Field Trip Friday: Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary

 

This week we took a drive over to the Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary. It's 8 acres of land in North Asheville. Mostly wetlands and marshes. We didn't see the map of the sanctuary at first so we headed off down the trail the boys picked. It was a wooded trail that wound around beside the lake- but it wasn't the way to the boardwalk.

The first thing we noticed was this flower- it was everywhere. I brought some of our field guides with us- birds, butterflies, trees and weeds- but Rylan identified it as Jewelweed without having to look it up. There was another flower- 4 petals, white, vine- that was also all over the place. We haven't identified it, but Rylan took a bunch of pictures of different plants to id later. 

 What I realized on this trip is that my kids aren't patient enough for birdwatching! It's like fishing. If you don't catch something in 5 seconds then you are done. I tried to get them to sit and just watch a few times, but they are the on-the-go type. So we walked, collected seeds, moss and leaves.

We did see one bird (well, we saw more, but not close enough to take pictures or identify).  So our birding trip turned into more of a plant trip.  And we came home with acorns, an unidentified fruit of some sort, pine cones, etc.

 We did finally make it back to the parking lot, and the sign and map of the area. So we found our way to the boardwalk- which was really nice. The boys took a break to climb on this cool tree.  It was huge and it's branched were all over the place.

 I think if we had found the boardwalk first, and if we had come earlier than 10am, we might have had better luck on the birding part. But it was still a great trip! Maybe we will take an early morning trip in the fall and see what we see then.

Now it's your turn! Have you taken a fun, educational trip this week? Have you taken school on the road and let the experience do the teaching? Add you link below, and please link back here on your post to spread the word and allow others to link up as well!

linked to Science Sunday, Homeschooling on the Cheap,

Glimpse

A glimpse into our week:


Playing, building and creating with wire

 Painting. Lots of painting. For fun and to enter into the upcoming fair.

Reading. Lakin got every book on vehicles he could carry at the library. Today Rylan got the next 4 books in the Warriors series he is reading.

Oil Pastels. I have always loved working with oil pastels. So much nicer than crayons. Lakin and Cohen were inspired by my numerous art peacock art projects on my Pinterest board. So they got some feathers out to draw. Rylan finished one to enter in the Mountain State Fair.

 Clay and Airplanes. Lakin made an awesome model of a Thunderbolt out of clay.

Nature. We found this spiky thing crawling outside. We haven't identified it yet.  And this morning I found this huge beetle outside the back door. They identified it as a Dung Beetle. Cale was disappointed that it didn't suddenly start rolling the chicken poop he set it by.

You may have noticed that I like peacocks. I have always wanted to own a pair. I almost had one. He was hatched weak. He was unsteady on his feet and always tired. He fought to survive for 2 weeks, before he lost his fight. I'm sad, he was a sweet little bird. One day I'll have my beautiful birds, but for now I'll just collect my polka dotted guinea feathers.

Tomorrow we are heading out to do some bird watching. Don't forget to come back on Friday, to read about that adventure and to link up any of your own field trip posts on Field Trip Friday!

Linked to Meet Me Monday

Hatchlings

 We've got babies in the house again! At the beginning of last week we had one of the eggs in the incubator hatch. They kids were crowded around the incubator all day from the time the first pip was noticed until the chick finally managed it's way out after dinner.

They named her Chickory. And for that lonely week she was the most spoiled chick ever.  Then this past weekend the other egg started to hatch. It was a long day from early A.M to after 9 P.M when it finally emerged.

 This is Violet. She's special because her mom, Muffy, is our only Americauna hen. We've always wanted one of our blue eggs to hatch.

 Aren't they cute?

According to their feathers, they are both girls. You can see 2 rows of wing feathers- long ones with short ones in between. These will be our first female hatches too. Last time we hatched we got 3 roosters. And we haven't gotten our hands on Black Hat's chick to see about it.

On Wednesday morning, right on time, I discovered this under our broody hen. It's a peachick!

We were gone all day, but when we got home late that night we found it, out and dry under it's surrogate mama.

