Surprising Backyard Visitor

Outdoor Hour Challenge #1

When my husband and kids told me we had a chipmunk on our deck I didn't quite believe them. After all, with 4 kids, a dog, and neighbor kids coming and going all day long, I couldn't imagine when a chipmunk would feel safe enough to venture onto our deck. But yesterday afternoon I was able to watch him running around, eating leftover bird seeds, hiding under the barbecue when the kids were out, scaling the walls of our houseto get away from kids, and so on. He is a Least Chipmunk, and it was pretty amazing watching him.

Here is a video of his escape from our deck- Olivia and Dade were watching with me. I was amazed Dade didn't go crazy barking at the chipmunk.

Outdoor Hour Challenge #51: Wolf, Fox, & Dog

Outdoor Hour Challenge #51: Wolf, Fox, & Dog

Because we were struck with a nasty round of sickness, we only completed part of our challenge. We read about dogs and foxes, but didn't get to the wolves. When I looked at the pbs page for pbs wolf video I was interested in the lesson links to the side bar, especially sections of "Who's Afraid of the Big bad Wolf", like the different types of communication, so I will hopefully work that into our lessons soon.

Lucky us, we have a very willing volunteer to help us with this nature challenge. The greatest challenge was trying to get our dachschund, Dade, to sit still for a photo, because as soon as he realizes he's the center of attention he dashes up close, wagging his tail, sticking his nose in the camera lens, and trying to lick everything at once. Our discussion got pretty funny when we were talking about dogs-- What do they eat? Dog food, stuffed animals, plastic, toilet paper, and so on. What do dogs like to do? lay in the sun, sneak into the bathroom for toilet paper, lick the baby's face and hands, and so on.

Some of the fun things we learned about foxes are that foxes like to eat fruit, and that a black fox is not a different type of fox, but just a red fox with a different coat.

Nyah's journal picture of a red fox and black fox.

Austin's fox hunting rabbit.

Outdoor Hour Challenge #49- Bats

#49 Bats

The kids enjoed watching the youtube video & the Jeff Corwin video, as well as listenting to the hapter in the Burgess Animal Book about the bats. When it was time to do our notebook pages, Austin focused on vampire bats, something he was interested in a couple years ago. Nyah asked if bats can fly to the moon.

Austin's:

Nyah's:
Some pictures from our Outdoor Hour walk this week. It was a beautiful day, except for the freezing wind, which made Austin keep stopping and curling up in a ball in the ground. No matter how many times I told him he would stay warm if he kept moving, and that the only way to get home to get warm was to keep going, he would plop down and huddle in the snow.

Bird Tracks

Common sunflowers, a favorite with the songbirds, who fly away as soon as we are in sight. The kids had quite a bit of fun chasing after them to scare them away. As I mentioned in my post for Winter Wednesday, we usually catch sight of a bird-of-prey and the songbirds are all hidden, but on this day the bird-of-prey was absent and the songbirds were out in force. We were able to identify magpies and house finches.

Can't keep them out of the trees, though truthfully, I certainly don't try.

I actually found myself up a tree to examine one of the nests we found. Here is a picture:

A picture after I've cleared out some of the sticks. See the mud that has been used to line the inside? I wonder what bird built this nest.

As a follow-up to the Winter Wednesday about trees/berries, we took the time to examine the Utah Junipers, and discuss which may be male or female. This one, heavily laden with berries, was definitely female.

Outdoor Hour Challenge #48- Rats & Beavers

Challenge #48- Rats & Beavers

The kids and I enjoying learning about Kangaroo Rats, Muskrats, and Beavers this week. We actually spent 45 minutes talking about Beavers after watching the videos at youtube. I am still amazed at how they walk on their hind legs, using their front legs and chin/mouth to carry mud and such up their lodge while they are constructing. They had a human look to them while they did this that is just amazing. Here is a link to that video.

Austin's Notebook Page:

Nyah's Notebook Page: She prefers the rainbow variety :) She also sketched a birds-eye-view of the waterways created by a Beaver when it builds the dam, and then makes channels into the surrounding areas to get trees.

The kids also really enjoyed reading the stories in the Burgess Animal Book. In their recordings about Kangaroo Rats the both mentioned that Kangaroo Rats don't need to drink water, because they get it from their food, and that they like to kick each other when fighting. It is always fun to see what details spark their interest.