Hudson River Mammals at Beczak

Today Mikro attended a program on the mammals of the Hudson River at Beczak Environmental Educaton Center in Yonkers. The kids learned about beavers, river otters, and harbor seals, the distinctive characteristics of mammals, and how blubber keeps marine mammals warm. They got to handle a beaver chew, and made a mask of the critter of their choice. Mikro's is a harbor seal.

Winter Hide & Seek at Beczak

We went to a program on winter survival strategies of Hudson River wildlife at Beczak Environmental Education Center. The kids learned which local critters hibernate, migrate, or are adapted to stay active and survive our cold winters. I'm glad I got a photo of Mikro's craft project, because on the way home, the wind snatched it out of his hands and it landed on the railroad tracks... There were tears, but I promised him we'll make another similar art project later this week.

Fall Foliage at Beczak

Today, Mikro attended Beczak's Fall Foliage River Explorers program. The kids learned about why leaves change color, and the difference between coniferous and deciduous trees. Then they went outside and looked for signs of fall, and leaves to make rubbings of. After doing leaf rubbings, they used paints and a set of stamps to make a leaf identification chart.




As usual, we looked at all of Beczak's critter tanks. Mikro really enjoyed the big blue crab which had just molted. And watching the turtles is always fun. Doesn't the Red Eared Slider look like she's saying "No pictures, please!"?



And here is what I did with the bit of leftover paint, rather than see it get tossed out:



I also fingerpainted on the butcher paper table cover. What was Mikro doing while mom got messy? Running around on the beach with his dad and the other kids. Sometimes I think I'm the biggest kid in the family...

Hoist Your Colors at Beczak

Mikro went to another great program at Beczak Environmental Education Center, this time on maritime use of flags. The kids learned about the flag alphabet, national flags, the flags flown by Henry Hudson's Half Moon, pirate flags and some international flag symbols. Then they designed their own flags. Maritime flags use only five colors: red, white, blue, yellow and black.

Can you figure out what these flags spell? (Hint: They really should be looked at as if they were hung vertically, with the red pennant shaped flag at the left as the topmost flag, because the horizontal display has the stripes going the wrong way, so it is a little tough...)***



Here are Mikro and his friend Dakota, with the flags they made:



And here is the flag of the dread pirate Margaritaville Chele the Gimpy... an old parrothead with a crappy spine (i.e., me, LOL.) I've been humming Jimmy Buffett tunes ever since...



Yes I am a pirate
200 years too late
The cannon don't thunder
There's nothing to plunder
I'm an over 40 victim of fate...

*** The flags spell Beczak.

Hudson River Fish Families at Beczak

Another fun program at Beczak Environmental Education Center: Hudson River Fish Families. We learned about different species of fish which inhabit the three different water zones of the Hudson River estuary: fresh, brackish and salt water.

Northern Pipefish are relatives of seahorses. They live in brackish water, and hide from predators by disguising themselves as sea grass. Seahorses (which are very rarely caught in Beczak's sein nets) are salt water dwellers which feed on tiny crustaceans. Both species are unusual in that it is the father that carries the young.



Mummichogs and Banded Killifish are members of the Killifish family. They are slow moving fish with rounded tails, which avoid predators by schooling to look like one very big fish. They live in brackish water and eat plants, crustaceans and insects. They are sometimes used to control the mosquito population.



White Perch are actually not perch, but bass, and are related to the Striped Bass. These fish have a sharp dorsal fin for protection from predators, and they are built for speed with a forked tail. The White Perch lives in brackish water and eats fish eggs.



The Striped Bass is anadromous-- it is born in fresh water, spends two winters in brackish water, and then moves out to sea, maturing in salt water, and eventually returning to fresh water to spawn.



The kids did a worksheet activity, coloring in pictures of Striped Bass at various stages of their life cycle, cutting them out and pasting them in the correct type of water. Afterwards, they got a look at some tadpoles, some of which had started developing rear legs.



And we watched the Red Eared Sliders having fish for lunch:



Our other family pet is a Slider named Shelly Red Streak. She lives upstairs in our bathroom, a place I generally don't carry a camera. I'll have to remember to take some photos of her to post here...

Catch of the World Seining at Beczak

Back at Beczak for another fun River Explorers program! The kids learned about fish native to the Hudson River, and from around the world, and then donned waders and went seining. They caught 73 critters: 57 anchovies, 8 blue crabs, 4 shrimp, 3 white perch and 1 tomcod. They did a little math, too, adding their catch to the totals for the month.

Campfires, Mutineers and Jam

We had a fun weekend.

On Saturday, we visited friends who were camping at the local campgrounds and did fun campy stuff like roast marshmallows. The boys all hung out together telling stories and riddles around the fire, and generally ran wild on the playground. We got home after 1 am, with a blissful, but filthy, Mikro in tow. He didn't want to leave. (I was ready to, because the bugs started biting, and I am horrifically allergic to whatever bit me...) I was having so much fun, I forgot to take a single photo!

Sunday, we visited the replica ship Bounty (as in Mutiny on the..) which also appeared as the Black Pearl in Pirates of the Carribean: Deadman's Chest.







Afterwards, Mikro participated in a jam making program at Beczak Environmental Education Center, where he also made me a mother's day card, completely on his own!






And we played in the park behind Beczak.