March's Nature Day

Friday was our monthly Nature Day outing with our homeschool group. It was lots of fun despite the hot temps (upper 80's!), mud, and mosquitos.

The kids caught a LOT of skinks! I'd guess at least a dozen.

Alexandra even caught her first skink, though this isn't the one she caught.

Close up of the skink.
This was about an inch long and soft and fuzzy. I think it's some kind of egg sac.

This was very hard -again, an egg sac?

A crayfish, or crawdad, burrow. Crayfish resemble small lobsters, but they are a freshwater crustacean and their homes are usually found along creeks and streams, though we often have them in fields around here.
A dragonfly I followed quite a while to take about 25 photographs. At first, I thought his wings were broken, but they are transparent except for the dark brown tips and spots.

A millipede - we saw several millipedes and I believe 1 centipede

We were excited to see tracks by the creek, but it turns out they were just from a big dog.

These little plants were about the size of a nickel. And, a big "thanks!" to my friend Kim for identifying this interesting plant. It is a sundew - a carnivorous plant!!! I wish I would have known that and could have pointed it out to the kids. Well, next time, I'll know!

A fern fiddlehead or unfurled frond - it's called a fiddlehead because it resembles the "scroll" of a stringed instrument, like a fiddle. It will unroll as the fern matures.