The clouds were very high in the sky today, and it was completely overcast; about 78 degrees and 65% humidity. The first thing the boys noticed were little fluffy seeds floating all around! Where did all these fluffy seeds come from? They also noticed lots of butterflies. We wandered down the trail until the boys found some tree stumps and logs to pull apart. What they discovered was clay packed under the bark and in between all the rings of the dead wood. How did all that clay get inside the log? Did all of these ants, centipedes and bugs bring the clay into the log? What is the clay used for? We played with all the rolly polly pill bugs we found (armadillidiidae; terrestrial crustaceans) and we found two fat, slimy slugs!! (gastropods) They were so much fun to hold!! We also found this baby Copperhead. The kids did great! We talked about it and the kids never tried to pick it up. Keeping a safe distance from snakes is an important protocol at Sycamore Song Nature School.

After we were done exploring the woods, the kids decided to go to the river. There were many changes from the last time we were there. The goldenrod flowers had turned to seed, the sea urchin on the log was gone, the hole in the log was dry, there were very few crabs around the log where we usually find them and the big dead fish was gone, but we found its bones and scales. We found more barnacles (oceanic crustaceans) on logs and shells and we watched a pod of dolphins swim up river. So much learning on one short adventure.

The last thing we did was plant some potato pill bug traps. Next week we'll see how many armadillidiidae we can catch in them!