 Unfortunately, by yesterday afternoon it wasn't looking too well. It is very lethargic, off balance and generally weak looking. So we pulled it from the chicken and brought it in and under the lamp. It's hanging in there. We have to force it to drink and we haven't gotten it to eat yet. Hopefully it makes it! No signs of life from the remaining egg yet either. We will pull and candle it tomorrow if it's not hatching by then.

linked to: 
Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways
The Homestead Barn Hop

More About Birds

 I had my camera out with me the other day, taking pictures of the garden, kids, etc. Like usual I was brought chickens to photograph. That is our Silkie chick up there. That is one spoiled bird. She's a tiny one, and gets toted around a lot. I'll admit she's pretty cute. Her name is Silkie.....only it's pronounced Sil-UH-key

This is Einstein. Check out her hat. This is another that gets carried around a lot. I don't think the poor thing can see very well with all that in her face. She's never with the flock and always lost somewhere by herself. Then there is Lavender. I am sad about this one. I've always wanted a Lavender Orpington and finally got one. And then she crowed.

Since we've talked about breeding birds we might keep him and hatch some eventually. He's still a pretty bird, I just wish he was a she!

Speaking of hatching, I mentioned our broody birds last time.  Black Hat was sitting on 6 eggs. One hatched.  Here she is with her little puff ball. She's a good mother and I love the sound of mother hen's clucking! Based on feathering I'd say this one came from a Black Australorp's egg.  We've got the peafowl eggs in the incubator now, they are at about day 11. Hatch day is around August 8. We had another bird go broody and we encouraged her once we saw the signs. I think we are finally sure of her broodiness to give her our beloved peafowl eggs. We'll make the swap later today, put her clutch in the incubator and give her the peafowl ones and hope for the best.

The turken went broody again in the old, run down chicken shed. We've tried to break her, but she hasn't gotten it yet. If she'd sit in the house we'd let her, but she wants her unsafe ledge. Last time we broke her by carrying her and holding her upside down for awhile.  It didn't work this time.

I hate to say it, but some birds just aren't pretty. The turken is one of them. The guineas are not much better. Though they are still adolescents.
 

Their feathers are pretty though.....wonder what I could do with them?

linked to  
The Homestead Barn Hop 
Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways

The Bird Boys and Other Fowl Updates

 My boys love their birds. I think I may have mentioned that before. They spend more time with their chickens than they do their dogs or other cuddly pets. And if you think you can't pet a chicken, don't tell them that. Our newer chicks are now out and free ranging with the rest of the chickens. They still have separate coops, and I am wondering how I am going transition the old birds to the new coop. I have a feeling they will just go back to the old one every night.

We've had a couple broody birds over the past few months. Muh- yes, Muh, said like Duh! Is what they named the poor bird. Sat on eggs for the whole 21 days, a few exploded on her and had one partially formed chick. But she wasn't a very good sitter and left them often. The turken, named Turken Lee Jones, goes broody, but only in the old, broken down chicken coop in the goat's yard. She refuses to sit on eggs in a safe place. Then there was Black Hat, Lakin's crazy chicken. After attempting to break her since her choice of laying spots was the tool shed we finally gave up and gave her some eggs. She's due to hatch any day now.

The guineas are out and about too. I can hear them squawking right now. We started with 10. We had to cull one because of a nervous disorder. And on the 3rd night out we didn't make it out to make sure they all got inside before dark. About 5 min after dark we went out and couldn't find them. They had scattered. Armed with flashlights we found them- in trees, under bushes, etc. But we only found 6 of the 9. Hoping for the best we went back inside. Only one remained in the morning, and we found 2 piles of feathers. So we are down to 7 guineas. I think we have 3 girls and 4 boys.

And, then there are these 4, who I am not sure I have ever mentioned. They are Timber, Maple, Twinkle and Hank. They are Swedish Blue and Swedish Black ducks. I am not sure if they are hens or drakes yet, but so far I am leaning towards hens. They are about 7 weeks old now.

And finally, thanks to a customer at Paul's work, we have these in the incubator. 2 peacocks eggs. I am not sure what type yet, and it can be hard to hatch them out of the incubator. If we get another reliable broody chicken we might move them to under her. I am excited to see them hatch and what breed they are!

linked to
 Weekend Whatever
 Farm Girl Friday 
What's Cluckin'  
Homestead Barn Hop

The Baby Bird

A baby bird fell out of a tree.  Cale picked it up and we put it in a bucket under the tree it came from. They boys all sat back to watch and keep it safe from our cats. 

He cried for his mama

Until she came and fed him

Dad came too. They took turns feeding and flying over the little bird.

 

He had some wing feathers, but still couldn't fly. We hung the basket high in the tree while we went about our day. But he wouldn't stay. He jumped out many times. While we ate dinner under the tree he jumped and mama came to him on the ground. 

She jumped and flew over him and tried to do the same. He followed her across the yard into the brush. And started to climb low trees and bushes with many branches. 

 

Good-Bye Little Bird