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Monday, March 10, 2008

Green Hour Assignments #2 & #3

Evidence of Spring, even amidst the bare trees.


Robin's Come

From the elm-tree's topmost bough,
Hark! the Robin's early song!
Telling one and all that now
Merry spring-time hastes along;
Welcome tidings dost thou bring
Little harbinger of spring,
Robin's come!

Of the winter we are weary,
Weary of the frost and snow.
Longing for the sunshine cheery,
And the brooklet's gurgling flow;
Gladly then we hear thee sing
The reveille of spring,
Robin's come!

Ring it out o'er hill and plain,
Through the garden's lovely bowers,
Till the green leaves dance again,
Till the air is sweet with flowers!
Wake the cowslips by the rill,
Wake the yellow daffodil!
Robin's come!

William W. Caldwell


Assignments #2 and #3 have sort of blurred together, we walked around our yard and listened. We heard a woodpecker, cicada, birds singing and squirrels moving in the trees. The creek near our yard has a lot of run-off water flowing through it from all the rain from last week and we talked about why the water flows faster in some areas and slow in other areas. I saw a place where the water was making a sort of waterfall and before the kids saw it, I had them close their eyes and tell me what they heard. Camille said it sounded like running water, I told her to open her eyes and locate the sound.

We also identified areas where we think nests are being built the trees in our yard. We're going to observe these to see if they do become nests and whose home it'll be.



We also went back to our tree stump and investigated more. Before when we broke off a piece, we saw termites crawling for cover. Now the stump has turned into mud, ahem- termite poop. The red in the stump is loose and has the consistency of mud. Dh took the picture, I'm not usually in any photos because I'm the one taking the pictures.

Spring is right around the corner for us, the next few weeks will bring about a lot of change in our yard.

 

6 comments:

Brittney said...

Glad to hear your guys are feeling better.

Love the shots of the "nests" in the trees. Please update us with pics if they do turn out to be homes. Would love to see them!

Thanks for sharing!
Brittney

Barb said...

Look at you! Poking a stick in the decaying tree stump! You are a nature girl....I knew it all along. :)

Sounds like you had success getting them to listen to the sounds of your backyard and that is awesome.

Nests everywhere to watch, I'm jealous. Keep us posted.

Glad you had a chance to get out and that you shared your link.

Have a great week and I hope you are all on the mend.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Tina in WA said...

Wow! I can't wait to see if those turn into nest's too! How exciting.

Great update!

~Tina

my5wolfcubs said...

Robin's in the spring!!!! Now that is a downside to living in AZ, no Robins! :(
My ds just read to me about cicadas in the CLP Nature Reader 1 -- I'm doing an excellent job narrating, I'll have you know.
Lee

Lisa~ said...

Jessica! You go girl! This picture of you and your children is precious! They are curious.... and moms leading....

I look forward to see how the nests turn out... bird extreme make over hu?

Wonderful post... and I love that last picture...
Lisa~

Ms Eva said...

What a wonderful day of exploration! I love investigating the little critters in stumps/logs. Your pictures are great! What a neat opportunity to watch a nest in the making. :)