This week our co-op meet together for the first time this school year. It's always great to get together again. This year our focus in on Florida Flora and Fauna so we are meeting each month at various state parks and nature sites to learn together. September's meeting place was Colt Creek State Park where Ranger Heather spoke to us on the different types of owls in the State of Florida.
Owls
There are x variety of owls in the state of Florida: the Great Horned Owl, Barred Owls, Barn Owls, Burrowing Owls, and Screech Owls. The kids were able to see a picture of each owl, hear their distinctive calls and ask questions about the different types of owls. We talked about the perception in Western culture of the owl as wise, and in the Native American culture as evil, before discussing their differences. They ranged in size from 1 lb to 3 lbs, and fly almost silently due to their feathers being serrated along the leading edge, unlike other birds. Ruby and Evelyn were able to demonstrate the difference with an experiment using a plain stick and a stick with bits of yarn tied to it. And while we weren't luck enough to see any owls on our nature walk, we did hear one. Rebecca my owl loving child was especially happy to learn more about her favorite creature. At the end of our time with Ranger Heather, we also dissected owl pellets. Owl pellets are the undigestable remains of creatures that owls eat and then cough back up. They eat rodents mostly whole and then the fur and bones congeals into a round pellet that they throw up. Some of the kids found an almost completely intact skull to what we believe was a vole. All of them found bones and fur bits, it was quite fascinating, eventually, even our most reluctant two (who happened to be Britt and Rebecca) got involved looking through the owl pellets.
Nature Trail
After our lesson on owls we took the .3 mile Nature Trail through the nearby wooded area. The kids mostly raced through it, though the twins took their time meandering along the trail. One of the most interesting things that we saw was a screech owl burrow. We learned that these owls never make their own nest but will use a hole in a tree or steal another birds nest for themselves. We found a tree with a large opening that had previously been used as a nest. We also found flowers and berries, and saw several kinds of trees. After our nature walk, each of the kids began a nature journal that they will keep throughout this year during co-op. Kate opted to draw the owl nest in the tree. Everyone had a great time learning together and catching up with friends, even though most of them see each other every Sunday at Church, it had been a while since our last co-op session in May.
After Lunch
Everyone enjoyed visiting over a picnic lunch and checking out the pier out into the pond before we broke up for the day. We saw a total of four small gators in the pond and a few friends stuck around to try geocaching with us, since there are a total of 3 caches hidden in the park. Unfortunately the first catch was a bust. We looked all over, even with the modified coordinates we found in the notes of others, and just didn't find it. However, one friend decided to stay and look for a second cache with us, and we found it. It was Dakota's first geocache. It was also, the first cache we've found that wasn't on any kind of trail, just out in the woods. We had to pick through alot of thorn bushes to get there. By then everyone was pretty hot and wore out so we decided to save the final cache for another day.
All in all, the area was beautiful even if there was very little shade, with clean restrooms and a few trails, only one of which we checked out. We will definitely be coming back again sometimes as they also have fishing areas and we'd like to try to find that last geocache. If you'd like to make a visit the preserve is located at 16000 St. Rd 471, Lakeland, FL. The park is $4 for a carload of up to 8 people 6 and older.
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