Thanksgiving weekend turned out to be the perfect weather which we
filled with fun outdoor programs at Bucktoe Creek Preserve! We started
out the weekend with our
Black Friday
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Going on a Hike |
Celebration on
Friday morning. Many families gathered at the teaching shed, excited to
go on a hike to collect natural materials to create holiday ornaments.
We took a long, meandering hike through beautiful meadows, forests, and
conifer groves, picking out the perfect materials to create ornaments
fashioned to look like reindeer, squirrels, Christmas trees, and
anything else we wanted! Our crafting materials included natural items
such as rose hips, foxtails, leaves, pine cones, bark, and moss. Once we
pulled together all of our materials, we got our imagination and
creative juices flowing. A few of our participants were kind enough to
leave behind some of their ornaments to help us decorate our evergreen
tree during the
Winter Solstice Celebration on Tuesday, December 22nd!
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Creating Ornaments from our Natural Materials |
The next morning, we started off our
Children’s I-Spy birding at 9AM with some very dedicated young birders. By beginning at the feeders, we were able to get beautiful looks at American
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White Breasted Nuthatch |
Goldfinches and White-breasted Nuthatches through the scope. We also got to learn about the call of the American Goldfinch, which sounds like a rubber ducky being squeezed! Once we started off on the trail, we were inundated with sparrows darting through the brushy habitat. We heard the White-throated Sparrows singing “Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody” and could see the gray bodies and white undersides of the Dark-eyed Juncos. As we kept walking, a gorgeous, adult Red-tailed Hawk soared right over us, letting us see the dark red tail feathers, and the dark belly band.
Our next Children’s I-Spy Birding will be held on Saturday, January 30th. Come out and join us and see what we can find!
This weekend also marked the end of our annual
Bucktoe Creek Preserve Hawk Watch. Every year from September 1
st through November 30
th, Larry Lewis of Early Bird Nature Tours runs our Hawk Watch out of the Warm Season Grass Meadow. Even though it was the last weekend of the season, the birds did not disappoint. Sharp-shinned Hawks were flying over at a constant rate, a few Bald Eagles made an appearance, and we even had a Peregrine Falcon speed past! Mark your calendars for next year to come out and scan the skies with our experts to learn about the different migrating hawks over this area! Not only can you spot hawks, but also numerous songbirds use this amazing habitat, along with a multitude of butterflies. We have hundreds of migrating monarchs fly over the hawk watch each season!
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Bucktoe Creek Preserve Hawk Watch |
Make sure to check out our upcoming programs to see what programs are coming up next! We hope to see you out at one of the programs, or enjoying one of the preserves!
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