As I walked down my garden steps, my eyes caught these holes on the trunk of a specimen tree. I moved closer to take a closer look. What do you notice and wonder?
Watch here full screen.
I discovered the sap wells made by a yellow-bellied sapsucker. Read more here and here.
Related Posts
Woodpeckers (literature links)
Forest Carpenter (art connections)
“The Alpharetta Recreation, Parks & Cultural Services Department is growing a Community Agriculture Program with the help and support of the community.
The mission of this program is to model and inspire the stewardship of natural resources through the use of sustainable practices, while connecting the community through growing food and nature-based education.”
Classes are held at Old Rucker Farm, a two-acre organic farm, in the outdoor classroom.
Outdoor Classroom
I recently enrolled in a cooking class taught by Kalee Tilli of Table Root Farm. She demonstrated how to create early summer salads and dressings. There is nothing like farm to table!
Related Posts
Community Gardens (literature links)
Urban Gardens (literature links)
The woodlands are never so fragrant as when the Japanese honeysuckles are in bloom. It’s certainly a sensory experience!
This fast-growing species of honeysuckle is native to East Asia and is considered an invasive species. In several states, it is illegal to plant this perennial. In the 1800s, it was introduced as an ornamental plant, but it spread into the woodlands. The tightly twining vine will wrap itself around other woodland plants and trees which harms the ecosystem. The stem is woody with a hollow center, and the leaves are evergreen in warmer climates.
The tubular flowers are white at first but will change to yellow with time during the long-lasting bloom season. The sweet nectar is edible, but other parts of the plant are toxic. Black berries will follow the flowers.
For more information, watch full screen here.
Have you ever discovered a bird nest in a less than desirable place? My sister-in-law sent me these photos of a mockingbird who built her nest in a wreath hung on a front door. Look closely in the nest.
Last year, a robin constructed her nest over our deck door. Although we removed nesting materials three times, she returned to rebuild it.
The Best Nest by P.D. Eastman is an old favorite. Watch the animated retelling full screen here.
A Terrible Place for A Nest by Sarah Levine is a 2024 Blueberry Award winner.
Take a walk with your children or students and collect nesting materials, such as pine straw, mud, twigs, and leaves, and task them with constructing a nest. Imagine not using hands to build it.
Leave nesting materials like ribbon, string, or yarn in a place where birds can find it and then watch for them in nests around your home.
If you have seen a nest in an unusual place, please leave a photo in a comment.
Recent Posts
When something doesn’t look quite right, it always captures my attention. Have you seen bumps like these on leaves? They were only on one leaf of this plant. What do you observe and wonder?
I discovered leaf galls. I think of them like scabs on our skin. The gall is the leaf’s response to some foreign organism, such as insects or bacteria. Galls can appear as a spike or a bump and can be red, yellow, or black. They do not harm the tree.
Watch full screen here.
Watch for galls when you spend time outside.
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Nature’s engineers amaze me! One of the most interesting I’ve passed recently are the organ pipe shaped homes of mud daubers.
These solitary wasps build their elongated tube-shaped homes from mud (preferably clay) in a sheltered location. Why would you want a home made from mud built away from wind and rain? These photos were taken under a bypass near Big Creek.
To ensure an enduring structure, they collect mud with just the right consistency near riverbanks or from ground that is consistently damp. Multiple trips are necessary to have enough mud to shape the structure, and this engineer must add new layers before the previous layer dries. Mud is carried in the wasp’s mandibles (mouthparts). Now, are you amazed too?
Wasps undergo metamorphosis during their life cycle. One egg will be laid in each compartment of the tube, filled with paralyzed spiders for the larva to eat as it grows, and then sealed. The mud acts as a shell and will protect the larva from temperature changes, humidity, and parasites. The holes in the nests are where the adults have exited the tubes. These wasps are not aggressive.
The cylinders are approximately the same diameter.
Notice the ridges on the tubes. It increases surface area which promotes even drying and consequently durability.
Human and animal architecture are both on display here.
Watch full screen here. (Turn sound down.)
Make this a multidisciplinary topic by hand building pots with clay.
Related Posts
Spring is here and I’ve spied new life in the woodlands! I walk with expectation about what I might see on the path ahead.
Ladybug larvae show little resemblance to the adult stage. Ladybugs
The speckled green fruitworm moth caterpillar hurried along a railing. Caterpillars
Tadpoles were warming themselves in the shallows of a stream. Tadpoles, Frogs and Toads
I helped the pond slider hatchling cross the paved path that is frequented by cyclists. Turtles
This kit didn’t mind me at all! Squirrels
Other animals have come out of hibernation. Snakes, Hibernation
Related Spring Posts
On a visit to Maryland, we made a second visit to Glenstone. Watch full screen here.
One of the sculptures, As Long As the Sun Lasts, by Da Corte particularly caught my interest on this visit. How does it remain balanced when the wind blows?
Engineers must understand the fundamental concept of balance to grasp how structures remain stable and upright. In the related posts section below, there are a variety of activities to explore the concept of balance in engaging, hands-on ways. Children will also investigate principles of motion through these tasks as well.
Create a balance sculpture with your students or children. Watch full screen here.
Give your child (student) a lunch bag of objects, such as blocks, a plastic cup, ruler, paper towel tubes, or a pencil. Ask him/her to build something that demonstrates balance.
Related Posts
Rock Sculptures and More Sculptures
I’ve shared numerous phenomena, natural events, that I’ve observed on my woodland walks. Use a phenomenon to springboard a unit of study or when you have an extra few minutes that you want to use meaningfully with your students or children.
What do you notice about these trees?
Why did these tree trunks split and begin growing in two parts? This phenomenon is referred to as codominant stems. They grow upward in a V shaped angle, originate from a common point, and have approximately the same diameter. Why did this occur and how will it impact the tree long-term? Read more here.
Watch full screen here.
Now that we have learned about codominance, examine the bark where the two parts of the trunk are connected.
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Looking for more posts about natural phenomena, use the search tool in the top right corner.
While my husband and I were completing spring tasks in our yard, he noticed two large, lacy balls hanging from a young oak tree. We had never seen this before, have you?
We wondered if the balls were part of the plant, a disease, or perhaps an insect home?
After research, I concluded that we had found wool sower galls. The gall is plant tissue created as a protective covering for the developing parasitic cynipid wasps. These small wasps don’t sting and won’t harm the tree. The galls can take two or more years to develop and are predominately found on white oak trees. Read more here and here.
“The most beautiful gift of nature is that it gives one pleasure to look around and try to comprehend what we see.” Albert Einstein