We have been so extremely lucky lately.  We've been blessed with small bits of nature in suburbia.

The most recent addition to our studies have been killdeer.  While driving my husband to work one night, driving along a golf driving range on one side and a factory on the other, a screeching bird flew in front of the car.  The underside was pointy and white and I had no idea what it was. 

About a week later, I noticed a bird over on the small patch of lawn by the driving range's fence.   I had never seen this bird before.  I spent over an hour searching the internet before I found the killdeer.

The_Killdeer 

(I'm sorry the picture is so bad -- I took it out the car window, while driving!  But hopefully you can make out the killdeer)

Apparently they are common summer migrants to our area for breeding purposes.  They live near water, but breed wherever.  Usually in rocks to camouflage their eggs.

Anyway, every day we drive my dh to work, we would see him.  Then two.  Then three.  Then four.  All adults.  They were in the same area every day, so we figured that they had eggs. 

Yesterday we got to see the babies!  It was so awesome!  They were just tiny little things identical to their parents.  Running on their little legs, they can't fly yet.  Just so adorable!

 We also have the most adorable baby bunny!  I saw it the other day in the grass and had Em run in to get carrots.  This is like fit-in-the-palm-of-your-hand baby bunny!  Poor thing must have been traumatized!  Big woman tossing carrots in its path as it tried to dart away!  Em saw it again the next day and it seems he had eated the carrots.

 This is NOT my picture, but this is just what it looked like!  A little more brown and less gray perhaps. 

And our daily friend is Mr. Squirrel -- even though we found out later that he is a she.  Nobody's perfect!  But the name "Mr. Squirrel" has stuck.  I am traumatizing animals left and right around here!  I make up for it by feeding her.  A lot.

Bread.

 Sunflower seeds.

 And lately we have been blessed with the sociable Red Admiral Butterfly.

(Once again, not my photo)

These butterflies visit every evening and land on us like we're old friends.  Emme feels that closeness to God when this happens as well -- and I couldn't give her any greater gift than teaching her how to find that connection here on earth!

"Red Admirals are considered to be people-friendly butterflies that will approach and perch on human beings" 

And I am going to assume that they live in my tiger lilies --  "Male Red Admirals generally claim an elliptically shaped area ranging between 4-13 m wide and 8-24 m long. To protect this area, the males will patrol their territorial boundaries up to thirty times an hour" -- which is why I probably see them flying all over the place as I water the flowers in the evening!

I got this info HERE 

Well, that will end part one of our backyard (or close to our backyard) critters.  Part two will focus on a recent field trip we took to a local park where we discovered two different animal oddities!  (And an icky educational surprise)  And part three will be all about my best backyard friends -- the birds!

Have a blessed time in nature!

Sherry  

During the last week of March, the children and I were given a taste of the sunshine and warmth that normally comes to Detroit in mid-June in the most cruel manner.  Like many midwesterners, we brandished our rakes, cleaning out corner gardens and making lists of landscaping supplies.  Unfortunately, this was nothing more than a hoax by mother nature, leaving us with the feel of the sun's rays on our faces only to turn around to find snowflakes covering our newly mulched beds. 

Now, there is no doubt that I love Dawn-at-By_Sun_and_Candlelight .  I've always poured over her past Field Days  with a cup of tea and a pad of paper to take notes on!  I decided early on to contribute to this one, only to wonder what I could possibly post about, surrounded by drooping tulips and sad, fallen hyacinth.

Well, to pick up my spirits I consoled myself with the knowledge that this is the "Early Spring" Field Day.  So I loaded up my troops and headed to the closest patch of "nature" left in my city.  At 46 degrees, this is the best day we've had in a couple of weeks!

We live in a suburb of Detroit and there used to be forest behind our house just four years ago.  Now it is filled with townhouses.  There is still a tiny patch left about five minutes from the house, so we decided to go there.

Emme and I just started reading about forests this past week and I was very pleasantly surprised when we pulled up and she pointed out the "coniferous trees"! 

Of course "THE BOY" had to be, well, a boy.

But  what I wondered was......were there any signs of SPRING left after our below freezing, frost-filled nights?

Well, of course there was mud, lots and lots.

And that's when I noticed it. 

GREEN!  There were green sprouts on both the ground and the shrubs.

The girls decided to collect some pine cones and other assorted "goodies":

And no field trip with THE BOY is ever complete without a picture of Canadian Geese, running in terror:

Overall it was a good nature walk.  We spotted a few things that we wouldn't have noticed had there been leaves on the trees.

Here is a perfectly formed bird's nest:

And if you look really closely, you will see fungus-y mushrooms growing on the trees:

So there you have it.   An exciting, educational, and fun visit to a place we'd driven past for years and had never stopped at!  Even small areas of nature can be full of wonderful surprises!  Take time to enjoy spring.

