The Magnifying Glass

Texture walk

Today my son came to me with a sunflower leaf (from his sisters butterfly garden... shhhh) and told me that it was rough like sandpaper. We started talking about texture and all the different textures we find in nature. That sparked a texture walk. Since this one started with a leaf our walk had a leaf theme but it just as well could have been dirt, rocks, tree bark or all of the above. 

We found rough, smooth, bummpy, fuzzy and so much more...

His favorite... the soft and fuzzy mint leaves. 

But I think that is because he likes to nip a little taste while he is out to play, as evidence by the state of the mint leaves. There are advantages to ending your texture walk in the herb garden.

Other ideas:

~ Talk with your kids about texture and make a list of different textures before you head outside to find the textures on your list. 

~ Choose a theme, like our leaf theme, and see how many different textures you can find within the theme.

~ Place some nature items in a bag then have the kids reach in to feel them and give a guess based on what they feel. Talk about how the texture helped them figure it out.

~ You could also do a color walk or a shape walk.

Do you have any other ideas for themed nature walks? We would love to hear about your walk. 

Have fun in nature!

~Dawn

Dike Walk

Whenever we visit my parents, we spend our days outside hiking the countryside. They live near Puget Sound, and the landscape varies here to an astonishing degree.

 

 

The other day, it was just three of us, my dad, my son, and me. We chose a trail atop a dike in the flat muddy land near Padilla Bay. The dikes are earthen walls intended to keep the water from constantly flooding the surrounding farmland as the tide goes in and out. Although the land was picturesque in its own way, I held out little hope for spotting interesting wildlife. But of course I brought the camera--you never know.

 

 

The trail was winding (my favorite kind) and around a bend we spotted our first of several Great Blue Herons. This one actually flew in a little closer and we watched him quietly for a very long time.

 

 

 

We followed the ditch for nearly a mile, and we noticed that there were quite a few ducks in the water. From a distance, they appeared to be common mallards, and rather drab, but on closer inspection they turned out to be Green-winged Teals (male and female). A second pair of ducks proved to be Gadwalls.

   
Male Green-winged Teal                            Female Green-winged Teal
 
 
 
Male and Female Gadwall Ducks

The more time we spent walking, the more we became aware of various kinds of tiny birds sitting in the hedges and poking about in the mud. We believe these birds are Western Sandpipers, although there are several species of sandpipers that are almost indistinguishable.

 

 

We also spotted a number of White-crowned Sparrows. My father found them unremarkable but I had never seen them before.

 

The wind picked up and my son's little legs started to give out, so we turned back to the car. Just before we departed, we spotted a bit of a row in the sky as a bird (no doubt guarding a nest) determinedly charged a large bird of prey until the intruder wheeled off. We thought it might be a hawk, but using binoculars we discovered it was none other than a bald eagle.

"Bird chases off bald eagle"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

 

We don't see such fascinating sights every day, but as time goes by I start to think that we make our own luck. If you get out as often as possible, you just never know what you might see. And bring your binoculars!

 

 

I must share that I was fortunate enough to identify these birds using a fabulous book my father owns--National Audobon Society's The Sibley Guide to Birds. Even more fascinating (a book we may have to own ourselves some day) is National Audobon Society's The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. From the latter book I was reminded, for example, that water birds hatch with feathers and the ability to feed themselves right away; nesting birds are born without wings and rely exclusively on their parents for food until they learn how to fly.

 

If you are out and about, be sure to share your experiences in the comments of a post, link to your own nature walks you blog about, and post your photographs on the TMG flickr pool.

~Nancy

Guest :: Gwyn Beasley

Celebrating the Autumn Equinox in Australia

Here at TMG, we’ve been celebrating Equinox Week in anticipation of the big day tomorrow.  The Northern Hemisphere will experience the Vernal (Spring) Equinox, while those living in the Southern Hemisphere will mark the Autumnal Equinox.  Today, Gwyn Beasley, author of several nature books for children based on her family's experiences, kindly shares with us how her family enjoys the transition from Summer to Autumn in Australia.

 

The Autumn Equinox is our lowest key seasonal celebration of the year which is why it is perhaps my favourite! Where we live, there has only been a slight shift in the weather from that of summer. Leaves haven’t turned, so we can’t indulge in autumn leaf crafts yet, so we celebrate the Autumn Equinox with a walk and a talk.

