Friday Science at SMLI

Before Science on Friday, Mikro and some friends found an Italian Wall Lizard. They were gentle, but there were many boys and one tiny lizard, which became frightened and used its amazing defense mechanism. It detached its tail, hoping to distract what it must have seen as predators. The tail fragment writhes and wriggles, providing a diversion to aid its escape... It continued to wriggle for 20 minutes. Yeah, I'm a homeschooling mom. I timed it. They released the poor stump-tailed critter near ample leaf litter for cover. Mikro was sad that the poor thing was scared enough to drop its tail, but grateful to have seen one of the wonders of nature up close and personal... My tail wriggle video is probably not for the very squeamish...





Class was about Betta Fish behavior and fish printing.



And there was exploring the woods with friends, catching and observing critters, dandelion wishes, and lizard lover's dreams come true...









On the way to & from SMLI, we saw the Clearwater sailing, and met a commuter snail (just kidding, but he was hanging out on a wall at the train station!)



Look at all that green! Finally spring!

Nature Class with Urban Park Rangers

We had a great time today at our Urban Park Rangers class at Central Park. The park is full of beautiful spring flowers, and birds galore. Today's class topic was bird behavior, and we had some very cool encounters. A Great Egret flew up and perched within feet of us, then took off and circled around overhead. Gorgeous! We watched a double crested cormorant preening, and saw a variety of birds on our walk, including starlings, grackles, and downy woodpeckers. Near the water there were mallards. We saw a lone male attempt to steal a mate from another male, and watched him get driven off. Soon the original pair were reunited and things were just ducky.
(Sorry, couldn't resist...) After class, the kids played together on the big rocks and at the playground. We left just in time to miss subway rush hour madness...















We even had some lucky sightings on our way to and from class. On the way down, we saw a little green heron in our parking lot wetland area (and I have never seen one around here before, though I have seen them in Florida), and we saw the Clearwater sailing up the Hudson River. On our way home, we saw redwinged backbirds in the trees around the wetlands, singing their hearts out. We drove home singing along to river songs on our favorite Broad Old River 2 CD.

Playing with Clay

Mikro made the angler fish. The rest are mine. Can't wait to see how they look fired... The glazed ones are done with Amaco underglaze (sets that look like pan watercolors), with a clear gloss glaze over the top...

Bird Watching on a Beautiful Spring Day

It was too nice to spend the day indoors, so we headed out to engage in our our default outside activity .. bird watching. Our feeders needed topping up after just a day and a half! Once we took care of that, we had lots of customers... I caught a bit of spring courtship behavior on video-- a huthatch feeding his mate. Sorry it is a little shakey. It was on high zoom...



And we saw a cool beetle, and lots of lovely flowers. Mikro thinks the best toy ever is a willow branch. I swear they get more use than LEGOs or anything else! And he found a "skeletal seed pod" to examine. Our mantid egg case looks like it hasn't hatched yet. The boy is eagerly awaiting the big event...