Today was our village's Earth Day celebration, at a village park on the Hudson River. There were free t-shirts and trees, live music, a shore cleanup, and booths for nature and environmental organizations. And there were trees to climb, rocks to balance on, an eel to touch and help return to the river, and lots of grass to roll in.
We found out the hard way that eels can secrete a slimey substance to help them escape predators-- that stuff took a lot of washing to get off our hands! The eel was about 22 inches long, and I'm sure he's happy to be back in the Hudson.
I love being by the river. Isn't this cloud covered picnic table the perfect place to daydream?
Later in the afternoon, we headed to yet another amazing park on the Hudson, for a program at our local Nature Center on flint knapping.
After flint knapping, the kids went on a hike. Mikro especially enjoyed climbing down near the water...
A pair of redtailed hawks stole the show, hunting and perching nearby to finish their meals. The female flew down and struck a rat literally less than ten feet in front of me. I nearly jumped out of my skin! They seemed fairly unconcerned by humans, except for occasionally giving us a seemingly "My dinner, not yours!" glare as they chowed down...
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