The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You're one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,
A wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you're two months back in the middle of March.

(Robert Frost)

I already knew that Project Gutenberg was an awesome site -- but someone from my Charlotte Mason Nature Walk Yahoo Group (that's a mouthful!) recommended this book and I happened to find it for free at the Gutenberg site!

http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=9917&pageno=2

Here is a small excerpt from :

The Fairy-Land of Science by Arabella B. Buckley

HOW TO ENTER IT; HOW TO USE IT; AND HOW TO ENJOY IT

I HAVE promised to introduce you today to the fairy-land of
science - a somewhat bold promise, seeing that most of you
probably look upon science as a bundle of dry facts, while fairy-
land is all that is beautiful, and full of poetry and
imagination.  But I thoroughly believe myself, and hope to prove
to you, that science is full of beautiful pictures, of real
poetry, and of wonder-working fairies; and what is more, I
promise you they shall be true fairies, whom you will love just
as much when you are old and greyheaded as when you are young;
for you will be able to call them up wherever you wander by land
or by sea, through meadow or through wood, through water or
through air; and though they themselves will always remain
invisible, yet you will see their wonderful poet at work
everywhere around you.

What an awesome vision of nature!  Of course all of my children realize that it is God in his infinite wisdom who created all of the glorious wonders outside of our doors -- but I am going to read it and hope to glean some fun ideas on how to excite the children further this summer while on our nature adventures!

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!  And while you are there, check out the other books that Project Gutenberg offers free of charge!

Sherry

The children and I went on another CM-inspired "amble" yesterday.  It was short, but very fruitful!

There is a park not far from my ex's house (Jennah and Jacob's father) which has a gorgeous gazebo, covered bridges, a petting farm on site, old railroad cars, a quaint little church and so many other charming things that I can't even begin to list them all. 

We only had 1/2 an hour before I was supposed to drop off my two J's, so we went and watched the water from the gazebo.  We saw Canadian geese, mallards, 2 swans, and white ducks (is there a more scientific name for them?  I Googled and only saw 'white duck'  LOL).  There were people fishing in the little pond and huge, huge honey bees buzzing around the gazebo.  Biggest bees I've ever seen!  They were so big I am not even sure how their wings kept them hovering!  Then a bird landed on the lamp post right near the gazebo and while we at first thought it was a robin redbreast, I noticed that it had white stripes under its tailfeathers and a black patch on its neck.  So, being a very novice ornithologist, I haven't a clue.  But we had fun watching!

On the way back to the car, the kids found 2 types of pine cones   and I  found the biggest treasure of them all..... a perfect 1/2 of a blue robin's egg!  I had to bring it home with us for the nature notebooks and nature jar!  How exciting.

Now for today -- it's all about CHCHC.  Since Miss Amy   (Dandelionseeds) is just about ready to introduce her little one to the world, I figured I'd do it in honor of her today!  I will be doing my living room and front yard mostly.  The lovely spring weather has made a virtual  jungle out of my front yard.  I have enough dandelions to make two little girls playing princess, stringing a garland crown, happy for a week!  I could outfit the whole royal court with dandelion garlands!  But alas, I   bought weed killer.  So sorry -- they must go!  I also need to cut down other weeds, trim the front bushes, plant some pansies, and put in some new lava rock.  I'm tired just thinking about it! 

Wish me luck! 

Sherry

ps 

My sweet friend Brenda sent this links to me earlier today:

Another eagle cam:

http://www.wdfw.wa.gov/wildwatch/  

Assorted animal cams:

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/WebCams/     

Seaworld!  Shamu cam!

http://www.shamu.com/ca/shamu-cam/        

I just love these cams and animal links.  They are so awesome!  Emme really likes the giraffe one that is in the 2nd link!  He roams around alot, but if you catch him in his house, it's really awesome!

Sherry

I'm working out of order with the CHCHC, but I think what is important is that I am attempting to   declutter   and get things cleaned and organized!

I spent my first "shift" working on the backyard and hanging up my other birdfeeder.   I now have the   hummingbird one,   a woodpecker one,   and   a general wild bird feeder.  We'll be making a bird bath pretty soon.  A little piece of bird paradise in my backyard!  I also have a bat house  and a butterfly house  that I need to find room   for!  How exciting!

I'm taking a break from raking right now.  After my break I'm going to fix a picnic lunch for the kids (turkey roll-up sandwiches with pickles, olives, and apples) and then get back to raking and making the   backyard look nice! 

