TCAH Houston Arboretum Field Trip
My four TCAH students and I went to a (delayed due to weather) field trip to Houston Arboretum Nature Park today. Two of them grumbled all the way there about not wanting to go, one had just gotten his braces taken off early morning (so was very happy), and the other one is always glad to be outdoors.
The school crowd split into three groups: elementary, middle, and high school. I went with the elementary school kids and parents because my kids are all old enough now to not want to have anything to do with Mom. It's okay. I prefer the younger kids anyway.
Two families (a mom, a dad, and four girls) in my group were great at finding stuff to look at, real nature addicts!. I showed them all how to use iNaturalist, so they were keen to see if they could stump the naturalist. At the end of our walk, they were logging all the species for me.
At one point off the trail, a ribbon snake was in chase of a leopard frog, who were both headed right for us. My job was to calmly get everyone to stop walking long enough to not get entangled in what was an unfolding food web. The parents were the only ones who couldn't stand still ('Eeek! Snake!), and so the snake went one way after meeting our feet, the frog another. Everyone was content when it was all over ... except the snake who didn't get to eat. Sadly, no photos.
Those kids ... they found so much great stuff for me! Not only were they the ultimate butterfly and mushroom hunters, but when they pointed and asked me 'what bird is that?' I lifted the 600mm to shoot the Pileated woodpecker only to find someone else entirely: Red-headed juveniles. WHOOP! Sighting of the day for sure.
I logged the sighting on eBird when I got home as I wasn't there to count birds. https://ebird.org/checklist/S60824091
The Gulf fritillaries were everywhere, mating and laying eggs. We brought one 4th instar caterpillar to add to Squishy's habitat (what we call our 1st instar) so that we can have a chrysalis for my 4th grade students.
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