed we didn’t see a zebra longwing butterfly), but my daughter welcomed our walk with an educational purpose since it related to what she has been learning in preschool.  She enthusiastically took the notebook and started searching for objects as soon as we were outside.  During our walk, she learned new words such as Xeriscaping (which will probably be my go to “X” word during future walks).  Hopefully someday soon, after she’s heard the word several times and understands its meaning, she’ll be able to help me create a drought tolerant, Florida friendly garden for her to play in.  We also concentrated on the meaning of the word “yard.”  As a two year old, she doesn’t quite understand the concept of land ownership, so distinguishing one yard from another was a great exercise, as well as learning that she shouldn’t walk in other people’s yards unless she is invited.  She also discovered the many beautyberry bushes that are full of bright purple berries this time of year.  She hadn’t seen that color in nature on something that wasn’t a flower before.  We talked about how the berries are food for birds and small mammals.  And yes, mammals were on our list, although we only saw people, dogs, and squirrels during this walk.  We discussed how hair is a characteristic of mammals, which means we are mammals too.  As an added benefit to finding objects that begin with each letter of the alphabet, we also got to work on the sounds each letter makes all the while adding new words that were connected to tangible objects for her to store in her memory files of alphabet words.

Trying to write down one of her findings

As my daughter gets older and the seasons change, we’ll find other letters and new words during our ABC nature walks.  This can also become more of a game when the ABC’s are second nature to her as she begins to read and write (who can spot the most objects that begin with each letter of the alphabet?).  And each walk may be different as my daughter learns and notices new things in the neighborhood. 

This ABC nature walk can easily be adapted to any child’s age, so get out into your neighborhood and explore the ABC’s in nature.  Not only will your child grow his or her vocabulary, but he or she will also find something new, connect it with what is being learned in school, and develop a love of nature in a fun and energetic way.

Story Time - Leaf Man

“Story Time” will be a recurring feature on Mommy Nature, introducing children’s books with a nature theme.  Watch for them to help expand your child’s library.

Story Time – Leaf Man, written by Lois Ehlert

I borrowed some new (for us) books from the library the other day.  It’s always a fun occasion to search for books that can be more than just stories at bedtime, and I found a gem of a creative book for fall.  Leaf Man is a simple story about fall leaves in the shape of a man who is blown away past other animals and landscapes made out of leaves.  Each page is no more than a sentence long at most, but what makes this book special are the artistic leaf collages on each page and its use of imagination of where the leaf man might go.

Each turn of the page with my daughter was an exhilarating search for the artistic outline of the animal or plant displayed.  I’d question her, “Do you see it?”  She’d excitedly answer, “There, there!”  The end of the book states that only the wind knows where the leaf man will go.  After reading the book, my daughter and I made up a story together of where the wind might have blown the leaf man around our yard.  Then we walked around outside looking for the leaf man.  Alas, we live in Florida and very few leaves have turned color and fallen out of our trees yet this year; so regrettably, we couldn’t find him.  But that’s okay, the journey is more important than the destination, and our fun with this book was not over yet.

Leaf Man is almost begging for children to come up with their own designs to create plants and animals out of leaves.  However, my daughter is only two; so, her creativity and eye/hand coordination make this a little more complicated than it would be for an older child.  Luckily, there are a few very simple butterfly collages that would be easy for almost any age to construct.  The butterflies in the book were made from only two or three leaves (one for the body and a big leaf or two small, similar looking leaves for the wings).  Then we went on a hunt around our yard for leaves of all shapes and sizes.  I checked over each leaf we collected to make sure there were no bugs or leaves that were too dry and brittle.  Once we had enough variety to choose from for our collage, we brought the leaves into the house to make our picture.  We spread out the leaves on our table and organized a few that would look good together.  Then I placed a sheet of contact paper, sticky side up, in front of my daughter so she could put the leaves together (wings first, then the body of the butterfly on top).  After she was done, I placed another sheet of contact paper, sticky side down, on top of her art project and sealed the leaves inside.  This project was almost effortless and fun for my two year old, but can easily be transformed into a more challenging and creative art project for older children.  If you don’t have contact paper, you can use two sheets of wax paper, and then iron them (no steam) between a couple of towels to melt the wax so the sheets stick to one another.

If you are lucky enough to live up north where you have a wider variety of fall leaves on the ground, your children just might be able to find a leaf man in your backyard.  Or at least they will have plenty of leaves to watch and see where the wind takes them after reading this creative and enjoyable book.  It’s a fun read for children with big imaginations and who love to pretend as my daughter does.  It’s amazing how one simple book can inspire so many activities!

Please let me know if you’ve come across a gem of a story for children about nature.  You’re welcome to tell me a little about the book and why you like it.  Books are always a favorite for young children; and I, like many of you, am always looking for the perfect addition for my daughter’s bookshelf. 

