Fall at Our Park

Schedules are finally settling down a bit, and we made it back to our park with our nature study buddies. It was so nice. This time, we started with some bird watching at their feeders. Mostly, my phone doesn't do well with the birds; they're too far away. But this cute little Downy Woodpecker came close this time, and I got him.

There was a lot of birds; I saw a Red-breasted Nuthatch for the first time, plus several Chickadees, some White-breasted Nuthatches, House Finches, and a pair of Cardinals. After a few minutes, the kids were done with the birds so we headed to the pond. First thing we found was this cool Oil Bug. Turns out it's probably just as well he was dead: these little beauties secrete an oil that causes painful blisters. Happily, nobody got blisters, but it did give us a chance to remind the kids to be careful about what they touch. 

It was a beautiful day. Definitely fall; most of us had jackets. But not cold, yet, even with the breeze. 

We found this cool mushroom; no idea what it's called. 

We visited the "Stick Shack".

The big kids are banned from this tree, both Moms believing that it's too small to hold them, and the temptation to get on the Stick Shack is just too much for most of them. It is, after all, right there. Peanut, however, is petite. We just met her cousin from Colorado. The one that's 9 months or so younger than her. He looks a fair amount older. I forget sometimes how tiny she is. And tiny people can climb small trees. She was pretty delighted by that.

Right in the same area was this pretty cool seed cluster. No idea what the flower used to be. But the seeds look awesome.

Migration is going on. I saw nearly 100 Canadian Geese while I was standing there watching the kids play in the Stick Shack. And almost 20 crows. I don't think those are migrating, though. We get those all year long.

Even as late as it is, there's still flowers. And they're still beautiful.

I love Nature Study.