After about five minutes, Mr. Jamie gathered the kids in a circle to remind them about what they saw and learned in the fall and winter regarding animals and nature. He then had three animals to share! The first animal was a box turtle! Mr. Jamie reminded the kids that if they happen to find a box turtle (or any animal) while out exploring the outdoors, to enjoy the animal while you are there, but to leave the animal in it's habitat! This box turtle was a male because he had red eyes. Females have yellow eyes. He lives at the ODC because someone took him from his habitat when he was young, and kept him as a pet for a few years. If he were to go back into the wild, he would not survive because he would not know how to find his own food or find shelter or stay safe. So his life will be spent teaching people at the ODC!
The next animal we learned about was a Garter snake! Mr. Jamie told us that at the ODC, in the fall, there is an area of rocks where many, many snakes gather together to snuggle up for the winter. In the late fall, he came across this Garter snake slithering across the path. He knew the snake had missed the opportunity to find the rocks with the others, so he took it inside for the winter to keep it safe. The snake has been used to teach people through the winter, but would be released back into nature now that warmer weather (and the end of school groups) has arrived.
The final animal to learn about in Founder's Hall was a toad! We learned that only the males make noise. When held upright just under their front arms, males will make a sort of chirping sound. Females make no sound when held that way. So when he held up the toad and we heard the chirping, we all knew it was a male! Mr. Jamie also taught us that toads do not drink water through their mouths. Instead, they absorb it when they are in water. When toads feel threatened, they may 'pee' in order to be dropped. In reality, the toad is able to release some of the absorbed water to fool them! It is not really 'pee'! We then got to watch the toad snatch meal worms with it's tongue on a white mat! Mr. Jamie taught us that frogs and toads blink their eyes to help them swallow food.
When we left Founder's Hall, our next stop was to briefly see the elk! The male elk was busy eating and didn't bother to look up at us much. We noticed that his antlers have grown back after winter and were all velvety. Mr. Jamie said that the male only cares about eating right now, so he is kept apart from the females and babies because he wouldn't share the food nicely. We did see a female far off in the distance, but Mr. Jamie told us that the baby elk hide in the tall grasses all day long in order to stay hidden from enemies such as coyotes. The mother elk knows where her baby is and goes to the baby when she wants to feed it or check on it.
Oops, I forgot before we saw the elk pen, we made a brief stop at a small pond. Mr. Jamie told us that last week there were hundreds of small froglets and toadlets on the bank of the pond. We didn't see any in the grass, so we went down to the pond and found one! Mr. Jamie held it in his hand so that we could all get a look at the baby toad!
On the path toward the wet lands, we stopped by a pine tree. Mr. Jamie pointed out something in the tree that looked like spit! He taught us that there is a bug called a Spittle Bug, that creates a foamy substance that looks like spit in order to protect itself from it's enemies! The little bug hides inside the foamy substance, so he found one to show us, and then he put it on a weed after we looked at it.
Our next stop was the wet lands! We were reminded by Keira that in the fall there were just small puddles in that area. In the winter it was dry and snow covered. But now it was a pond! Mr. Jamie explained that wet lands change in that way depending upon how much rain we have gotten. While we were there, we saw a frog, small fish, many bugs, lily pads, and more. We stopped for a few moments to listen to some different bird calls on Mr. Jamie's phone (he has an app with animal sounds). We listened to his phone bird calls, and then heard the same ones in nature!
Our next stop was the pond! Mr. Jamie explained that the pond is different from the wet lands because the pond water may go up or down depending upon the rain, but there will always be a pond there - it never dries up like the wet lands. He invited the children to kneel or lay down on the dock in order to look into the water. Some of the kids reached into the water and had little fish nibble on their finger! There were many fish to see, and some of the kids even saw a crayfish!
Our final stop was the Birds of Prey area! We saw this area when we visited in the winter as well, but it was neat to see again. Since we recently learned about National symbols, the bald eagle was a big hit today! We also took a class photo in this area!
We had a fantastic day of fun and learning! We thank Mr. Jamie and the other guides at the ODC for teaching us so much this year! They would LOVE to see you back for a visit with your family over the summer. In fact, this Thursday evening from 5-8 PM, they are having a Soar Into Summer event at the ODC! Check out their website for details (outdoordiscovery.org). And a big thank you to our Administrative team for giving all the first grade classes in Hamilton this awesome opportunity!
And the blog would not be the same without (drum roll please...) THE FUNNY ONE! Enjoy!
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