Two Fawns with Their Mother

I was lucky to look out the window and see the mother deer and her two fawns in the yard. They are so skittish it was difficult to get a close shot, but I'm happy with the video. My son Conner was on the porch with me and when I say, "Don't move" it appears that the deer is listening to me. We tried to go outside but the ran away.

A Fearless Bunny

It appears that the wrens have abandoned their nest. In doing some research it turns out that wrens build many nests most of which end up abandoned.

I did get a good video of a bunny that has been living in the yard since it was born. It has tripled in size but still is very at ease with people.

Day Two With the Birds

The birds have been hard at work and have made a lot of progress. It is a very unusual nest. It was formed by piling pine needles and leaves and then burrowing into the middle and jumping around to make a house-like structure. I like this video because it has a little bit of chirping and shows the mom and the dad. We're thinking of names for them.

I will be trying to get video of the new fawns that like to eat the grass under our trampoline, the raccoons that like to tip over our trash cans, the groundhog family that has lived in the backyard for the past three years and finally this year has a wife and children, and any other wildlife that ambles by.

A Bird's Nest

We have had so many nature sightings this summer at my house I wanted to start blogging about some of them. I have no idea if anyone will be checking the blog or not since my last post was over a month ago.

A pair of birds that look like wrens (I'll need to do a little research about this) have started building a nest in a partially open window in Conner's room. We have decided to let them keep building and will do our best not to disturb them. Our biggest fear is rain coming in the window, but a few well placed towels should take care of it. I'll post more bird videos in the coming days.

The Final Oral Reports

The last day of school was a great day to give the final oral reports about the animals. We learned of the amazing jaw strength of tigers which can break an elk's thigh bone in a single bite. We heard of the amazing leaping ability of the cougar that can jump over a bus. We were impressed to hear that some chameleons have tongues that are twice as long as their bodies.We heard of a kind of squirrel that can survive a fifty foot fall. We learned that an ancient ancestor of the penguin was over five feet tall. The amount of knowledge that the boys learned and were able to share with their classmates was astounding. I am very impressed with how well the boys did with each aspect of this project. They are ready ready for the challenges ahead. Well done, boys!!!

The Year in Pictures

What a great year!!! For the ninth year in a row I can honestly say that this has been my best year.

A Day Later...The Races!!

It was a shame that the weather didn't cooperate for Track and Field Day on Wednesday. Fortunately we were able to run many of the races today in PE class.

Four More Animal Reports

Four more boys gave their reports today and we learned a lot about their animals. We were happy to learn that the grizzly bear is not endangered in Yellowstone National Park. We were distressed to learn that the Komodo dragon has over 50 types of deadly bacteria in its mouth that infects their prey when bitten. (I wonder if they get cavities....usually if you ignore your teeth they go away). We were surprised to learn that the ring-tailed lemur has a better sense of smell than a monkey. Finally, we were terrified to learn that the lion can run more than twenty miles per hour which is much faster than humans can run. The good news is that lions do not exist in the wild in North America. Great job presenters!!!