First Saturday Walk - February 2

We walked this morning, two participants, wanting to see birds along the walk. Since we had some snow to permit us to get a glimpse of what had happened out there overnight, we chose to follow the narrower trails. These are trails that were made by the animals, trails that are not very recognizable in the summer but that show themselves and are easily followed in the snow. We spent most of the time in the South Meadow, where we were able to see that there had been a bit of "tag" going on. The tracks were, in order of their prevalence, from red fox, deer, rabbits, birds (not identified by species), and squirrel. Funny how often the rabbit tracks were mixed with more than one fox. We did not see any rabbit hair, but off the paths there are lots of obstacles for the fox to negotiate and it was obviously easier for the rabbits to get through. Oh, we saw mouse tracks too, which were accompanied by the fox as well; those places had been worked over pretty well.

The air was calm, the sun was bright and warming, so we did not move real fast. But with those conditions we could hear in the distance the sounds of woodpeckers. Were they feeding or just playing their drums? In that calm air, we could hear drumming several at a time from different directions. It is nice to hear that they make such good use of those dead limbs. What a nice recital.

So, in summary, we had a walk in the sun surrounded by a very welcoming environment. What a pleasure.

by Al Moored
Arboretum Docent

photo by Ann Rohlfing

Nature in focus

On a nature walk today, a fourth grade homeschool student stopped to examine beads of water clinging to a bare winter branch. "That's so cool," he said. "I've only seen that in photos before, never in real life."

In a recent presentation, I shared this quote from Randy White of the White Hutchinson Leisure and Learning Group: "As virtual is replacing the real, TV documentaries are conditioning children to think that nature is exotic...in faraway places that they will never experience. Children are losing the understanding that nature exists in their own backyards, which further disconnects them from knowledge and appreciation of the natural world."

Thank goodness for places like Adkins Arboretum, where the natural world continues to amaze.

by Jenny Houghton
Youth Program Coordinator

photo by Michelle Dolan Lawrence