Creek Days - Spring Edition

We are so fortunate to belong to such an active homeschool group filled with wonderful people!  One of the members arranged creeks days for the group back in the fall, and then again this spring.  We have had such a great time learning about all of the incredible things that live around the creeks and ponds in our area.  Today's trip was to a section of Bear Creek, and was by far one of the most exciting adventures yet.  Being spring, the area was just teeming with life.  I really wish that I had taken my camera, but I did not.

What did we see today?  Well...
water striders
different types of tadpoles in great quantity (bullfrogs, American toads)
several different types of frogs (in fact Hailey caught a spring peeper)
a large turtle floating in the water
a couple of smaller turtles
several species of fish
a garter snake attempting to eat a toad, and then giving up after quite a long time and spitting it out
beetles
a lizard
a water scorpion
midge fly larvae

To top it off, we had a PhD student form Mizzou join us who studies aquatic invertebrates.

What an incredible morning!

Creek Day

The homeschooling group we are members of is having some "Creek Days" for the kids at area creeks.  Today was the first one.  The water was mucky and the creek was running pretty fast in some areas due to a rain storm we had yesterday, but the kids still had a great time.  They found tons of water bugs, one fish, a crayfish, a frog, and many fossils.  By the time we were through they were all wet, but satisfied.

Madeline, of course, had to wear her tiara, but that did not stop her from jumping right in!

The girls all had boots, but Hailey preferred bare feet.  I'm guessing that by next week it will be cool enough that she will need her boots!

 

We found a shell, which Hailey was quite fond of.  She also was not shy about climbing right into the creek.

There were so many water bugs to catch!  I was really glad that I had stopped to pick up some nets and containers before we headed over to the creek!

All of my girls had to sit on this tree and bounce at one point during the trip.  It was irresistible!

Isabella had no fear of the critters that we caught!  She loved this crayfish!

And this frog!

Madeline also liked the frog, but was reluctant to touch the crayfish.

Hailey also made friends with the frog.  Actually, I think she was most amazed by how it attached itself to the side of the stream, in the dirt and roots, to camouflage itself.  It really did just look like a little rock.