I've been keeping an eye on the eagle cam too.  She went through a bad rainstorm night before last.  Oh, if you are interested, the link has changed from the one I posted last, here is the new one:

http://www.infotecbusinesssystems.com/wildlife/

  She's a good mama!  Those eggs are so precious to her!  Can you imagine having to just sit outside for months while you were pregnant with no t.v., radio, rocking chair or cuddly blankets?  No books? 

AND -- did you know that cow birds will lay their eggs in OTHER birds' nests?  They just pop em out and take off!  Then the nice moms will hatch the cow birds' eggs along with their own!  Weird!

I watched this show last night on TLC "Honey, We're Killing the Kids" -- it's about people who are feeding their children a lot of fast food, sugar, letting them watch a lot of t.v. and play video games, etc.  I watched it and realized that I am sort of in the middle.  I do need to help the kids eat more healthfully and exercise more and watch less t.v. -- but, they do eat fruits and veggies, chicken and whole grains -- they get in exercise with sports and I've incorporated a daily walking program.  So, I guess I'm middle of the road.  I could do better, but I also could be doing worse. 

Anyway -- back to the kids' lunch.  Come to find out, Jennah no longer LIKES smoked turkey breast!  So we ended up having parmesan noodles, olives, and oranges for Jennah and bananas for Jake and Emme.   My kids are crazy for black olives.  They love them alone, on pizza, in sandwiches, in noodles, etc. 

Dinner tonight is going to be a quick one, beef hot dogs, baked french fries, pickles and apples. 

We colored Easter Eggs at my mom's  last night.  The kids had a blast.   

Ok, I've made this long enough.  Back to the work at  hand!

Hugs! 

Sherry

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/DataRetrieval/Top25/Top25.htm 

The above link will take you to a site which will show you the top 25 birds sited in your state!  This will give you opportunity to study the most common birds in your area. 

mms://lastream001.galaxytelevision.net/hh001

The second link is really and truly awesome.  It is a live video feed of an eagle's nest.  I believe she is sitting on some eggs -- I could be wrong.  Yep!  I'm right, here's some info I googled:

Hornby Island Bald Eagles laid their first egg of this season at about 1745 (5:45PM) on March 21, 2006!!

Second egg was laid March 24. (Incubation takes about 36 days)

PROJECTED HATCHING DATES: April 26 and 30.

During the last 24 hours -- Monday -- over 30,000 people tuned into this site for a few minutes to all day. "I wonder how many people will be watching those days -- hopefully I will!!" David Hancock

Background on the Hornby Island Bald Eagle nest:

This nest is located on Hornby Island in the Gulf Islands area of British Columbia.

This pair has been nesting in this nest for about 19 years -- usually producing 2 young per year.

GETTING THE LIVE CAM:

In September of 2004 Doug Carrick organized that a video camera be placed in the nest. This was the one month period when the eagles were absent and the climber's presence would not deterr future breeding.

He then had the live feed brought to his house across the road so he could see the live action in his living room -- and record the action on his vhs.. That is only the beginning of what is incredible. He got to witness the details of how the eagles bring in and place the branches and mosses. He had an incredible view into the nesting behavior of these eagles.

EGG LAYING: Doug was present when the first egg was laid and had his recorder going. What he got on tape is I am sure recorded here for the first time. The female's head is less than a foot from the camera and she goes into labor -- straining and grunting (yes captured on the sound tape) and ending with her standing up to proudly look down at a beautiful white egg. I was when I saw that tape that I asked Doug if we could bring this live action the next year to the world through Streaming Video.

Doug immediately said yes. The last six weeks of trying to get the bugs worked out of the transmission has not gone so easily. At first we suspected the computer we use to compress and digitize the video, however it now appears that inconsistent network connect (via the Telus ADSL) is the problem. On the other hand, the fact that any high speed Inernet is available on this relatively remote island (2 ferry rides from Vancouver Island!) is a wonder of itself. We looked at putting in a radio link but even that would be next to impossible due to limited lines of site to this particular part of Hornby (East side with no direct view of either Vancouver to the Southeast or Comox to the Northeast) and Texada Island in the way of a view to Powel River.

We're still open to suggestions if any technical reader has them. Please contact Richard Pitt, richard@pacdat.net

WHO IS DOUG CARRICK: And that is what I asked? First, he's the lucky husband of Shiela. He is also a considerably dedicated conservationist, a retired school teacher and still an educator and very fine person. They are blessed with having a pair of bald eagles nest just behind their house. The eagles' favorite hunting perch tree is in their front yard. The very productive waters, the herring spawn is just finishing this month, seals, sealions, myriads of seabirds, orcas etc etc. are their constant front window view. Other pairs of bald eagles nest on the next points -- also viewable from their living room window.

Doug's spare time, when not attending their large and fine garden, is watching eagles, lecturing on eagles and showing the video of these nesting birds.

Enjoy!

Sherry