The first bird I learned to identify was the robin, so although it is not my favorite - that spot belongs to the tufted titmouse - it does hold a special place in my heart. These orange-breasted birds are easy to spot and hear as they are typically the first ones to wake up in the morning! American robins are found all over the US and many stick around through the winter months as they can puff … [Read more...]
The Secret Life of the Gentle and Useful Cow
Don’t you love the way cows look at you? It’s so gentle and calming! We used to live near a cow field and although the smell wasn’t so great when the wind was blowing the right direction - we did enjoy pausing on our walks to observe their stocky bodies and wide heads as they gently chew their cud in the fields. These mammals are herbivores and ruminants, which means they digest the grass they … [Read more...]
Careful, Kowalski, You Need To Know This About Penguins First
My kids love the Penguins of Madagascar on Netflix - the antics of those birds crack us all up! And so when we visited an aquarium on a recent field trip, we had to spend quite a bit of time observing their penguins. We saw firsthand how these birds fly through the water and waddle on land. Penguins are flightless birds. They have “wings” that act like flippers instead - so they can’t soar in … [Read more...]
Is It The Perfect Christmas Tree? {The Amazing Pine}
Every year, many of us welcome pine trees into our homes in the form of Christmas trees. These ornamented trees have been a part of holiday traditions all over the world and date back from the sixteenth century. Pine trees are one of the oldest trees in the world – they live long to the age of one hundred years old or more! There are around thirty-five different types of these evergreen … [Read more...]
Deck The Halls As You Put The Spotlight On The Beautiful Holly
Holly adds lots of Christmas color and cheer to this time of year, which makes it a perfect subject to look at during the winter months. We are lucky enough to have a holly in our front yard, so we spent a few moments outside studying this plant before we ran back inside to warm up with a cup of hot cocoa! Most hollies are evergreens, so they keep their leaves throughout the winter months. … [Read more...]
Maple Tree {InstaScience}
Fall is here! Pumpkin-Spiced Lattes abound as the green landscape fades into reds, yellows, and oranges. I love the crisp beauty of fall, but my favorite thing to watch is the change in the local maple trees. Maple leaves display gorgeous colors that are the hallmarks of fall. There are approximately 128 different kinds of maple trees, but the most common are the sugar maple, the red maple, … [Read more...]