YEAH! SPRING IS IN THE AIR!

I hope everyone got outside this weekend. It's 56 degrees right now and after this post, I'm heading out for a bike ride in Prospect Park.

The warm weather inspired me to do a little work in the garden this morning. I hadn't been out there in a while, so I enjoyed getting reacquainted with the garden while I picked up sticks, swept up leaves, pulled up dead plants, and then fed most of it to my compost bin. I noticed a lot of spring bulbs emerging from the ground, but the best thing was coming across a single, purple crocus in full bloom. The first flower of spring!

So when you go outside, take a look around and notice the telltale signs of spring--the budding of bushes and trees, birds carrying twigs to treetop nests, flying and crawling insects, weeds growing out through cracks in the sidewalks, the days getting longer. Spring is here and, yes, I'm glad!

Well, I hope everyone enjoyed the big snow storm. I was feeling very stuffy in the nose, so I stayed in while my boys and their Dad had snowball fights in the yard. I thought I was safe taking photos of them from the back door, but wouldn't you know, the boys both clobbered me with snowballs anyway, which splatted on my face and neck and rolled into the living room.

While I was cleaning up the snow from the floor, it got me thinking about snowflakes. I love that they come in a variety of shapes and sizes, although that's really hard to see with the naked eye. Under a microscope, the complex shapes can be better seen. The different shapes are the result of differing temperatures and level of humidity as the ice crystal moves through the atmosphere.

Generally, six-sided hexagonal crystals are shaped in high clouds; needles or flat six-sided crystals are shaped in middle height clouds; and a wide variety of six-sided shapes are formed in low clouds. Colder temperatures produce snowflakes with sharper tips on the sides of the crystals and may lead to branching of the snowflake arms (dendrites). Snowflakes that grow under warmer conditions grow more slowly, resulting in smoother, less intricate shapes.

A really good snowflake book is "Snowflake Bentley," a true story about a Vermont farm boy who was mesmerized by snowflakes. The boy, Wilson Bentley, was fascinated by the six-sided frozen phenomena, and once he acquired a microscope with a camera, his childhood preoccupation took on a more scientific leaning. Bentley spent his life taking countless exquisite photographs (many that are still used in nature photography today), examining the tiny crystals and their delicate, mathematical structures.

So there you have it! Have a great winter break everyone!

GORGEOUS WOOD DUCK AT PROSPECT PARK LAKE

It's been a while since my last post. Sometimes I get busy and sometimes I wonder if students are checking out the blog or not. If you are, leave me a note. The more interest I see, the more I will post new things to the blog.

This morning I took a walk to Prospect Park. I wanted to check out the bird feeders that hang in the woods near the Audubon Center. I saw some chickadees, downy woodpeckers, a red-breasted woodpecker, red-breasted nuthatch, a house finch and other birds eating at the feeders. It was great. Then another person watching the feeders told me that there was a wood duck in the water down by the Audubon Center. So I took a walk there.

And there is was, among all the Canada Geese and Mallards swimming in the frigid water, a wonderful, brilliant wood duck! Luckily I had my camera and took some photos. Isn't he simply beautiful?

Most ducks nest on the ground, but wood ducks nest in trees near water, like Prospect Park Lake. They will nest in tree cavities or nesting boxes set up by people. They eat seeds, acorns, fruits, aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates.

The male wood duck I saw was swimming around with a bunch of mallards, who occasionally picked on him, but the wood duck didn't stand for it and occasionally pecked back at them. When someone showed up with bread, the wood duck joined the other waterfowl sliding on the ice for a handout. (Remember, don't feed bread to ducks. It's not good for them.)

On my way out of the park, I noticed a red-tailed hawk perched in a tree, but he didn't stay long. Before I knew it, he spreads his wings and took flight.

THE DIRT ON DECOMPOSERS

Hello fourth-graders. So far we've learned that plants are PRODUCERS in the food chain because they make or produce their own food. Next are the PRIMARY CONSUMERS who eat the producers, followed by the SECONDARY CONSUMERS who eat the primary consumers, and the TERTIARY CONSUMERS who eat the secondary consumers. Got all that? Now what happens when all these ORGANISMS die? Let me introduce the very valuable, all important DECOMPOSER. The decomposer we've been studying is the EARTHWORM, which not only eats soil but all the decaying plant and animal pieces mixed into the soil. Then the EARTHWORM digests this tasty mixture, letting it all out as CASTINGS. Castings (basically worm poop) returns important NUTRIENTS to the soil. Nutrients are important for plant growth and health. Other DECOMPOSERS in the natural world are fungi and microscopic bacteria. DECOMPOSERS are NATURE'S RECYCLERS.

