Red-Tailed Hawks Visit Ms. Seitz's Backyard

Photo by Ms. Seitz

The day after Christmas I opened the shades that look onto my backyard and saw two red-tailed hawks perched in a tree. I went outside in the cold (no shoes, no coat) to get a closer look and noticed that one of the hawks had what looked like a Blue Jay clenched in its talons. Of course, I ran inside and got my camera (but no shoes or coat!). The hawk without the prey kept calling and calling and then flew to a tree in a yard a couple of doors away, but the predator with his prey stayed put and I just took photo after photo. The hawk didn't seem to mind and occasionally even looked down at me. (Eventually, I went in and got some sneakers and a jacket because it was cooooold out there.) The hawk stuck around in the same place for about two hours, and since I eventually had to go inside and get on with my life, I never saw it leave the yard.

Photo by Ms. Seitz

Photo by Ms. Seitz

This was a great way to start the day! (By the way, on Christmas morning I saw a little Carolina wren in my yard. I love the way their short, stubby tails stick up like an exclamation point!

Photo NOT BY Ms. Seitz

Sixty-eight degrees in Brooklyn!

Just returned from Prospect Park with two young birders, Sanjida and Tasfiya.

We visited the bird feeders on this balmy day and saw a Downy Woodpecker, White-Throated Sparrows, a male Cardinal, Mourning Doves, House Finches, and Red-Tailed Hawks (three times!). Quite exciting.

Then we went over to the Prospect Park Lake and saw some American Coots with the funny green chicken feet, a raft of Northern Shovelers, plenty of Canada geese, Mallards and Mute Swans.

It's so nice to bird watch with kids who are really interested in what they see and who, when they go home, follow up on their sightings by doing further research and logging in their nature journals.Way to go girls!

EGG DROP GONE WILD!

As many of you know, each year my fifth-graders are given a challenge...to design and build a craft that will protect a raw egg from a 2.5-meter fall using ONLY the materials I give to each team. Well, this year, the challenge was a little difficult because I changed-up the materials. Only two eggs in the entire fifth grade survived. The winners are Matthew, Eric and Ariel from 5-315 and Ollie, Jason, Danny and Zohaib from 5-307.

But that didn't stop some students from trying to perfect their craft.

Imran, Muallim and Hasib from 5-313 asked me for materials so they could design a new craft on their own time. I obliged and then the boys met me for lunch and dropped their craft. Unfortunately, the egg cracked again.

But the boys didn't give up!

On their own, they acquired the materials and with the masterful design strategy of Imran and the enthusiastic, non-stop work on Muallim, they built another craft. Today, on the last day of school before the holiday break, the boys again met me at lunchtime, this time with Jaif and Gabriel in tow. They also showed up with a brand new jar of Skippy Peanut Butter. But more on that later.

The craft was quite impressive.

Then came the moment. The egg was dropped, and low and behold, SUCCESS! The boys went wild.

For fun, the boys also placed the egg in a jar of peanut butter and dropped it, and that too worked.

The moral of this sorry? NEVER, EVER, EVER GIVE UP!

SNOWY OWLS IN BROOKLYN!

There is a kind of snowy owl invasion going on in the Northeast and some of them are showing up in Brooklyn, NY -- particularly at Floyd Bennett Field and Gerritsen Creek. In fact, some birders saw one yesterday, Dec. 14!  These photos were taken by a local bird watcher who was lucky enough to see one. This is a female. The males are whiter. Snowy owls love big open spaces. They are also diurnal, not nocturnal like other owls. They nest really far north in the Arctic. Right now, Brooklyn is like their Florida.

Scientists aren't exactly sure why so many snowy owls are around this year, but they have some theories. To read more about why snowy owls are here, click here. This site has so much information of all the bird species currently being seen in the area.

RED-TAILED HAWK ATOP PS 230!

This great photo was emailed to me by the mother of third-grade student, Basie. Apparently a bunch of P.S. 230 kids and parents witnessed this marvelous sight while in the school playground after hours. Wow, I wish I could have been there!

PLANTING GARLIC

The small pieces are the cloves. The larger piece is the bulb.

Today, students in the Urban Nature Club finished planting garlic cloves in the school garden. They'll be ready to harvest at the end of the school year.

When you plant garlic, you don't plant a seed. Rather, you plant the individual cloves from a garlic bulb.

While we were planting, a question came up: "What happens to the original garlic clove after its planted? Does it become part of the new garlic bulb?

Garlic cloves waiting to be planted

So Ms. Seitz did a little research and discovered that the original clove gets the new garlic plant going. Once the clove starts germinating, it sends green leaves above the soil's surface. As the new plant gets established, the original clove's job is done and it simply rots away. The new plant starts growing brand new cloves that are all clustered together in what is called a garlic bulb.

Established garlic plants

Saturday Science for Fifth Graders was a Big Success!

We expected a low turnout for the Fifth Grade Saturday Science on November 2, 2013 because of Math and Science Middle School tours and a new ESL program, but boy were we surprised when about 43 families showed up! We made tea bags using mint harvested and dried from the school garden, made lava lamps, illustrated birds, and practiced designing parachutes, among other things. But the coolest thing was when everyone got a chance to do a little chemistry. Using hydrogen peroxide, food coloring, yeast and warm water, students created an oozing, foaming, and quite colorful, mess of elephant toothpaste! What a surprise!