Prickly Porcupine

Porcupine

We found a new, prickly friend in Colorado.  He is a rodent called a porcupine.  Porcupines get a lot of respect.  They can hurt!

Porcupines are covered in over 30,00 sharp quills.  The longest quills are on their tails and rear.  When a porcupine feels danger, he swishes his tail and tenses up his body.  The quills become loose.  If the porcupine's enemy comes too close, the quills stick into his skin.

These quills hurt.  They are sharper than a needle and barbed at the end.  When the quills stick into skin, the barbs make the quills hard to remove.  I have seen photos of dogs covered in porcupine quills.  Ouch!!!

Porcupines are about the size of a beaver.  They like to live in the forest.  They are very peaceful animals and will run away if they can.  Just don't get too close if you see one!

For more information on porcupines, just click on one of these sites:

• http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/publications/volunteer/young_naturalists/porcupines/porcupines.pdf
• http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/kids/animal-facts/pdf/porcupine.pdf
• http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/reading-comp/4th-porcupine_WMMZR.pdf
• http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com/vtcritters/factsheets/mammals/Porcupine/Porcupine.pdf

Make a porcupine mask by clicking here:  http://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/crafts-images/animals/porcupines-masks-printables.png

You can also go to the library and read these great books about porcupines:

• Baby Porcupine (Nature Babies) by Aubrey Lang
• Porcupines by Sandra Markle
• Porcupines (Unusual Animals) by Sara Antill

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Our new container garden has two tomato and one sweet pepper plant in it.

We planted a garden!  As you can see by the photo, it is a very small garden.  It has two tomato plants and a sweet pepper plant in it.  Yesterday, Mom planted some lettuce seeds in between the three larger plants.  When everything grows, we can make a salad!

One of our tomato plants already has baby tomatoes growing!

Our garden is called a container garden.  The blue bag is a special bag made just for gardens.  But you can plant a garden in all sorts of things.  You can plant your garden in a flower pot or a bucket.  You can even plant your garden in an old boot or wagon.

Plants need three things to grow:  dirt, sunshine, and water.  Before you plant your garden, you need to find a place that gets plenty of sunshine.  Most plants need about six hours of sunshine every day.

Where do you have sunshine at your home?  You can grow a container garden on your patio.  You can grow a garden on your porch or balcony.  We have friends who grow a tiny garden on their kitchen windowsill!

If you would like to start a garden, here are some wonderful gardening guides:  

• http://www.kyproud.com/readysetgrow/pdfs/gardening-guide.pdf

• http://www.growarow.org/pdf/Pargar_Workbook_Final.pdf

• http://www.seattle.gov/util/groups/public/@spu/@conservation/documents/webcontent/02_013331.pdf

Here are some great container gardening ideas:

• http://www.annies.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Creating-Gardens-of-Goodness_Annies-Homegrown.pdf

• http://www.douglascounty-ne.gov/gardens/images/stories/children/Container%20Gardens%20for%20Children.pdf

Do you ever wonder how seeds grow?  We found a great activity book that will tell you!  Just click here:  

• http://www.wpwa.org/documents/education/ES%20Soils%20and%20Seeds%203.pdf

You can also check out some great books about gardening at your library:

• Green Thumbs: A Kid’s Activity Guide to Indoor and Outdoor Gardening, by Laurie Carlson 

• Grow Your Own Pizza, by Constance Hardesty 

• Roots, Shoots, Buckets, and Boots, by Sharon Lovejoy 1999 Workman Publishers

• The Kids Can Press: Jumbo Book of Gardening, by Karyn Morris 

Pollen Alert!

The pollen is so thick that you can write your name in it!

Spring is here in Texas!  We are surrounded by beautiful flowers.  The trees are sporting new leaves.  It is beautiful!

As much as we love springtime, there is one problem.  Dad is coughing.  Mom is sneezing.  My eyes are watering.  What causes these symptoms?  Pollen!!!

Pollen looks like a powder.  Pollen is very important in the plant world.  It helps plants make more plants.  Pollen must move from one plant to another.  Sometimes the wind helps.  Most of the time special plant helpers move the pollen around.  These helpers are called pollinators.  Pollinators can be insects like bees or mammals like bats.  For some great information on pollinators, click here:  ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/MT/www/about/PollinatorActivityBook.pdf  

Pollen may be great for the plant world.  Unfortunately, it is not so good for some people.  Some people are allergic to pollen.  When your body doesn't like something, it has a reaction.  This reaction is called an allergy.  A person who is allergic to pollen begins to sneeze.  Then their eyes itch.  Then they begin to cough and sniffle.  Pollen allergies can make people feel pretty miserable.  

Almost everything that is blooming right now has pollen.  The flowers have pollen.  The trees have pollen.  Weeds and grasses have pollen.  When the wind blows, the pollen flies in the air and looks like dust.  Some people are allergic to pine pollen, others to oak pollen, others to weed or grass pollen.

Because we live in the Piney Woods of Texas, we are surrounded by pine trees.  Every spring the pine trees dust our world yellow with their pollen.  

