Saturday, November 26, 2011

Ponds and Streams Nature Hike

As we continued Olivia's study of rivers and lakes, we stopped by a couple of places to look more closely at a stream and a pond/marsh.

Ducks feeding in the stream
We talked about how the leaves in the stream decay and provide nutrients for all kinds of plants and animals.
Olivia went digging in the mud to see if she could find any hibernating bugs, frogs or turtles. We did see a water strider scooting around, but it was too fast to get a picture of.
If you look closely, there's a tiny fish in the middle of the picture.
At the marsh, we talked about how ducks and other birds like the reeds and cattails for shelter and camouflage.
While we didn't see any, there was some clear evidence that beavers had been here at some time.