(click on the picture above for link to the Fontenelle Nature Center)

Winter Fun at the Forest

First we explored the activities inside.  Here we compared how owls can turn their heads almost completely around.  People cannot.

We saw a turtle.  He didn't have to hibernate because he was warm and had plenty of food.

We saw another turtle swimming.  He was digging in the sand with his fins.

Enjoying a break while walking the trails

We were so noisy that the only wildlife we saw was a spider on the railing.  Can you find it?  It was camouflaged.

We stopped to play at Acorn Acres.

Going up the net is easier than down.

Hanging out in the fort

We saw red-tailed hawk.  It couldn't fly so the people at Fontenelle Forest are caring for it.  They feed it 5 dead mice every day!

This is a barred owl that was injured.  It is about 3 years old and eats about 3 mice every day.

During our classroom time, we learned that animals do one of three things in the winter...

Some of them migrate.  A duck's wing was our clue.

 A jar of nuts was our second clue...

Some animals stay active looking for nuts and other foods..

  Some animals sleep all winter.

It's called hibernating.  Snakes and groundhogs do this.

Here we are acting out migrating, hibernating, and staying active..

Finally, we dressed Mrs. K up like a turtle.  We learned that turtles hibernate in winter.

Here's our class photo before we were off to explore outdoors.

Deer Tracks

Fallen trees make great homes for animals

Feeding the birds and other animals

Looking for tracks

Raccoon Tracks

Hiking the trails

Thanks, Mr. Larry for driving us to Fontenelle Forest.  The bus ride was exciting!