 

To our ancestors, the Autumn Equinox was a time to give thanks for the bountiful harvest of summer. We aren’t vegetable farmers yet, so as we walk, we typically talk about the aspects of summer that we are most grateful for. Like the patches of sunlight that light our path, and the ample rain that has our waterfall running.

 

We notice that we are seeing less of our favourite reptiles and as we walk, we always talk about whether they hibernate, or how long it takes them to warm up in cooler weather.

 

If we find evidence of where a bandicoot has used its snout to burrow for food alongside our track, we wonder whether they will find more or less food for as the plant life changes with the weather.

 

We always end our walks with a check on the spiny blue crayfish which breed in Autumn. This year, we hope to witness them carrying their young on their backs.

 

And as we return from our walk and talk, I usually think to myself that the best thing about Autumn is that my children sleep in a little later each morning. As we return from our walk and talk, my children think aloud that the best thing about Autumn is the Easter eggs!

~ Gwyn Beasley, guest contributor

Fall Nest

They build with moss, bark and thistledown. They build high and low in the nooks and crannies of the forest. They build in the spring but in the fall, with the trees bare, their hiding places are revealed. This week on one of our hikes we were reminded that fall is a great time to find those amazing nests birds work so hard to build. 

The nest we found this week was right next to the trail we walk often. It was wild to think how many times we walked past and did not see it during the spring and summer.

We were happy this one was low enough that with a gentle touch we could easily bring it down to take a closer look.

We talked about construction materials. This nest is made up of an outer shell of beautifully woven birch bark and an inner lining of pine needles. Pine needles never looked so comfy. 

The kids picked a few birds that they thought may have made the nest. One disadvantage of finding a nest in the fall is that you can't wait around for the owners to come back and tend to their nest. You can identify birds you have seen in the spring and summer, look up their nests and make your best guess based on what you know. Then wait until spring to see if you were right. We have some guess but still are not sure who made this one. I think a guide to birds' nests might just be making it's way onto our guide shelf soon. 

If you would like to learn more Northern Woodlands has a great article by Bernd Heinrich about bird nests.

Please keep in mind that while many birds build new nests each year there are some who come back and refurbish old nests. Please consider leaving nests found in the wild where they are both for the birds and for other nature lovers to observe and learn.

Have you had a bird nest experience? We would love to hear about it.

~Dawn

 

 

A Family of Trees

This weekend I got to spend some wonderful time with my little boy looking at trees. I love it when I get one-on-one time with my little ones and spending that time in nature is icing on the cake of life.

After spending the rainy morning inside doing all matter of crafts, games and reading we finally got our chance to get out. And we took it!

He loves trees and we headed straight up to the oak forest behind our house. We were looking at the bark and started talking about how we can tell the age of a tree. We have talked about counting rings before but not about how to tell the age of trees that are still alive. As we observed the different oaks we started talking more about the bark. He noticed that the big trees had rough bark. We took a closer look and saw that as the trees got bigger their bark changed too.

He said that one tree was like the Mama oak and the others were her babies. So taking this concept we broke it down even more…

A smaller oak is like a little kid oak, an oak bigger than that one is like the Mama oak, bigger still would be the Grandma oak and the biggest oak in the forest the Great Grandma oak. It made total sense to him and I loved that we made a "family tree."

Not only were they growing bigger as we moved along our “oak family tree” but we noted that as oaks age their bark gets rougher and rougher.

Then he remembered that on another hike we had seen some really tiny oaks down the hillside on the other side of the meadow. Off he went in search of them.

   He found them and discovered that they had very smooth and green bark much different from the bigger oaks.

   We examined the buds already formed, waiting for next spring.

We talked about how all the trees we had seen started out just like this little baby tree, which started from a tiny acorn.

He was excited to find more “tree families” and we were off.

He found pines families.

He found birch.

We looked at maples and the tall cottonwoods.

It was a beautiful time to spend with my little man observing the life around us. Life that was here before we were born and may just be here long after we are gone. What a gift to share this place with them.

This is a great time to observe trees. With many of them almost leafless it was neat to focus on their bark and structure. It was fun to see him stand tall at the base of those straight birch trees looking up, getting a true sense of their height.