When the wind blows, the pine pollen begins to fly.  Our cars turn yellow from the pine dust.  Our decks and porches turn yellow.  Our sidewalks and driveways turn yellow.  It only lasts for a few weeks, but, during that time, EVERYTHING turns yellow!  (To show you how much pollen we have, the picture at the top of this post is from our front porch!) 

Today we are on a high pollen alert.  That means that anyone with pollen allergies should be careful.  They should not go outside.  They should keep their windows closed.  If they do go outside, they should change their clothes when they come inside.  They should take a bath and wash their hair.

I hope that you don't have pollen allergies!  


If you would like to know more about pollen and allergies, here are two great activity books that you will enjoy:  

• http://www.aaaai.org/Aaaai/media/MediaLibrary/PDF%20Documents/dr_allergist_coloring_book_w.pdf
• http://wonderwise.unl.edu/02teach/pollenact.pdf

Some people have REALLY bad allergies called asthma.  Here is a great activity book about asthma:

• http://www.epa.gov/asthma/pdfs/dustythegoldfish_en.pdf

The Problem with Cats

My cat friend, Red.

We heard a big THUMP against the kitchen window today.  We rushed to see what had happened.  A little American goldfinch had crashed into the window.  He was on lying on his back.  His body quivered, and then it went still.  We thought that he was dead.

His little mate hopped near him.  It was such a sad scene!

Then, we saw the culprit.  A black and white cat was in our yard!  He had frightened the poor little birds.  They had both flown into the window.  Now the cat was stalking the birds.  He was ready to pounce!

Mom flung the door open and snatched the little bird up into her hand.  Dad and I chased the cat.  He hopped over the fence and into our neighbor's yard.

THAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH CATS!  They are hunters.  Researchers believe that cats kill at least 4.4 MILLION songbirds in the U.S. EVERY YEAR!  They also kill lizards and other reptiles and rabbits, squirrels, other small mammals.

I am happy to tell you that our little bird lived.  Mom put him high in a roosting box so that the cat couldn't reach him.  We watched and waited.  His little mate sat in a nearby tree.  She watched and waited, too.

It took several minutes for him to wake up.  It took nearly 30 minutes before he was able to fly again.  We felt lucky that we were home to help save his life!

Now we are working hard to keep the black and white cat out of our yard.  Dad put out our electric fence.  If the cat touches it, he will be zapped by electricity.  (Don't worry, it won't kill the cat, it will just shock him.)

Mom also ordered a new product that is suppose to keep cats away.  It has fox and coyote urine in it!  Cats hate fox and coyote.  Once the cat smells this stuff, he should run away.  We hope that it will keep the cat from coming back into our yard.

It's not that we don't like cats... we do.  In fact, I have a good cat friend named Red.  Red and I are almost the same color.  He has been my friend for many, many years.

Me and my friend Red (and no, Red doesn't hunt my yard!)

Red and Roxanne taking a stroll together.

The problem is that we have a VERY bird friendly yard.  We have six bird nest boxes in our yard and five bird feeders.  We have LOTS of birds visiting our yard every day.  We also have many squirrels and lizards.  We don't want the cat to kill our friends!

Many believe that cats have become a real problem.  Researchers say that there are over 77 million pet cats in the US.  They also believe that 55 million of these pet cats live outside and hunt songbirds and small mammals.  A single cat can kill over 1,000 birds and small animals in one year!  We need your help to keep our wildlife safe!

What can you do to help save our songbirds, lizards, and small mammals?  The best and easiest way is to keep your cat indoors!  Just click here to read about some fun ways to keep your cat happy inside:

• http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/cats/materials/cat_brochure.pdf
• http://www.denix.osd.mil/nr/upload/DoD-Cats-brochure-_final_Denix.pdf
• http://www.azgfd.gov/pdfs/w_c/abci/keepingcatsindoors.pdf
• http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/cats/materials/outin.pdf

If you would like to learn more about the danger of domestic cats to songbirds and small mammals, please click one of these sites:

• http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/cats/materials/predation.pdf
• http://www.aces.edu/forestry/awdm/mammals/documents/feralcats.pdf
• http://web1.cnre.vt.edu/extension/fiw/wildlife/damage/Cats.pdf

Backyard Bird Count

Collage from the 2013 Big Backyard Bird Count

Wow!  We had a great time counting birds during the Big Backyard Bird Count!  On Saturday afternoon, we counted 42 birds in just 15 minutes!  We had a flock of 17 Egyptian geese fly over our house and 11 Cedar waxwings roosted in a tree above us.  In addition, we had yellow American goldfinch, black and white chickadees, red cardinals, blue jays, doves, downey woodpeckers, and a robin redbreast.  It was great!

The photo collage at the top of this post shows some of the birds that we saw in our yard.  We saw birds at our feeders.  We saw birds flying overhead.  We even saw a bird taking a bath in our birdbath!

American Goldfinch taking a bath

The biggest bird that we saw was a marsh hawk soaring high overhead.  The smallest bird that we saw was a tiny hummingbird.

