Nature Center e-newsletter #12
August
13, 2006
The Nature Center has hosted two public educational events since our last newsletter. On July 25, Dave Bontrager led another bird walk along our trails, eventually ending alongAnthony Creek Road
On August 5, Sharon Blick's "Discovering Bugs" workshop drew participants from on site and from the local neighborhood, including three avid four-to-six-year olds, to explore the fascinating world of insects and other small creatures. First, we swept collecting nets through vegetation in the meadow, emptying the contents into stocking-enclosed milk cartons with windows cut out of them. From there, we put the flying, creeping, and crawling things into plastic vials for closer examination before releasing them back into the wild. We found an amazing number and diversity of insects, including grasshoppers, tree crickets, butterflies, caterpillars, damselflies, stink bugs, stilt bugs, leaf bugs, ladybird beetles, weevils, cucumber beetles, blister beetles, click beetles, syrphid flies, native bees and bumblebees, wasps, leafhoppers, and froghoppers, as well as spiders (which are, of course, arachnids). Our next stop was the pond just south of the meadow; on the way, we saw a great spangled fritillary butterfly. Fishing around with those same nets in the pond, and then emptying the contents into shallow water-filled pans, we found many small and even not-so-small creatures, including water scorpions, backswimmers, dragonfly nymphs, mayfly nymphs, water striders, microcrustaceans (including water fleas, copepods, and seed shrimp), midge larvae ("bloodworms"), water boatmen, aquatic earthworms, water snails, mosquito larvae, caddisfly larvae, and tree frog tadpoles. We then proceeded to the creek, where we found water striders, stonefly nymphs, mayfly nymphs, caddisfly larvae, water snails, crawdads, dragonfly nymphs, and sculpin (a fish). Sharon kindly donated to the Nature Center a copy of her book Discovering Bugs With Children, which includes sections on land bugs, water bugs, bug growth and life cycles, adaptations, classification and identification, behavior, ecological relationships, instructions for raising bugs indoors and making bug study equipment, and materials for creating laminated "bug cards."
The end-of August and beginning-of-October Nature Center tours have been canceled due to schedule conflicts, but please feel free to join us on tours on Wednesday, August 16 (1 and 4 pm), Wednesday, September 13 (1 and 4 pm), Wednesday, October 18 (1 and 4 pm), Sunday, November 12 (12:30 and 4 pm), and Wednesday, November 29 (1 and 4 pm). Please check the website, or email, to verify the schedule before each date; and please RSVP if you know you are coming.
Over the last few weeks we've done additional maintenance on theNature Center
Wild berries are continuing to ripen. Most of the red flowering currant berries are now either ripe or eaten; the bitter cherries are proving why they have their name; and the Armenian blackberries are starting to sweeten en masse, allowing bulk collection and freezing. Salal berries are providing a dependable delicacy on walks through the woods loop and elsewhere. Other highlights of the last few weeks include another bear sighting up Anthony Creek Road, a thunderstorm and some rain, a downy woodpecker feeding from large oak galls on the north side of the entrance driveway, and help from botanist Bruce Newhouse on expanding our plant species list via emailed photos and descriptions (the latest updated list is downloadable from the Nature Center homepage at nature).
In the coming months, I'll be working on not only program development for 2007, but also theNature Center
Once again, you're receiving this e-newsletter because either (a) you're currently a Nature Center Member, (b) you've attended an event here, (c) you've helped us with species identification, or (d) you've expressed ongoing interest in theNature Center
Thanks for your ongoing interest, and hope you are enjoying the summer,
Chris
The Nature Center has hosted two public educational events since our last newsletter. On July 25, Dave Bontrager led another bird walk along our trails, eventually ending along
On August 5, Sharon Blick's "Discovering Bugs" workshop drew participants from on site and from the local neighborhood, including three avid four-to-six-year olds, to explore the fascinating world of insects and other small creatures. First, we swept collecting nets through vegetation in the meadow, emptying the contents into stocking-enclosed milk cartons with windows cut out of them. From there, we put the flying, creeping, and crawling things into plastic vials for closer examination before releasing them back into the wild. We found an amazing number and diversity of insects, including grasshoppers, tree crickets, butterflies, caterpillars, damselflies, stink bugs, stilt bugs, leaf bugs, ladybird beetles, weevils, cucumber beetles, blister beetles, click beetles, syrphid flies, native bees and bumblebees, wasps, leafhoppers, and froghoppers, as well as spiders (which are, of course, arachnids). Our next stop was the pond just south of the meadow; on the way, we saw a great spangled fritillary butterfly. Fishing around with those same nets in the pond, and then emptying the contents into shallow water-filled pans, we found many small and even not-so-small creatures, including water scorpions, backswimmers, dragonfly nymphs, mayfly nymphs, water striders, microcrustaceans (including water fleas, copepods, and seed shrimp), midge larvae ("bloodworms"), water boatmen, aquatic earthworms, water snails, mosquito larvae, caddisfly larvae, and tree frog tadpoles. We then proceeded to the creek, where we found water striders, stonefly nymphs, mayfly nymphs, caddisfly larvae, water snails, crawdads, dragonfly nymphs, and sculpin (a fish). Sharon kindly donated to the Nature Center a copy of her book Discovering Bugs With Children, which includes sections on land bugs, water bugs, bug growth and life cycles, adaptations, classification and identification, behavior, ecological relationships, instructions for raising bugs indoors and making bug study equipment, and materials for creating laminated "bug cards."
The end-of August and beginning-of-October Nature Center tours have been canceled due to schedule conflicts, but please feel free to join us on tours on Wednesday, August 16 (1 and 4 pm), Wednesday, September 13 (1 and 4 pm), Wednesday, October 18 (1 and 4 pm), Sunday, November 12 (12:30 and 4 pm), and Wednesday, November 29 (1 and 4 pm). Please check the website, or email, to verify the schedule before each date; and please RSVP if you know you are coming.
Over the last few weeks we've done additional maintenance on the
Wild berries are continuing to ripen. Most of the red flowering currant berries are now either ripe or eaten; the bitter cherries are proving why they have their name; and the Armenian blackberries are starting to sweeten en masse, allowing bulk collection and freezing. Salal berries are providing a dependable delicacy on walks through the woods loop and elsewhere. Other highlights of the last few weeks include another bear sighting up Anthony Creek Road, a thunderstorm and some rain, a downy woodpecker feeding from large oak galls on the north side of the entrance driveway, and help from botanist Bruce Newhouse on expanding our plant species list via emailed photos and descriptions (the latest updated list is downloadable from the Nature Center homepage at nature).
In the coming months, I'll be working on not only program development for 2007, but also the
Once again, you're receiving this e-newsletter because either (a) you're currently a Nature Center Member, (b) you've attended an event here, (c) you've helped us with species identification, or (d) you've expressed ongoing interest in the
Thanks for your ongoing interest, and hope you are enjoying the summer,
Chris