The next day we read Trees, Leaves and Roots. Like the other Fun with Nature Take Along Guides it was a great introduction to what we saw.

With about 600 species of oak in the world we think we narrowed ours down to red oak with the help of our tree guide.

If you like to draw or have an older child around who would be interested in learning more about drawing trees the book How to Draw Trees by Henry C. Pitz is wonderful.

Once this crazy rain stops and the trees get a chance to dry out we are going to do some bark rubbings. We want to make a "Book of Bark" with our rubbings not just identifying the trees but also the families of trees with their changing bark.  

What have you been out and about observing in nature this fall? 

~Dawn

Gifts from Nature ~ Kindling Bundles

As the weather turns cold and we spend a few more hours of our day inside our minds can't help but turn toward making things for the upcoming holidays. There are many different traditions and reasons to celebrate coming up in the next few months and we try to make, rather than purchase, as many gifts and decorations as possible for our celebrations.

Being nature lovers we also love to incorporate nature into our creations. In that spirit, we here at The Magnifying Glass are excited to start a series called Gifts from Nature. Over the next two months we are going to be sharing some gift ideas that use those wonderful items you empty from your pockets when you arrive home from nature walks... those treasures on your nature table or in bowls and on windowsills around your home. Special things you and your little ones have collected and would love to share with others in the form of a gift. 

 
So to kick things off I would like to share with you the idea of making kindling bundles. My kids love to collect sticks. We have lots on our nature table and various other locations around our home. There does come a time when I wonder just what to do with all of those sticks. 

Last fall I read a wonderful book called A Handmade Life. In it he talked about making bundles of kindling from twigs and fallen branches. He also suggested having your little one make a bundle to set aside for the lighting of a special fire. He noted Christmas but I was thinking it would be the prefect thing for our Solstice Celebration. Fall is a great time to make these because there are usually lots of windy days to knock down those loose twigs and branches and it gives the kindling enough time to dry out for the special fire. 

In addition to what could be gathered from our "collection" of sticks Hurricane Earl provided us with more than enough fuel for our bundles. With eager little hands that love to help out we were on our way.

 

We start by gathering all of the twigs in one spot. Then the breaking begins... this really is the fun part.

Then they get stacked in piles. We usually have a few piles going at one time so we can spread out the different size twigs.

Then they get tied. My little guy chose to tie the Solstice bundles with wool rainbow yarn. And he made five of them. One for each member of our family and one for Mother Nature. I guess he plans on having quite the bond fire. Those were set aside in a special spot in the shed. 

We have plans to give some of the other bundles away as gift in kindling baskets along with some other "fire starter" materials I will share soon. 

In the mean time start gathering up your acorns, rocks, pine cones, dried leaves, driftwood and sea glass. There are some fun and exciting gift ideas coming up. 

Have you started making gifts for the holidays?  Please leave us a link or post pictures to The Magnifying Glass flickr group. We would also love to see what you have been making from the things you are finding out in nature.

~Dawn

 

When Life Throws You Curve Balls, I Believe Nature Heals

{swallowtail butterfly}

Hello!

Its Eren back here again!

A big thank you to my fellow TMG contributors for holding down the fort here while my family and I have been dealing with a few things here within our family.

Sometimes live throws you curve balls - and boy did we get a big one thrown at us the beginning of this summer.  

This summer has brought many changes for our family.  Someone very close to us has is in the process of being diagnosed with a long term illness that will not be easy to deal with.  And our boys have had to be extra patient - which is expecting a lot.

I am learning personally how powerful stress is and how it can affect every other part of your body. And part of the healing process for us will be keeping stress levels at a minimum.

One thing I have learned this summer is how amazing nature de-stresses us and actually heals our bodies and our minds.

Yes most all of the medications we take are derived from ingredients found in nature.  But today I am really talking more about the healing properties of just being smack dab in the middle of the natural world.

It has been amazing to watch my boys escape to the garden or the high up in the tree in the front yard when things get a little dicey.  And come back 45 minutes later with a new understanding of their world.

And through this process I have learned to encourage being outside in their special spots even more important than I ever knew before.  

So in honor of being able to come back up to breathe again, we want to share with you a few natural wonders we have been enjoying the past few weeks - some of the things that have brought us delight and awe (and healing) in the middle of life throwing curve balls at us.