Toddlers Taking Pictures

Do you know of a good, toddler friendly, camera?  Now that Halloween is over and Christmas is just around the corner, I’m working on a wish list for what to give my two year old for Christmas.  Since we live in the age of camera phones, I’m always taking pictures of her, so she understands what pictures are.  And on a few occasions, she’s snatched my phone to take her own pictures.  Of course her pictures are not exactly quality work, but she enjoys it (as do I).  But I don’t feel comfortable lending her my phone to explore her visionary creations in photography on her own.  So I’m in search of the perfect toddler camera that takes good pictures, is durable, and easy to use.  I know there are a number of them on the market; therefore, if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear your experiences with them.

Now, you may ask why I am inquiring about a camera on a blog about nature.  Well, my daughter’s interest in taking pictures reminded me of an article (DeMarie, 2001) I read for my Master’s Thesis.  It was about an experiment to see how preschoolers viewed a visit to a zoo using disposable cameras.  Before the zoo trip, each child was interviewed to see how much exposure they’d had to the zoo and similar outings.  Then each was given a camera to use during a visit to a local zoo and instructed on how to use it.  They were told to take pictures of whatever they wanted.  The idea was that the children would take pictures of things that they found important or interesting to them as preschoolers.

The outcome was that the majority of the children took pictures of what was familiar to them, and not necessarily animals at the zoo.  Many of the preschoolers had little to no experience at a zoo; as a result, they took pictures of the sidewalk, clouds, chipmunks, and body parts of other children or animals.  One child, who had visited zoos the most (ten times) took significantly more pictures of zoo animals than the other children.  The conclusion the author drew was that for the majority of preschoolers, a trip to the zoo is somewhat of a wasted effort.  She concluded that preschoolers will get the same benefit from a walk around their school.  However, she does mention several caveats to her study such as the distance from of the school to the zoo making for a long field trip day, the subject for the preschoolers to learn was too broad, and cameras may not have been the best measure of what preschoolers learned.

As a non-formal educator who has worked in similar institutions, however, I didn’t (and still don’t) agree that the author’s conclusion was justified based upon the data presented.  Rather, I fixated on the fact that the zoo visit was not supplemented with an age appropriate, educational component presented by knowledgeable staff or even an enthusiastic parent.  In the study, the zoo was essentially just a generic setting, with no mention of any educators teaching the children about the animals at the zoo.  One child named several rules of how he should behave at the zoo as what he had learned, indicating the impact of conduct instruction.  None of the children mentioned any facts about the animals, making me question whether any information about the zoo animals was even discussed.  (In a future post, I will concentrate on the proper way to introduce zoo animals to a preschooler.)

Taking a child on these types of outings can be very important to continuing education of the natural world, and every child has to start somewhere.  I don’t believe there is an age that is too young.  Whether it’s a zoo, nature center, or aquarium, they all provide a safe place for young children to be introduced to and begin their love of the natural world.  Since many children are not able to go to these places for a variety of reasons, schools do a huge service to their communities by introducing children to wildlife through field trips to these institutions.  Yes, a lot can be learned by taking a walk around the block and that should be taught too; but when children visit a reputable wildlife institution, they learn, and each visit builds on the previous one.  These are places where the love of wildlife and nature begins.

In light of that, this study made me think it would be interesting to see what my daughter would take pictures of during one of our walks in nature.  In addition, I’m interested to see how her pictures will change as she learns and discovers more about the world around us.  If you have a children’s camera or are maybe thinking about getting one for your child, I’m sure I will post future pictures that my daughter takes for upcoming discussions, and invite you to post some of yours too.  I will keep you posted on my little, nature-loving photographer, and will continue to research camera options.

 

Reference

DeMarie, D., 2001. A trip to the zoo: children's words and photographs, Early Childhood Research & Practice, Spring 2001 3(1) [online] Champaign, Illinois [cited 11 Feb. 2005]. Available from World Wide Web: (http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/index.html)

Camouflage and Toddlers

Playing the Camouflage Game.

Last week, I came across another post (http://www.boredpanda.com/camouflage-owl-photography/) of stunning photography showing how well owls are camouflaged in their natural habitats.  It reminded me of how much I used to love teaching the subject of camouflage to elementary school children.  There are so many fun, hands-on activities you can do with this subject, let alone search and find the animal in an endless supply of pictures in magazines, books, and on the internet.  So I started thinking, why not teach my 2 ½ year old about camouflage.  She loves to play games and look for hidden items in her look and find picture books.  More importantly, she loves owls and would be amazed at the pictures of owls looking like the trees, rocks, or snow where they live. 

I decided to start with a fun game to get her thinking about the importance of colors and how they can help something get noticed (or not).  The game also gets her outside thinking about colors in nature.  First, I took a variety pack of pipe cleaners and separated out two of every color (there were ten colors, red, yellow, white, black, orange, blue, pink, green, brown, and tan).  Then I cut each pipe cleaner into four, near equal parts.  Outside, I designated an area (about five feet squared) and randomly spread the cut pipe cleaners over that area on the ground. 

Found two pipe cleaners!

About five feet away from the designated area, I had my daughter stand with a paper plate and listen to instructions for the game.  I decided to do a practice run just to make sure she knew what to do.  I had her place the plate on the ground where she stood.  I told her that when I said “go,” she should run to the designated area and find two pipe cleaners, put one in each hand, and run back to place each of them on the paper plate. Then, I explained, that she was to do it again until I said stop.  For the dry run, I let her find about half of the pipe cleaners while I kept an eye on how long it took her to collect them.  After she was done, we spread the pipe cleaners she had collected within the designated area to play again.  I did have to remind her throughout the game to be fast and to grab the first colors she saw (not to look for any particular color). 



