Camp 2018 - Fishing and Wildlife

Fishing is something that will always be a part of going to Camp. Despite being down in North Carolina for nearly 30 years, I've never gotten the hang of fishing like I did up there. Something about being able to actually see the bottom maybe...

Of course, the kids always look forward to fishing for sunnies. 

They aren't any good for eating because they're small and bony, but they definitely keep the kids busy. 

You can practically catch them on an empty hook!

I don't bother bringing my own pole with me most of the time when I bring the kids because I know I'm going spend every minute either baiting a hook or unhooking a fish. 

That doesn't mean I did get any fishing done. I did take a couple of trips up to Bog River Falls and managed to land this 16" largemouth bass. I've never caught a largemouth up here before! Apparently, they aren't supposed to be in these waters because they crowd out other fish.

In all, I caught 6 good-sized bass in both Bog River/Tupper and Lake Eaton.

For Olivia's AHG Fishing Badge, she had to clean and prepare fish two ways. 

 She pan fried one set and baked the other with garlic. They were both amazing!

Fish weren't the only animals we got to see up there this year. We spotted a number of birds that we though were loons, but turned out to be Merganser ducks. They have really long necks and dive like the loons do, but they sit lower in the water and don't stay down as long when they dive.

This bullfrog decided that Rebecca's paddleboard was a good place for a rest.

We found a Monarch Butterfly that had just emerged and pumped up his wings, so he was easy to catch. Of course, as soon as his wings dried in the sun, he flew off. 

Of course, there were plenty of toads to catch, too.

And on one of the hikes, we spotted a woodpecker darting from tree to tree.

But our most amazing sight this year was a loon with her baby. We got to see her several times out on the lake in the mornings and evenings. 

Bog Garden - 9/2015

There were a couple of really beautiful days between the time we got back from camp and the time for Sukkot to start, so we took advantage of one and went for a walk in the Bog Garden.

 At the time, the water was fairly low since it hadn't rained much in the previous couple of weeks, but that didn't prevent us from seeing a little wildlife in the water and mud. If you look really closely, there's a teeny snapping turtle right in the middle of the picture.

 The birds were out, too. This Cardinal was particularly pretty.

 There were a few flowers still blooming like this orange one. If anyone knows what it is, please let me know! Update: It's called Jewelweed or Touch-Me-Not.

 There were also these gorgeous pink ones with a berry of some kind right in the center. Update: Turns out they're called Harlequin Glorybowers.

An Ornithologist in the Making

Olivia and I spent all of July studying birds in the book Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day and the corresponding Junior Notebook from Apologia. She learned TONS about what makes a bird a bird, what makes them fly, all the different markings on them and how they mate and nest. She had to do experiments, observations, and projects that challenged her quite a bit, but she really enjoyed it; enough so that she has now said she wants to be an ornithologist!

A Tufted Titmouse on one of Olivia's homemade feeders

One of the nests we found in a tree in our yard. We had cut the tree down and it was clearly abandoned.

One experiment had Olivia build two identical bird feeders, fill them with different single-type seeds (in this case, sunflower and safflower) and then observe at the same time each day for a set period to see which one the birds preferred. Oh, and that's a black-capped chickadee.

Olivia doing her observations



As a reward for working so hard, Rebecca got her a birdhouse that she could paint.

 All-in-all, it was a great experience using the Apologia curriculum. The books are written in a conversational style and with interjected questions and comments that make her feel part of the reading. There is quite a bit of vocabulary which is good but can also be overwhelming at her age. I don't require that she give all the vocabulary back to us. I do require her to narrate (or tell back) what she has learned after most of the sections of reading. We are going to move on in the book to do butterflies and moths, then bats and finally all the other flying insects.

(This part written by Rebecca)To go along with this, John James Audubon was our artist for picture study. He was an ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. The library has some great child level books on his life and works. His works are both art and scientific sketches, real and detailed. Want to know more about picture study (and really anything else Charlotte Mason)? Here and here are resources. I use those two ladies' sites for help all the time. So a big thank you to them.

All Summer, we have been reading a book from Rod and Staff called Birds at My Window. We read it at the table usually during lunch. It is a great little book about a boy who gets excited to watch and learn about birds after his dad sets up a feeding station near one of their windows. Gabe and Ezra have also enjoyed this book and have taken to enjoying some birdwatching of their own. Previously, we read The Burgess Bird Book (just with Olivia) which is told from the perspective of a rabbit as he learns all about a variety of birds.

Olivia has previously done some bird studies. Here is a lapbook and fieldtrip we did the fall of 2010. And here is a post about our homeschool group with birds as our nature study topic.

A Garden Visitor



This large hawk landed in our garden on afternoon. I wish I could figure out how to get him to stay and scare off the squirrels and rabbits...