After we counted the birds, we entered our numbers online on the Big Backyard Bird Count website.  Our numbers will help scientists to learn about birds that come to our yard.  We try to be part of the Big Backyard Bird Count every year.

We hope that you learned a lot about birds during the Big Backyard Bird Count.  If you would like to learn more, we found some great sites for you to enjoy.

Here are some great links to coloring books on feeder birds:

• http://www.birds.cornell.edu/bbimages/PDFs/ColoringBook.pdf
• http://projectwildbird.org/pics/ColorMe%20coloring%20book.pdf
• http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/publications/volunteer/young_naturalists/bird_color/bird_color.pdf
• Birds of Arkansas:  http://www.birds.cornell.edu/bbimages/PDFs/ColoringBook.pdf
• Birds of Texas:  http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_bk_p4000_0038.pdf

Getting Ready for the Big Backyard Bird Count

We're getting ready for the Big Backyard Bird Count!  You can join, too!  The bird count begins on Friday and ends on Sunday (February 15-18).

It's very fun and simple to do.  You just count birds!  You can look at the birds in your backyard, out your apartment window, at the park, or someplace else you like.  For at least 15 minutes, count the kinds of birds that you see.  Then, count the number of birds in each group.

We're using today as a test.  Right now Mom and I are looking out our kitchen window.  Our feeder is full of birds.  We see three mourning doves, one Carolina wren, one downy woodpecker, two Cardinals, a Chickadee, seven American goldfinch, and eight house sparrows.  There are three gray squirrels in the yard also, but they don't count!

If today were one of the Big Backyard Bird Count days, we would go to http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/ to enter our list of birds.

We are very lucky to live on the central flyway.  Our home is a place where birds like to come in the winter.  Right now the beautiful Cedar Waxwings are migrating through our area.  Sometimes it is hard to count them.  So many fly in at the same time to eat the berries in our yard.  They also keep flying around!  If that happens, Mom takes a photo so that she can count them all!

I hope that you join us and enter the Big Backyard Bird Count, too!  Here are some tools to help you get started...

If you would like to join the Big Backyard Bird Count, click on this link for instructions:
http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/2013%20GBBC%20Instructions.pdf

Here's the checklist to make your bird count:

http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/data-form/2013GBBC_DataForm.pdf

Don't know the names of the kinds of birds in your yard?   Here's a great poster with pictures of common birds:

http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/CUBsGBBC_CommonBirds_Poster-2013-02-04.pdf

Sky-diving Gannets

Gannets soar near Cape Saint Mary in Newfoundland

We found another amazing seabird while we were in Newfoundland this summer.  They are called gannets.

Gannets are big, beautiful birds.  They are known for their diving.  They fly high over the ocean until they see a fish.  Then they fold their wings and dive straight into the water.  They dive so fast that they make a BIG splash when they land.  They dive into the water to fish for their next meal.  They can dive almost 100 feet deep and can travel over 50 miles per hour!

The colony that we saw at St. Mary's Cape in Newfoundland had over 50,000 birds in it!!!  The birds were nesting on the sides of a very rocky cliff called Bird Rock.  

Cape St. Mary in Newfoundland overlooking gannet colony of 50,000 

Because gannets come to this rock to nest, the colony is called a rookery.  The rookery covered a tall, flat-topped, craggy cliff.  The cliff was filled with nooks and crannies.  It was covered in mud, grass, birds, and an enormous amount of bird poop.  

Gannet colony on Cape Saint Mary in Newfoundland 

Approximately 50,000 birds nest in the rookery at Cape St. Mary.  Scientists believe that 15,000 breeding pairs, 7,500 chicks, 5,000 juveniles, and another 5,000 seniors live on this rock during breeding season.  

Adult gannet pair on Cape Saint Mary in Newfoundland

When baby gannets hatch, they have white fuzzy feathers.  Older babies turn grey and white and look just like the poop-covered cliffs around their nests.  

Baby gannet on left with its parents on Cape Saint Mary in Newfoundland.

The beautiful adults sure don't look like their babies!  Adult birds have white feathers, blue eyes, and black-tipped wings.  Their wings span over six-foot wing wide.  It can take nearly five years for a gannet's feathers to turn white.

These birds have an odd dance.  They shake and bow their heads.  Here's a video that we took of a mother gannet feeding her baby.  At the end of the feeding, they do a short dance.  You can also hear how noisy it was at the rookery!

Gannets have no external nostrils.  They breathe through their mouths.  Their skulls are built like crash helmets.  They also have special air sacks around their necks and chest to keep them safe when they dive.  Gannets are among the largest of all seabirds.

We were very lucky to see these gannets in Newfoundland.  In North America, they only nest in six different colonies, all in Canada.  

If you would like to learn more about gannets, click on these sites:

http://courses.washington.edu/vertebra/452/452gannets-spring2011.pdf
http://www.fws.gov/home/dhoilspill/pdfs/NorthernGannetfactsheetSE.pdf

For more information about all kinds of seabirds, click here:
http://oceanlink.info/ONews/OceanNewsReader/ON3.pdf