Comparing collected pipe cleaners
with those not found in time.

For the “official” game, I reminded her to collect as many pipe cleaners as she could, two at a time, before she heard the buzzer.  I set a timer based on my guess of how long it would take from the practice run to make sure she would be able to collect about half of the pipe cleaners (it’s important to not give enough time to collect them all).  After the “official” run of the game, we took another paper plate marked, “Not found in time” and collected the rest of the pipe cleaners from the designated area.  Then I had her sort the colors on each plate.  I asked her if there were any colors on one plate that weren’t on the other.  Then we talked about how some colors are easier or more difficult to see in the grass and dirt where we played.  When a color is more difficult to see, it is called camouflage.  This is a very basic definition, but it’s one my and your preschooler will understand. 

Afterwards, we looked at those beautiful owl pictures.  It was a game too; my daughter loved looking for each of them! 

Even though this camouflage lesson was relatively simple, my daughter was completely engaged and learned while having fun.  It was a perfect introduction to a fascinating topic with a game that I’m sure she will want to play again and again.

*As a side note, you may want to mark off your designated area for the pipe cleaners with a rope or tape around the border.  The brown pipe cleaners were so well camouflaged, we had a difficult time finding all of them and lost track of where our designated area was supposed to be!

Imagining the Moon

I’m excited about the full moon on Thursday, November 6!  The weather is finally nice and cool here in Florida, and because of Daylight Savings Time, we have more time to spend outside gazing at the moon in the evening before bedtime.  You see, my daughter has had a fascination with the moon since she could talk.  In fact, it was one of her first words.  Maybe the moon appeals to her because we have several moon-related storybooks that I read to her before she goes to bed, or maybe she has a natural curiosity for what’s up in the sky.  Either way, she gets very excited when she sees the moon and disappointed when she doesn’t.  We have to say the moon is resting or playing peek-a-boo behind the clouds when she can’t find it.  Nevertheless, if we are outside day or night, I can guarantee that my daughter has searched the sky for the moon.

For months now, my daughter has been talking about going to the moon.  She’s even going to take her friends there with her in a rocket ship or two.  I think she’s going to take her mommy and daddy too.  She’s tried to jump there, but says, “It’s too far away.”  And she loves it when her daddy and I make up stories about her going to the moon and everything she will find there.  I often wonder if Neil Armstrong and other astronauts had similar thoughts as children.  Yet, it seems the moon has captivated people since ancient history.  There are many myths about the moon, ranging from it being a god or goddess to the story of the man in the moon.  There’s folklore about the moon’s effects on fertility as well as a belief that one feels more pain during a full moon.  Ancient cultures built pyramids and temples to honor the moon.  Even in pop culture today, everyone knows about werewolves during a full moon. 

The word lunacy is derived from the Roman goddess Luna and is often used to describe the strange way animals behave during a full moon.  However, if you take a closer look at these animals, you’ll find that their behaviors are really quite practical.  Some animals tend to be more active during a full moon while others are less active.  A full moon creates a very bright night sky.  If an animal relies on sight to hunt, all of a sudden during a full moon, the prey becomes a lot easier to see.  For example, nightjars are much more productive at catching insects during a full moon.  Likewise, some nocturnal primates will actually shift to a diurnal schedule during the new moon phase (when the moon is not illuminated by the sun) because they are better at catching food when there is light to help them see.  Since bats do not rely on sight to hunt, they actually decrease their activity during full moons because they are more likely to be seen by predators.  The full moon affects animals in other ways too.  The brighter the moon, the easier it is for baby sea turtles to follow it (or its reflection) into the water after hatching.  Unfortunately, a full moon also brings out more people to the beach, which can deter adult sea turtles from coming on shore to lay their eggs.  Even corals in the ocean pay attention to the moon’s phases.  At certain times during the year under a full moon, many corals spawn.  This synchronized release of eggs and sperm ensures greater success for future generations of coral.  Even your pet dog or cat may linger outside longer during a full moon.  Both animals require some light to see, and when the moon provides that, evening walks become more enjoyable.

To help nurture my daughter’s desire to go to the moon, we often talk about how she is going to get there, what she might find, as well as that she needs to learn from her teachers and do well in school to learn enough to go to the moon one day.  Of course taking a class in astrophysics is a long way off; but at her age, I decided we can work on her imagination.  I drew a large round circle on a piece of paper.  I told her it was the moon.  I asked her to use her imagination and tell me what she might find on the moon.  At 2 ½, she isn’t much of an artist.  So I thought I would help her by drawing whatever she said she might find on the moon.  Her eyes sparkled as I drew the things she described.  I could see she was excited about seeing her imagination develop on paper.  This is a fun and simple activity that you can do with whatever interests your child that may not be tangible.  You don’t have to be an artist either.  It will just make your child so proud that you can help put items from his or her imagination on paper.  So gaze at the moon and let your child’s imagination expand!