Birds at Night

We took a walk one evening and on the way back home, we passed a couple of bluebird houses in the park. I had read that you could walk up to them, give a gentle knock on the side so you don't startle the bird inside and then open the front of the house very slowly and they usually won't fly away. Sure enough, it worked! In the 2 houses we passed, there were birds in each one.

This was the first house. It's hard to tell what kind of bird it is when all you can see is the head.

This one had a rather tidy little nest that was packed down in the cardboard cup that was provided for it.



This second house had a different type of bird with a more cluttered nest. This picture came out blurry, but the bird was startled and flew off before we could get another one. However, that gave us the chance to look for eggs.

 

Sure enough, there wew 2 of them nestled in the bottom.

We also discovered that we have a small nest in the corner of the awning on our screen porch.

Bird Feeder Visitors (just a few)

Not sure. Can't find anything similar in our bird book.

Carolina Chickadee

Downy Woodpecker

Cardinal and Carolina Chickadee

Bird Study, homeschool extras

A few months ago, we went on a field trip to the zoo. We attended a short introductory bird class. Then we were given binoculars and some time to observe the birds in the aviary.

Even Gabe got to try his hand at using the binoculars. :)

 After the field trip to the zoo, we began our study on birds. As part of our homeschool curriculum, we studied some of the state birds. I wanted Olivia to learn more about birds so we began to study them more in depth. We joined another family once a week and began putting together a lapbook to display what we were learning.

Here is Olivia's lapbook. She tells me that is a picture of her holding a bird. :) And, as you may have guessed, that is a lifecycle picture there on the front cover. We also looked closely at an egg and talked a little about reproduction.

On the left, is the the bird classification. Olivia wanted to study Hummingbirds specifically so her classification is of a hummingbird. The minibooks below that are of bird beaks and feet. We talked about their diets in that lesson as well. The bird report is her specific study of hummingbirds. We found a cool book of poems written by a family that had a hummingbird make a nest on their porch and observed its behavior. On the right are bird poems and songs. I was teaching to a group of 8 kids, ranging from Ezra, 4months at the start, to a 10 year old. It was a learning experience, to say the least, teaching to multiple ages.

The two minibooks on this page are about birdwatching. We learned what you need to be a birder, supplies (notepad, guide, etc) and behavior (sitting still and quiet). Olivia also recorded some of her observations from watching the bird feeder in our backyard. The best time to watch is in the mornings. We plan to do lots more birdwatching once warmer weather returns. Stay tuned for pictures of some of our common visitors tomorrow. The pictures at the top right were part of our discussion on aerodynamics and flight.

Here are our minibooks on the Ostrich and the Bee Hummingbird. The top right shows some types of bird feathers and functions. The minibook at the bottom is were she recorded what she learned about the differences in males and females.

The book at the top is a story that she read and then identified the parts of the bird. The flap book at the bottom contains our bible verse. Matthew 6:26 (although you should read verse 25-34) We don't need to worry. God is our provider and he knows our needs. We can trust him.

Here is a lapbook I made for Gabe. We read Feathers for Lunch by Lois Ehlert so that is where many of his activities come from. He is learning to identify his letters and even knows some sounds. So here we are reinforcing Bb. Then he has his copy of the bible verse. A child is never too young to begin instilling the truth of God's word in his heart.

There are minibooks covering counting, colors, and positions. The bird in the nest comes out and can be moved around. The game on the bottom left was used for colors and matching like birds (there are two of each).

Here are Gabe's copies of the poems and songs on the back of his book. Gabe just loves music, rhymes, and fingerplays

We made birds nest from chow mein noodles, shredded wheat, and melted peanut butter and chocolate. The eggs are jelly beans. We were talking about Robins that day so that is why we have blue eggs.

Here is our second nest. This day we played a game. The kids made bird masks (sorry, no pictures) and then had a meal of seeds, nuts, and dried fruit. They then had to go outside and gather materials to build a nest. (I planted fake grass and sticks around and we used the pb/chocolate "mud" again) Then they used playdough to make eggs for their nests. Then they received a bird. I believe Olivia made some worms for her bird to eat or feed her babies. Also, if you are wondering about the big leaf...It is providing shade to the bird as she sits on her eggs. :)

Here is Olivia doing some bird watching. We made fake binoculars out of paper towel tubes. While they don't actually work like binoculars, they do help her to focus on an area. She has a very hard time sitting still for long as you may well imagine. She will be getting a real pair of binoculars soon and we will be doing more bird watching when the weather warms up a little. Olivia's favorite, as I mentioned, are hummingbirds. We put a hummingbird feeder in the backyard but it was not very popular unfortunately. We are hoping for better success in the spring.