Blog – Page 5 – Kids Discover Nature

10 Spots to Watch Spring Migration in New England

by Editorial Staff

‘Tis the season to watch nature awaken from it’s long winter nap. It’s an exciting time as we watch the bulbs sprout from the ground and the snow cover melt away. It time to look forward to the arrival of migrating wildlife, especially the birds. This time of year provides a wonderful opportunity to teach children about the seasons and the habits of wildlife, which often resemble our own seasonal habits. Though you can watch for spring migrants in your own backyard, following is a list of favorite places to spot migrating birds in New England.

Best Spots to See Migrating Birds in the Spring in New England

1. Hammonasset State Park – Madison, Connecticut: warblers, waterfowl.2. White Memorial Foundation and Conservation Center – Litchfield, Connecticut: Bluebirds, Wood Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, Tree Swallow, Canada Geese, grebes, terns and Red-Winged Blackbirds.

3. Parker River National Wildlife Refuge – Newburyport, Massachusetts: Over 285 species of spring migrants have been viewed here.

4. Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge – Chatham, Cape Cod, Massachusetts: turnstones, sanderlings, sandpipers, plovers, Red Knots, terns and American Oystercatchers.

5. Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge – South Kingstown, Rhode Island: waterfowl, songbirds along with some nesting rare Osprey and Least Terns.

6. Norman Bird Sanctuary – Middletown, Rhode Island: warblers, shorebirds and more.

7. The Loon Center and Markus Wildlife Sanctuary – Moultonborough, New Hampshire: loons!

8. Mohegan Island – Maine: Blue-Winged Teal, Yellow-Billed Cuckoo, Red-Bellied Woodpecker, Cedar Waxwing, warblers, Osprey, American Kestrel and Peregrine Falcon.

9. Acadia National Park – Mount Desert Island, Maine: songbirds, seabirds, Purple Sandpipers and possibly puffins.

10. Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge – Swanton, Vermont: Kingfisher, Great Blue Heron, Northern Harrier, Catbirds, warblers and songbirds.

I invite you to add your favorite spots to this list, no matter where you live.

Thanks to WildBirds.com for location details utilized for this post.

Mammals

Wildlife Watching – Deer

by Jodi Valenta

Photo of deer family as seen in our woods during a snowstorm

We have a large family of deer that uses our property as part of their home. We have seen a doe and her six fawns and three bucks that pal around together. They have provided my family with quite an education in deer behavior. We first met the doe the summer we moved into our house. At the time she had two fawns. They were seen once in a while on the outskirts of the property, chewing the underbrush. Each summer since, she has birthed two to three more fawns, which has made for quite a large family.

A brief note on deer biology
Female deer stay together as a family unit and the males leave to lead a somewhat solitary life. Often they form a small group of two to three males, except during the rut (mating season). I often see three bucks pass through our woodland and one day watched them for several hours while they were eyeing the doe and her female offspring during the mating season, though without much luck.

Overpopulation Wreaks Havoc
Needless to say, my shrubs and Hosta have paid the price with so many deer looking for tender morsels! We see more and more of them every year, and in the past several months we have begun to see them several times per week. I can only guess that they are being forced onto our property more often because they have less and less space elsewhere. As the family’s population continues to grow, there will be less and less food for them, which means more damage to the forest underbrush and to our gardens. As much as it annoys me that I never see my plants bloom because they eat the buds (I use deer spray regularly, but they somehow know the second it wears off), I feel sorry for them and the fact that they are overpopulated and starving. Even the hunters we have in the area aren’t enough to keep the population at manageable levels.

Winter Entertainment
Ok, I got sidetracked…as I was saying they have provided much entertainment. The family has been particularly fond of our property during snowstorms. Each time we have had a snowfall, they bed down in the woodland behind our house. They stay there for hours, waiting out the storm. They are so unbelievably patient! As I watched the mother look over her brood quietly laying in the snow during the last storm, I couldn’t help but feel exasperated as I watched my own brood of two practically tear down our walls while they waited for the storm to end!

