For our first Green Hour Challenge, we decided to wait for a nice day.  Yesterday was 63 degrees outside.  It doesn't get any better than that for a winter's day! 

We headed over to the Ralston Creek Trail, which is close to our house but we have never been there before.  The trail is paved and is a narrow green belt through the suburb of Arvada, CO.  Houses back up almost to the creek.  We wish the green belt was wider!  The creek is a great place for little boys to start with their outdoor explorations. 

Here are our observations:

1.  We were excited to see a bird that we have never seen before.  It was a black and white bird, about the same size as a blue jay.  It looked like it was wearing "Napoleon's" hat.  When we got home, we consulted "Birds of Colorado Field Guide" and determined that what we saw was a female belted kingfisher.  We observed it skimming the water in the creek and decided that it was fishing.

2.  The creek was very dirty.  It was full of garbage: plastic bags, Christmas wrapping paper, cardboard, aluminum foil, candy wrappers, and cups.  We wanted to jump in and clean up the creek!!  We want to see if there is an organized group that works to clean up the creek (we want to join it). 

3.  There was LOTS of fresh Canada Goose poop on the trail.  What are they eating?  Is this where they winter?

4.  There were leaf prints embedded on the paved trail.  We talked about how humans impact nature (cement over the earth).  Here was an example of how nature impacted something humans made!

Here are the 2 things we want to investigate further:

1.  We want to know what river Ralston Creek runs into.  We want to see if there is a group we can join to help keep Ralston Creek clean.  As mom observed, "Everyone lives downstream."  The water we are living with is the same water that the dinosaurs bathed in.  We don't want future generations to inherit our dirty water.

2.  We will try to find out more about the habits of Canadian Geese.  We knew that they were at one time on the endangered species list.  They have made an amazing comeback and we want to know why there are so many living around our town in the winter.