{building fairy houses}

{watching sunsets}

{gulf fritilary caterpillar on violet leaf}

 {enjoying pretty flowers in full bloom}

{collecting sea glass}
 

I post this to you today, but really more as a reminder to myself that when life throws you curve balls, get outside.  As much as I want to curl up into a ball and hide under the covers, healing from the natural world around me will be so much better for us all in the long run.

I will leave you with a question...

Do you believe in the healing powers of simply being IN the natural world?

I do.

On the Shelf: Take a Backyard Bird Walk.

Summer vacation has finally rolled around to our house and the prospect of unstructured days is being met with absolute joy.  I'm sure that for many families, extended time off from the day to day routine is perhaps a source of some consternation, but for us, it is bliss.  This doesn't mean, however, that I don't feel the need to have a few tricks up my sleeve in the event that a restless summer afternoon arrives and the girl complains of needing something to do. 

Enter the newest title on our bookshelf: Take a Backyard Bird Walk by Jane Kirkland.  Part field guide, part nature journal and part manual for outdoor discovery, Take a Backyard Bird Walk is the perfect companion for summer mornings spent in the backyard or in a nearby park.  Designed to be used and not just referenced, the book contains tips for finding and identifying birds, as well as places to draw pictures, make field notes and write down questions for future research.  The book explains everything from field markings to bird nesting behavior in kid-friendly terms that focus on common birds that might easily be found in an average backyard setting.  

One of the things that I find most enchanting about this interactive birding book is the way that it provides inspiration for budding birders just becoming interested in the the feathered friends sharing their environment.  I love the idea of a book that is designed to help even very small children become careful and dedicated birdwatchers.  Kids have such passion for their interests when encouraged the right way and the simple text, lovely pictures and clever layout of this book are perfectly suited to this task.  

Take a Backyard Bird Walk is actually a part of a series of books called Take a Walk Books.  You can check out the publishing company's website here and find additional titles on such awesome subjects as urban nature walks, beachcombing and wetland exploration.  Welcome, summer!

----Annie

May Photo Contest Wrapping Up

There are only a few days in May left to enter your "Nature in My Pocket" photo for our May Photo Contest.

And yes we DO have a prize for the winner!  (More on that later)

The photo above is from 4 In The South + Pets and is such a great example of all of the amazing things you can find in your own yard if you are just looking.

So make sure you get your photo posted to The Magnifying Glass over on flickr before May 31 at midnight to be eligible.

Good luck everyone!

Finding Nature (even in tight spaces)

This is our back yard in Sicily, Italy. It is a small, rectangular space surrounded by identical fenced-in boxes. It is the smallest yard we have ever had. It's the first yard we have ever had without any trees. It is a space that depressed me during our first month here. I missed our previous yards...the shady oaks of our Florida yard, the big banyan trees perfect for climbing when we lived in Japan, the Puget Sound that was literally at the back door of our house in Washington State. And yet, it didn't seem to bother my kids.

They quickly set to work overturning rocks to discover beetles and pill bugs. They filled up our bird baths with water, found some resident toads, and happily helped us shovel dirt into the new garden beds. They showed me that even small, tree-less yards can have redeeming qualities and that they can be a surprising source for nature. Free from shade, we had zinnias blooming until December and our winter garden was very productive (more purple, Sicilian broccoli than we could eat!). We learned that our backyard is the summer home for hundreds of migrating martins who nest in the eaves of our house and our neighbors. And we have some very cool looking lizards.

This little yard of ours also really makes us appreciate the wild diversity of this Mediterranean island that is still so new to us. When you have a small yard, there is even more motivation to get out and explore. We spend most of our weekends visiting nature preserves, feeling invigorated by the wide open spaces, savoring the beauty of the beaches and being awed by Mt. Etna, the active volcano that looms above us. And then we return home to our little yard, which really isn't so bad after all. I promise to wow you with some of the amazing things we are seeing/doing, but I wanted to start by showing you the space where we spend most of our time during the week experiencing nature. It isn't exotic, it isn't very attractive, it isn't large, but it is ours (at least for the next couple of years). This little yard of ours is a good reminder that being a part of the natural world is as easy as opening the door and stepping out.