When it did finally end, my husband and I took the kids out to investigate the area where the deer were hanging out. Here are photos of what we found:

1) Deer tracks in the woods

2) Deer beds where they patiently waited out the snowstorm

Here is a photo of my children being little explorers – I call them my “little peepers.”

I am curious about whether you’ve had any experiences with deer. Do you like to watch them, do they eat your gardens? Do you hunt them? Please post your thoughts in the comments section.

Nature Activities for Kids

Connecting Kids to Nature – Now is the time!

by Jodi Valenta

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, parents often heard from a multitude of experts that kids were losing their connection to nature and the outdoors. We as parents have witnessed this ourselves. We were much more likely to spend the entire day outside playing with friends than kids are today. Now it’s harder to pry children away from their screens, whether it be a computer game, tablet, or smartphone. Often parents have to literally drag their kids outside in order to force them to get fresh air and exercise.

Now that we have spent hours upon hours at home and inside, we are all getting tired of staring at the same four walls. Our eyes and minds need a break from the screen and children, especially, need a break from Zoom and the opportunity to relax and spend time outdoors.

Please let me know what you think in the comments section.

Outdoor Activities for Kids

Seven Cool Icicle Activities

by Jodi Valenta

After a recent deep freeze in New England, with temperatures at -11 degrees, a mid-winter thaw is always welcome. It offers the perfect opportunity to get outside with the kids and enjoy a respite from the stale indoor air. Since the weather also creates the perfect conditions for the development of icicles and the eaves of the house, they make for a great opportunity to have some fun.

Below are fun activities you can do with icicles:

Exercise. Walk around the house and look closely at all the icicles and explain how they form.
Observe. Choose one icicle that can be reached. Measure it once per week for a week or two and observe the difference in length.
Create. Break off an icicle and use it to draw pictures in the snow.
Build. Break off many icicles and use them to build something or make a door for a fort.
Read. Take a trip to the library and search for books about icicles.
Chat. Talk about why water dripping from icicles is a hint that Spring is on it’s way (thank goodness!).
Contest. See who can find the longest, oddest and prettiest.

* Caution: It’s a good idea to oversee anything kids do with icicles because they can be dangerous, especially when them observing from below.

Fifteen minutes is all it takes for everyone to enjoy a bit of fresh air, feel the sun on your faces and learn about icicles.

Thanks for reading and think Spring!

Birds

13 Tips for the Great Backyard Bird Count

by Editorial Staff

The Great Backyard Bird Count starts today and runs through February 17, 2020. It’s a great activity for kids, especially for those who live in the northern climes, when the temps are low and the winds do blow. It’s easy, fun and only takes 15 minutes of your time each day.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society together launched the Great Backyard Bird Count back in 1998. It was the first opportunity for citizens to collect data on wild birds and post it online. The uber cool thing is that results are displayed in near real-time.

More than 100,000 people from across the globe have joined the count each February. It’s important to bird conservation because it creates an annual snapshot of the distribution and abundance of birds. Having this data helps scientists understand the status of bird populations and develop conservation plans based on their needs and distribution.

Your kids can play a role in real scientific research. Here’s how to participate:

Go to the Great Backyard Bird Count page and register.
Count birds for at least 15 minutes on one or all of the days. You can count in the same location or anywhere else you happen to be.
Keep your lists tallied by species (i.e. – Cardinal, Black-Capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, etc.)
Enter your results on the GBBC website by clicking “Submit Observations” on the home page. Or download the free GBBC BirdLog app to enter data on a mobile device.
Download any of the helpful documents such as instructions, online bird guides, and helpful videos.
Go to the online world map via the GBBC landing page and watch near real-time submissions.
Read the results from previous year that are downloadable from the landing page.
Print out the participation certificate available on the website and have your kids fill it out.
Encourage them to enter the photo contest. They can also view photos of past winners.
Participate in local events if in your area. The list is available on the site.
Choose one species and spend time learning more about it.
Draw pictures or write stories and poems about the bird.
Go outside and refill the bird feeders when you finish counting. Birds depend on a specific food source all winter. Don’t let them down.

Join thousands of people world-wide and encourage your kids to “Count for the Birds!”

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