Village Earth Day Celebration

Our little village held its Earth Day celebration on Saturday. Mikro had a wonderful time. He saw stick insects at Teatown Lake Reservation's display, made a fish print, learned all about fish of the Hudson River from Christopher Letts, participated in the driftwood sculpture contest, and made some arts and crafts with recycled materials at the crafts table. Of course, mom was drawn in by the irresistible pull of art supplies, and ended up making a fish collage... Dad and Mikro took part in the beach cleanup, while my cane and I watched. We all watched the birds, and saw killdeer and a turkey vulture who landed on the beach, as well as the usual geese, ducks, seagulls and cormorants.

Animals & Acrobats at Van Cortlandt Manor: Day 1

Memorial Day weekend in our area is marked by a fun family event at Historic Hudson Valley's Van Cortlandt Manor. Just as the name indicates, Animals & Acrobats features circus acts and animal encounters, in a recreation of an early American traveling circus. We try to go 2 or 3 days, because it is lots of fun!

Here are some photos from Day 1. We concentrated on the animals that day... There was 2 by 2 Zoo, Jennifer Pena's Flight of the Raptor, Wolf Conservation Society's ambassador wolf, Atka, and a chance to see a lion cub and a bear cub! We had never seen either before. (And there was plenty of wildlife around the wetlands picnic area.)

Animals from 2 by 2 Zoo: black and white ruffed lemur, ring-tailed lemurs, red ruffed lemur, alligator, bunnies, and lots more!







Atka the wolf:



Black Bear cub and lion cub:





Flight of the Raptor: featuring Harris Hawks, a Gyr/Saker Falcon, and a Eurasian Eagle Owl. Mikro was thrilled that Jennifer picked him to "be the rabbit" and run with the lure for Isabo to catch!







More fun around the manor grounds:





Wetlands wildlife: