Very exciting nature times at our house...

Those are egg clusters from Florida apple snails.  There are dozens and dozens of egg clusters like this all around our pond on duck potatoes.

Last weekend dh headed out to the garage and would only say he was making a surprise for all of us.  What did he construct?  Two bird feeders!  They need to be a bit more stable so we'll be repositioning them, but this has been such a wonderful week to sit excitedly by the windows to see who drops by for a snack.  Ds2 alerts us by yelling "Bird!  Bird!" or "Bue Jay!  Blue Jay!" (every bird as far as his 2yo mind is concerned is a blue jay - LOL).  We have had a blue jay stopping by, but it's more interested in eating our cat's food on the porch than anything we have to offer in the feeders.  Ds1 loves the cardinals that come many times each day.  The biggest thrill for me, however, was the day that ds1 started yelling "Mom, there's a weird bird in the feeder!"  It was not a weird bird at all - it was a red-bellied woodpecker.  It was the first we've seen this year and so beautiful.

Mrs. Cardinal.......

Mr. Cardinal (ds1 says it looks like he is bowing to us and thanking us for the food).......

Red-bellied woodpecker.......

I really wish I could get wonderful up-close shots like I have seen on other blogs, but the feeders are a good distance away from our windows and zooming in any further than I did only results in a horribly blurry photo. 

Some fun online resources to go along with these birds.......

Cardinal coloring page (pdf file)

Cardinal fact page at National Geographic

Cardinal coloring page

All About Birds: Northern Cardinal

Northern Cardinal Photo Gallery

Northern Cardinal at BioKids

Northern Cardinal species overview

Red-bellied woodpecker profile

All About Birds: Red-bellied woodpecker

Printable bird coloring book/workbook (pdf file)

Did you know lichen can help you determine the quality of your air?

Our fun experiment a couple of days ago was testing our air quality (part of the Exploring Creation with Botany curriculum).  We decided to forego the wire clothes hanger tester the book suggested constructing and decided to instead use one of my quilting rulers that already had well marked square grids.  You simply count the number of grids completely filled with lichen in comparison with the total # of grids overall to determine the quality of your air.  I know I could explain it so much better than that, but I'll leave you to go check out the curriculum for yourself! 

Our results ... we tested four oak trees located in various spots on our property.  The results were 63%, 45%, 78%, and 86%.  That tells us that our air quality is pretty darn good!  I was definitely pleased to learn that tidbit.

I have been trying to encourage ds1 to clear out his room and donate some of his stuff.  He has decided the person who needs his stuff most is ds2 (ummmmmmm ... the point was to get it out of the house, not move it from one bedroom to another!).  I must say ds2 is quite the happy camper.  He is the proud new owner of several stuffed animals (no big cats though - ds1 is not giving those up), a bouncy ball and other assorted odds and ends.  Thankfully we also saved some of ds1's toys from his younger years (there is an almost 7 year age difference between my blessings) and I pulled out another goodie for ds2 this weekend ... Leap's Phonics Pond.

I have such fond memories attached to this particular toy.  It was a key in ds1 learning his alphabet ... so much so that we were shocked when in traffic one day and he started calling out every letter of the alphabet he saw on business/commercial vehicles all around us.  I can still see my little tow-head lugging this around all over the place and now I'm going to see grand memories in the making as my second tow-head follows suit.  I can't believe ours still looks brand new - it held up extremely well!

Ds1 likes to sit on the sofa to do much of his school work so he can goof off look out the window to see if any birds are visiting our pond.  This morning's math lesson was halted when he spotted a great egret and little blue heron.  We observed them for a bit then tried to get some photos.  Lousy timing ruined that for us though.  Our neighbor across the road came out of his driveway about that time in his work truck (which was quite noisy) and they flew away.  I was able to get this one pic......

I was happy to hear and see "our" female pileated woodpecker again this morning while I was tending to the garden.  Since I was watering I didn't have the camera with me, but I found her pecking happily away in one of our sabal palms.  Hubby heard them a few days ago when he was leaving for work.  Hopefully all this recent activity means they are going to hang out with us for a while.

For upated garden pics, check our family blog.

We're in the home stretch now ... a few more of the wonderful animals at the West Palm Beach Zoo...

"Mardi" the white alligator...

Ocelots (our first time seeing these lovely wild cats)...

Jaguars...

Aldabra tortoise...

Fennec fox (cute, cute, cute!)...

The End!  It was a long day...

Some of the feathered beauties at the West Palm Beach Zoo...

Today I'm sharing the main reason we visited the West Palm Beach Zoo - the Malayan tigers!  Malayan tigers were classified as a separate subspecies of tiger (from Indochinese tigers) back in 2004.  It is estimated that 600 or fewer remain in the wild.  Only 47 of these tigers are in captivity in the United States (in 20 different zoos I believe), so it was a real treat to get to see this pair of brothers named Rimba and Mata.  I am disappointed with how my pictures turned out, however.  The exhibit area being crowded along with foliage and poor light conditions made it difficult to get good shots.  Nonetheless, they were stunning and we were thrilled to see them in person.

Ds1 really tickled me because he kept excitedly telling me over and over "Look!  He's using his Jacobson's organ!"  Of course this brought about odd looks from bystanders.  I suppose only a homeschooling mom (grin!) could truly appreciate the moment. LOL

I hope you can see this beautiful tiger bench in this next photo.  I am surprised that a certain someone at my house has not requested one of these for our yard yet!

The Wild Things Show was so much fun and introduced us to a couple of animals we'd never seen before.

The adorable little African hedgehog...

The gorgeous African serval (ds1 was very excited to see one of these again!)...

The binturong, also called a "bearcat"...

The adorable New Guinea Singing Dogs - they actually "sang" for us...

I know many of you in the southeast had snow over the past weekend.  We in Florida has cooler temps move in as a result and we actually had to wear sweatshirts and jeans to start off our day!  *Gasp!*

Now let's immerse ourself in the world of the Mayan culture through the Tropics of the Americas exhibit...

Wanna see some of the beautiful surroundings at the West Palm Beach Zoo, including the cute little butterfly garden?  Pull up a chair and have a look!

If you can stand a gazillion zoo pictures (what I'm posting is not all that we took, just what I have been "directed" to share), then this is the place for you!  We recently visited the West Palm Beach Zoo and would like to share the adventure.  I had intended to start this "mini-series" earlier, but unfortunate events earlier this week prevented me from doing so.

For part one I'll start off with "Colin", the zoo's Florida panther.  Florida panthers are near and dear to our hearts as they are the state animal of Florida and a critically endangered species.  There are less than 100 of these majestic creatures left in the wild, possibly less than 50.  It's a tremendous shame the state of Florida has not stepped up to the plate and done more to protect these animals and their habitats.  For more info about Florida panthers take a look here, here, here, and here.  Sadly, Colin was having a bad day when we visited.  We heard that a zoo visitor had been heckling him and poking at him by inserting a walking cane through his enclosure.  Needless to say, he was not a happy camper and we saw his ferocity displayed quite a few times as he was upset afterward.  (Side note: What the heck is wrong with people???)