Happy Earth Day!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day celebrating the Earth! We did slightly unusual things for Earth Day today but considering we've been helping the earth for two weeks I think it's okay. We actually cut down some trees today... I know it's kind of the opposite thing to do. But we were doing it to restore grassland habitat at Cook's Lake. There are quite a lot of species here that thrive in the grassland and don't do so well in the trees so the scientists want to pull out the shrubs and trees in the grassland.

We also learned Wilderness Survival Skills today. Chris, one of the scientists has trained with the British Army on how to survive if you are ever caught out in the wild! We learned what to look for that could be useful to build a fire, collect water, or eat. I think the most useful thing I learned was that you can strip birch tree bark and make a cup out of it to collect water. We also learned how to start a fire and set an animal trap! Watch this video to see the wild animal we caught! :)

Last night we saw lots of wild animals. We went to a local lake and sat on the banks outside a beaver lodge. The first thing we saw were muskrats which are similar to beavers but smaller and instead of a flat tail it's long and skinny. Then as it was starting to get dark we saw the beavers come out! There were three.. the male and female and their offspring (probably born last year as it wasn't too small). They swam back and forth looking for wood. One piece of wood was quite close to us and we could here him knawing on it! Then he'd break a piece off and swim back to his lodge with it. Most beavers around here do not build dams because the lakes are deep enough for them. Beavers only build dams when they need to create a deeper habitat for themselves over winter when the water freezes on top of the pond or lake. The young beaver also patrolled back and forth looking at us. When a beaver notices a predator he slaps his tail on the water to warn other beavers that he has seen a predator. The slap also notifies the predator that he has been spotted. They were a lot of fun to watch. This picture is one I took through my binoculars. I think it's pretty good. If you want to see really great photos click on the teacher blog page and click on Sue's blog. She is an amateur photographer and takes amazing photos.