Who is that little green creature inside our classroom terrariums? Why it's the green anole, also called the American chameleon, because it changes color from brown to green. Anoles eat crickets and are considered SECONDARY CONSUMERS. And because they eat crickets, they are also CARNIVORES or meat eaters. And they are PREDATORS because they hunt for their food. Anoles live in Florida and love to climb trees rather than crawl on the ground. When the males get angry or when they are looking for a mate, the hanging skin below their mouths puffs up, sort of like a frog. This loose skin is called a DEWLAP. They also have ridges on their feet to help them climb trees and will drop their tail if a predator gets hold of it. This way, the anole runs away safe and sound, while the predator is left holding the tail. These are called ADAPTATIONS and they help the anole survive in its environment.

Hummingbird in my Brooklyn Yard

Just the other morning, right before getting ready for school, I noticed a hummingbird sipping nectar from the flowers on my pineapple sage. I couldn't believe it! So I grabbed my camera and started clicking away. (I was almost late for school too!)

I knew it was a ruby throated hummingbird because they are the only hummingbird species east of the Mississippi River. (Where my Mom lives, in Arizona, there are many species of hummingbird.) It is also the only breeding hummingbird in North America (that means it nests and lays eggs here in the summer.) I also knew it was a female because the males have a ruby throat and this one didn't.

Like monarch butterflies, this tiny bird migrates south during the winter. It was filling up on nectar in my yard for the many miles ahead of her en route to Central America, Mexico or the Caribbean. (Wish I was en route there too!) They are so tiny--about 3 1/2 inches long and weigh 1/8 ounce or 3 grams--that's three of those tiny blue gram pieces we use for measuring mass in class kids!)

Ruby-throated hummingbirds fly straight and fast but can stop instantly, hover, and adjust their position up, down, or backwards with exquisite control. This little gal would sip for a few seconds, then take a break. Here's a photo of her resting on the telephone wire and another on a butterfly bush.

I actually planted the pineapple sage hoping to attract a hummingbird. They are attracted to red, tubular flowers or long flowers. That's because they have long, skinny beaks that they stick down the long throats of the flowers to sip nectar. We have some pineapple sage in the raised bed gardens on McDonald Avenue, but they haven't bloomed yet because it's not sunny enough. Hopefully they will bloom and a hummer will visit the PS 230 garden soon!

Tortoise Siting at Brooklyn Campout

Many of you know that Ms. Seitz loves to go camping. Every year, I go camping in, believe it or not, Brooklyn! The site is in Floyd Bennett Field, which is a national park. You buy a permit and you are allowed to pitch a tent in a beautiful grassy area, surrounded by trees. There's no program. You're on your own. This was my seventh year camping at FBF. This year, just before we were leaving, one of our friends spotted what I thought was a turtle, a big turtle. I picked him up. He was so friendly. All the kids got to hold him and feed him grapes and apples. He had a big appetite! I was thinking of taking him home for a few days so I could bring him to school and show all of you, but then I thought I should just leave him in his native habitat.

On the drive home, I was thinking about the turtle the kids named "Ralph," and the more I thought about him, the more I began to think that he wasn't a turtle at all, that he looked more like a tortoise. So I did some research on GOOGLE, and discovered that he is an African Spur Thigh Tortoise from the Sahara Desert. Apparently, someone released his or her pet into the wild. I guess they didn't want him. I don't know why. He is so lovely.

So I went back to Floyd Bennett Field, in the dark, with my son and his friend and we scoured the brush for Ralph. Despite our best efforts, we didn't find Ralph. Now I'm sad because he won't be able to survive our cold winter. After all, his native habitat is the desert. I've called a Ranger at the park and asked him to keep an eye out for Ralph. Hopefully he'll be found. He is such a beautiful creature. His shell is like wood and his legs have a really unusual texture. He is great. I just hope he's okay.