Iowa Trees

Here's a sample of District Forester Mark Vitosh's tree hike with us at Ryerson Woods back in October.

He's answering Susan's question about Locust trees.

Mark started us out with basic Iowa native tree identification (along with some giant pine cones from Californina) and ended with an informative hike through Ryerson Woods.

Thanks Mark!

Prairie Fire

Local landowner and UI Geology Professor Jeff Dorale was kind enough to invite us out to his 40 acre reconstucted prairie and pond. When Jeff first purchased the land, deep gullies cut into row cropped hillsides. Now, five years and many work days later, native prairie grasses and forbs cover the hillsides. Their deep roots are rebuilding soil and holding the soil to the land instead of letting it wash into the tributaries of the English River.Little Bluestem grasses gave a reddish hue to the hillsides as we collected seeds of Illinois Bundleflower, Coreopsis, Black-eyed Susan, Grey Coneflower and Partridge Pea.

After we had collected seed, Jeff checked for wind direction and then

lit the prairie afire! Fire has been part the tall grass prairie ecosystem

for millenia, recycling nutrients and clearing out trees.

Bur Oak, a native tree, is resistant to fire and together

with the tallgrass creates an Oak Savanna. Jeff has planted several

Bur Oak as well.

Jeff has created several fire breaks between prairie plantings which

worked very well. Within minutes the fire had consumed a nearly

100 foot strip of prairie.

The tallgrass prairie once covered 85% of Iowa, with woodlands covering

the other 15% of the land, mostly along riverways. Today less than

0.10% (yes that's one tenth of one percent) of native prairie remains.

Thanks Jeff for bringing back a small part of the prairie and for sharing it

with our homeschool group!

Bird Art

We were artists, ornithologists and naturalists just like John James Audubon. We searched through bird books and sketched a favorite bird in our journals and then created an acrostic poem using the bird's name.

Owl pellets

Hey all!

Your homeschoolers have been forensic scientists this month at the center. After learning about raptor adaptations, students examined owl pellets: balls of fur and bone that are

coughed up by an owl. The skull and teeth help identify the rodent as a shrew, mole, mouse or vole.

Owls

Hi Everyone,

We had a good turn-out for our Discovery Day of Owls at the center last Tuesday. Your child was introduced to the owls in Iowa and their calls so they are ready to go out and practice owl calls.

Remember, the Great Horned owl hoots "Hey..you awake? Me tooooo", and the Barred Owl hoots "Who cooks for you?". Here's a website that has the sound clips of owl calls: http://www.owlpages.com/ .

We also dissected owl pellets and had a group reading of Owl Moon by Jane Yolen.

Owl Moon is a great read no matter how many times you've read it. Have you noticed the literary nod to Emily Dickenson on the last page? The illustrations are wonderful and a good motivator to get out and try your owling skills.

So now with the full moon approaching (next Monday) get out and share one of our last winter nights with the owls. If you have time and would like a more organized approach to owling check out Owls on the Prowl at the Hurtsville Interpretive Center on Saturday, February 21st at 6:00pm. For more info see: http://www.jacksonccb.com/

Happy Owling!

Sledding

Yesterday we went sledding at Hickory Hill Park and had a great time. We're looking forward to more winter activities such as School of the Wild and the Raptor Center field trips.

ICHSAP Blog is LIVE!

All, this is our new blog where we will post updates about what's happening at the center and our upcoming events.