Sharpie at the Feeders

Lately, we've had a sharp-shinned hawk visiting the Dahlem birdfeeders.  While some folks find this distressing, others of us look at it as, hey, they are bird feeders...this is a bird, it is feeding.

It put in an appearance again yesterday afternoon and I was able to grab a couple shots through a window before it took off.

 Sharp-shins are small hawks, which look very similar to Cooper's hawks and for many can be difficult to tell apart.

Some birders go by the tail:  Cooper's hawks' tails tend to be rounded/curved at the end, while sharpies' tails tend to be flat, or straight across.  Other birders go by size:  the Cooper's hawk is larger than the sharp-shin, although a small male Cooper's could be about the same size, or even slightly smaller, than a large female sharpie.  Some say look at the birds in flight:  the Cooper's head extends further forward from the leading edge of the wings that does the sharpie's (think a cross in silhouette for the former, and a T for the latter).  And then there is the shape of the head.  A Cooper's hawk tend to have a flatter head (on top), while a sharpie tends to be more rounded.  As with so many of these kinds of things, it pays to look at many traits and take in the totality before making a decision.

In the shot below, you can see our friend getting ready to launch.

And there it goes!

Meanwhile, up in the tree, a black squirrel was experiencing momentary stationary panic.  As soon as the hawk departed, it scampered down the tree and resumed its snacking on sunflower seeds.

We've seen the hawk every couple of days, so if you come out and are patient, you, too, might get to see it.

Not Just Birds and Plants

This week our Tuesday Nature Group got to try something a little different.  Often this group is out looking for birds or wildflowers, or scouting new landscapes, but this day they had a special guest speaker (thank you, Ernie Fischer) who gave a presentation about soils, including a hands-on experiment that helped determine porosity.

Here we have participants looking at various soil samples, sorting them by size.  Clay, sand, pebbles, rocks...

To test porosity (and demonstrate that there is a lot of space between the various particles), the different soil types were put into tubes, and then a measured amount of water was added.

The speed at which the water penetrated the soil was one indication of porosity (for the sands it took a loooong time; clay would've taken even longer had someone used it).  Measuring the amount of water held in the soil afterwards helps determine how much air space exists between the particles.

Next week the group is planning to head out to look for snowy owls that have come to our area for the winter in search of food.  If you'd like to join us, give us a call!  782-3453. 

Drum-making Workshop

This last Saturday we stepped outside the box a bit by offering a drum-making workshop.  Environmental Education?  Sure - we use wood and animal hides, and talk about how people today, and historically, have used drums to connect with nature and spirit.  It was something different for us and we had a full class!

The drums were made from horse hide and deodar cedar.  I had ordered the hides at the beginning of the year and cut the heads and lacings from them a couple weeks earlier.  The day before the class, the hides were put to soak for nearly 24 hours.

We had eight people signed up for the class.  One could not attend, but was still given his kit to make later.  With two at a table, everyone had plenty of elbow room to make his/her drum.   Many thanks to my friend Chris for coming out and volunteering her time and expertise for this class.

The first thing we did was sand the hoops - didn't want anyone to get a splinter!

Then the hides were removed from their baths and gently blotted.

Next came the fun part - lacing the drum head around the frame, using about 30' of lacing!  It's a fun and slimy venture.

After the laces are threaded through the 16 holes, they are tightened, one by one.  When the right taughtness is achieved, the handle is wrapped.  We used the four-direction handle.

Two and a half hours later, everyone had a finished drum and beater!  Well, nearly finished - now the drums must dry for a week before they are ready to be played.

Would you like to see more programs like this at Dahlem?  If so, give us a call or stop by to let us know.

Annie's Big Nature Lesson - #2

Last week we had a second teacher from Hunt Elementary School come out for a week-long program:  Annie's Big Nature Lesson.  Each day the students have an "expert" lesson from Dahlem staff, then have lessons taught by their own teacher.  After lunch, they spend an hour doing observations and journaling.  Debriefing sessions after each activity help reinforce the lessons learned.

Here are a few of the highlights from Emily Matz's fourth grade class's week here.

Every day upon first arriving, they went outside for First Look, during which they took note of the weather, and the sights, sounds and smells all around them.

Monday, after First Look, we took them on a hike through the frozen woods.  Everything was coated with ice, thanks to the storm over the weekend.  It was beautiful!

After an hour with our staff, they did a second Discovery Walk with their teacher, walking around the Nature for All Trail.

 

There were so many things to see, like these raccoon tracks,

a bract from a basswood tree, 

and these great rabbit tracks, where the hind toes were spread out to give the animal greater flotation on the snow.

 

Diego took out his hand lens to get up close with a plant and discovered the seeds had hooks on them to help them stick to clothes and fur!

 

Debriefing allowed everyone to warm up a bit and see what others had recorded from these walks.

Observation time on Monday was spent in the hay field.

Some students looked up and saw part of a sundog.

One students had great views of a downy woodpecker as it searched (very thoroughly) for insects to eat.

After Tuesday's First Look, students went inside to investigate six mystery skulls.

I was VERY impressed with some of the drawings!

This was followed up with the Expert Lesson - Carried identified the skulls, pointed out key traits of each, and shared with the students pelts from each animal.

Tuesday's Observation Time was in the woods.

Wednesday morning, another sunny, but chilly day, we were out learning how to do mapping.  Our goal was to record on our trail maps the various habitats we walked through.

Students warmed up before lunch with a couple stories.

Then it was back outdoors for Observation Time - this time in The Bug Field.

Not all came out unscathed.  This girl got her hair tangled in some stick-tight seeds!  Carrie gently removed them.

 Thursday...schools were closed due to the weather.  :(  We hope to reschedule in late February.

On Friday, we were ready to go!  First on the docket was learning some basics about animal tracking and scats.  Sadly, I was teaching the tracking bit, so I have no photos.

 

Carrie covered the scat section, and was a big hit when she demonstrated that sometimes you have to taste scats to determine what they are (a joke:  we used Raisinettes for deer scat).  Each student got a baggie of rabbit scat (coco puffs) to take home to try the same trick.

 

After learning all these IDs, we played a couple rousing rounds of Animal Scat Twister before going out to look for tracks.

 

We changed the schedule a bit and did Observation Time next.  Our destination:  the stream.

The wind had picked up this day and even though they were bundled up, it was cold.

 Still, stuff had been happenin' here over night!  How great to see this right after they had learned about tracking!

After lunch, it was time for the Community Service Project.  We worked with our Stewardship Coordinator, Gary, and had the kids tackle some "cut-n-dab" - removing invasive plants.

And every day we got to spend a few minutes playing...enjoying the fun things that Mother Nature gives us to do in winter.

If you know a teacher who might want to do a week-long Annie's program with us, have them give us a call:  782-3453.  Ask for Ellen.  We plan to offer training this summer, possibly in August, for ten new teachers.