Thursday, March 11, 2010

Winter Bird Feeding & A Spring Trip to the Zoo

The boys (and Lanie) and I belong to a fun Homeschool Science Co-op that meets bi-weekly for a science lesson and field trip. For the last two meetings we've been studying birds and we went on some really fun field trips.

Two weeks ago we made a trip to Kensington Metro Park to look at the Nature Center's bird exhibits and to feed the chickadees by hand. I had my hands full with Lanie and the boys, so I was only able to grab some quick (and really horrible quality) camera phone pics, but here they are:
These two wild turkeys were at the feeders outside the nature center. You don't realize how huge they are until you see them this close in person!
Although they are very cool, they are most certainly not the most beautiful birds I've seen. :)
All the boys tried their hand at feeding the birds, and Elijah and Ethan both had several Chickadees and Tufted Titmice land on their hands right away. Kaden had a hard time staying still enough to attract the birds, but in the end a few daring bird souls were brave enough. It was so fun to watch the boys faces the first time the little birds landed on their fingers and snatched a seed!
Ethan was definitely the most patient of all my boys and stood completely still for over twenty minutes. More than forty birds landed on his hand!
Our friends the Wild Turkeys didn't want to miss out on any free food either and had to come check us out. Here they are sneaking up behind Gavin Burrows.

*****

Yesterday was our second Homeschool Science Co-op class on birds and we also studied a little bit about butterflies. For this class field trip we headed to the Detroit Zoo to view the Butterfly House and Bird Sanctuary. We couldn't pass up the opportunity, however, to visit the reptile house and some other areas of the zoo while we were there too! Here are few more camera phone pics:
Part of our crew all crowd onto the Reptile House tortoise statue for a quick pic.
Kaden is such a ham!
All the boys decided to climb as high up in this tree as they could and then drop down to the ground below. It became a fun game for them to play as we waited for a few others to run to the bathroom. The boys were having a great time until we got yelled at by the zoo staff to get out of the trees. Boo.
Kaden hamming it up again in the Reptile House!
Ethan was pretty wiped out from all the walking and took a quick siesta on a rock outside the Butterfly House and Bird Santuary.
Lanie was fascinated by all of the butterflies flapping around in the gardens. It was cute to see her expression when they landed close by.
I snapped a picture of these birds because they looked so out of place up on the pipeline in the Bird Sanctuary. They were beautiful and fun to watch, however it was a little ominous the way they watched us . . . their stares reminded me of vultures. Haha.
The Bird Sanctuary has stone benches and boulders placed all around that just begged the boys to climb them. They had fun clamoring on them and over them. I'm not sure that's what they're meant for, but they are great mountains to conquer!
Elijah, Ethan O'Dell, Ethan, Evan Gresens and Ally Gresens pose for a pic before we leave the Bird Sanctuary.
Lucas O'Dell, Gavin Burrows and Kaden all peer into an empty pond to study ... not the birds, but the tiny stones at the bottom. Funny kiddos.
A trip to the Bird Santuary wouldn't be complete without at least 10 minutes spent playing with the chains by the exit doors!
The boys has so much fun playing and posing for the camera. :)
I think we discovered Tarzan's long lost hide out!
Here's a quick video of the boys and the chains. Shockingly, no one ended up with a black eye or a welt! :)

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