The Backyard Explorer's Club--Building Birdhouses

A child uses a hammer and nails to build her birdhouse. These tools and others were needed to construct our project. The birdhouses were made of wood that was precut with dimensions and holes that would appeal to small birds we spotted on our birdwalks. A very dear friend precut and drilled the wood, donated the tools, and organized them in individual packages. This kept things extremely organized and held the children responsible for keeping their materials together.

There were two afterschool Backyard Explorer's Clubs,each with eight children. This is Thursday's members. The children worked in pairs to construct, paint and find a location to hang their birdhouses. During this project, the children worked in pairs to create these fantastic looking birdhouses. We were hoping to attract smaller birds that we saw at the feeders and in the woods. House Wrens, Carolina Wrens and Chickadees will build their nests in a birdhouse. The Chickadee and Wrens are the most likely to use our houses.

Excellent work, Nature Explorers!

The children are assisted by Haley, a college student majoring in Environmental Science and Early Childhood Education, who voluneered her time to help out. The children decided on this lovely tree in the woods to hang their very colorful box and Haley hung it for them.

Excellent job Backyard Explorer's for helping out our feathered friends!

Children Thrive in Nature

Children need consistent opportunities to explore in the woods. It helps children make sense of their world. They have time to discover new creatures, question, problem-solve, stumble upon unknown objects, look for interesting sticks and trees to climb(that would have been me), discover nests, fungi, moss, climb on rocks and build their knowledge and appreciation toward nature.

On their hike they found "a woodpecker's nest" and wanted me to see it! Excellent exploring, guys! I wonder what lived in it. A good sized woodpecker, I think!

The two brothers take a well-deserved break from their hike. This rock looks like the perfect place too. "Hey, Did you see any chipmunks?"
Children need opportunities like this to relax, contemplate their ideas and to absorb the beauty that surrounds them. Thank you to my former student and his family for sharing these delightful photos. It looks like you had so much fun, OUTSIDE! Take it from this family and get outside with your family and love, learn and explore together.

Happy Birthday, Nature Goddess

On the morning of my birthday, my daughter and I went for a beach walk on Narragansett Beach. As we strolled along looking for heart stones, we discovered a beautiful female Cercropia Moth floating in the ocean. She was covered with sand and almost dead. I carefully scooped her up and put her on my daughter's shirt. As we walked along Sandy's,(as we quickly named her) wings started to dry off and she began flapping them. As things slowly began to improve, you can't imagine what started to happen. Well... ... ...she began laying her eggs on my daughter's shirt. This is the beginning of a very cool story so...stay tuned.

Snapping Turtles at Trustom Pond, Charlestown, RI

What Spring Holds in Store for Us!

Last fall my brother, Tucker (directly behind me in the Fedora hat), better known as, Birdman in Bridgewater, organized a bird walk at Charlestown Breachway and Trustom Pond. Individuals from all over the Northeast and Long Island joined us. I was the only Rhode Islander involved. It was a fairly sophisticated group of birders. We had a wonderful time birding and seeing some life timers and it was so much fun. However, one of the most interesting things that happened that day was a sighting of an enormous snapping turtle submerged in the pond, near the Osprey lookout. At the time, we were unable to identify what it was eating but easily realized something quite large. Anyway the next day I went out to Trustom Pond and I found it sunning itself on a rock way out in the pond. Probably trying to digest the meal from the day before. The post above this one shows the Snapping Turtle resting on the rock. It was huge!

Osprey Sighting at Zeek's Creek in Jamestown, RI

The Osprey is back! One of the first migratory birds has arrived and looking quite comfortable perched on the top of the nesting site near Zeek's Creek. A quick shot on my way to school. Next time I hope I am able to capture a better shot that is a little clearer. Nevertheless , a sure sign of spring!

Spring is Slowly Unfolding in The Northeast

Despite the cool temperatures here in the Northeast, I continue to find lovely surprises in my backyard. Each new day I explore my yard to uncover the latest signs and promises of springs arrival. It is so exciting! The chipmunks are stirring, running along the stonewalls and visiting our feeders. They continue to hoard and look so silly packing away their treasures. I laugh as I watch them. They are such a cute animal and so fun to watch. (Watching them is good medicine for the soul. They will have you smiling in no time, I promise) Well, we gladly welcome them back, TICKS and all. The Forsythia I cut and brought in to force, is blooming quite beautifully in my home and classroom. Their delicate yellow flowers are so bright and cheery. The Snowdrops and Crocus are happy swaying in the breeze as they offer the sweet taste of nectar to our honeybees. The pussywillows are full and ripe and the buds on the Lilac and Forsythia are swollen and bring more promise of the colorful and fragrant days to come. Spring invites a sense of wonder and hope. Mother Earth and her creatures have a built in rhythm unlike ours. Their rhythm has a simplicity I think we can all benefit from. Humans can become so tangled up in the demands of life. Well...when you need a break from all of that open up your back door and enjoy what nature has to offer. Bunnies nibbling and pairing up, flowers blooming, chipmunks scurrying about, bird singing lovely melodies and the world becoming greener and alive with color. Rejoice in its magic. That's my plan.

Surprise! Spring is On Her Way!!!!!

Snowdrops

More Snowdrops

Daffodils

More Daffodils

Bluebells

I went outside yesterday and walked all over my property. The first place I went was, of course, to check and see if any of our snowdrops were peeking out yet. Not only were they peeking out they were starting to BLOOM. The Daffodils and Bluebells were also visible. How exciting! We all know it is still cold and capable of snowing with two inches on the ground this morning. But as I said to my brother today, when he was returning from an amazing birdwatching trip (64 species) in Cape May, Old Man Winter is on his way out. Let these sweet little snowdrops bring us hope for the lovely days ahead when nature comes to life. The anticipation is wonderful.

Happy Valentine's Day

There are hearts everywhere in nature. You just have to look closely!

Look! It's a Stranger in the MY Woods

Look who is my first visitor! It's a Chickadee! She is taking a seed from the stranger's hat.

She found the bird seed in the pipe too! Not long after that, a Tufted-tit Mouse found it too!

I put bird seed in his cap and pipe to attract the birds.

This is my snowman before I decorated him.

Backyard Birds in the Winter

Yellow-bellied sapsucker

The sapsucker is drilling holes for sap.The icicle on the side of the branch is actually sap that has dripped and frozen.

In this picture you can see the sap dripping from the drill holes.

Creating a Nature Shelf

Before

After

My daugther adds her first treasure, a concrete chipmunk. She will add natural items as she finds them.

After viewing my blog while away at college, my daughter posted that she would love to have her own nature shelf in her dorm room. One day not long after her request, I was digging around an antique shop on the Eastside of Providence and I came across one buried under a heap of other treasures. It looked like something she would enjoy. So I purchased it that day and gave it to her for a Christmas gift. She decided to paint it to match her own summer porch.

Happy Holiday Nature Goddess!

This is definitely one of my favorite things!

Just before the holidays I went on an annual trip to The Book Barn in Niantic, CT. I hit the jackpot! I found a book I've been looking for, I'd say, 20 years, easy. We decided to stop at this funky antique shop right near the book store. I was ecstatic when we discovered this wonderful collection of local beetles and butterflies. I'm always looking for a collection like this to put in my nature studio and share with my students. The glass in the frame had to be replaced because, according to the shop owner, a clumsy customer knocked it over and broke the glass in the frame. Fortunately there was very little damage done to the specimens and I was able to walk away with a treasure.