Great Blue Herons Show Up - Two Hikes with the Cubs

I am an aging Girl Scout.

~Amy Sedaris

We'd been asked to take a nature/interpretive hike at Berry Springs Park with one of the Cub Scout Packs.  Our last adventure there had been such a success so "Why not?" I thought.

We emailed back and forth with the pack leader to get the details down and requested we split the big group (40+ kids) in half. Even 20 is tough on a nature hike when you want to get close to the bugs, plants, frogs, and owl vomit. Ten is the optimum number for this kind of hike. So helpers volunteered and we jumped in.*

I had a marvelous time (but I will be even better after the ibuprofen takes effect).  I hope everyone else had as good a time as I did.

Didn't even get my feet wet! This is Bushy Bluetem - one of my favorites - see final note below for another story I learned well after the hike. [Photo by my partner on the first hike - RE.]

What did we do? We fed the donkeys (Little Bob and Pedro are so cooperative!) I brought a couple of carrots for each hike, but we mostly followed the rules and each of us fed them a small handful of grass. The donkeys are smart - they stand still for a little petting too. And they are "buddies." It's part of scouting to hike with a buddy. I loved the reinforcement from the animals.

Little Bob

Pedro

We saw no pollinators on the early hike, but the sun came out and butterflies and bees were everywhere for the second.  We could have done an entire hike with wildflowers and pollinators - even this late in the year. But there was more to see.

We talked about the history of the place and the people who used and lived on the land. We observed hawks and herons,** grackles and White-winged Doves. We hiked around the pond area and back to the campground with a short stop at the observation area to talk about frogs (performing a cricket frog chorus) and owls (examination of owl vomit).

How to be popular with third graders? Get an owl pellet. Magic - captured by RE.

It was good fun - spending a day in the wild and sharing what we have learned, but my favorite part of the hike was watching these good-hearted young men interact with each other in gentle, supportive, generous ways. Again and again I noted this child or that one share with another - an observation, something to feed the donkey, their time and attention. There was act after act of friendship and kindness. What extraordinary young people!***

I've offered to take these kids for an evening amphibian watch in the spring (when the frogs will be calling and we can actually see them). I do hope they take me up on the offer. I need their kind of inspiration.

Here are the only photos I took. Hey, I was busy!****

One of the Great Blue Herons flew across the pond. I love these birds. [Just found this photo. Forgot about it.]

One of two Great Blue Herons who "showed up" at the pond. Hurrah!

A Wheel Bug one of the scouts spied.

NOTES:

*I love my fellow Texas Master Naturalists. They show up! Thanks, RE! [Thanks too mikef451!]

**Each hike was 1.5 miles or thereabouts. It's about as far as I walk with the pup in the morning, but I generally "work up to" longer hiking.

***They were accompanied with some amazing parents too who were fully engaged - participating and guiding all along the way.

****I know, I am usually grabbing a photo of everything. But I was thinking a few steps ahead to make sure this "cool weather hike" would be interesting. I am saying a prayer of gratitude for donkeys and Great Blue Herons. [I took the donkey pictures a few weeks ago when I was doing some prep-work. I learned that from DMF. She always knew what wildflowers would be blooming because she went out the day before and identified them all!]

One more RE photo. I love hats and sunglasses - perfect photos for here. No one fell in the pond and no one touched a snake!

 FINAL NOTE: A friend and member of our TMN group, Mike F.,  commented on my posting of the Bushy Bluestem on another database. I had confessed that there was more of the grass "just around the corner" with a plant identification marker. I had not seen the other stand of grass or the marker until after chatting with the kids about the clump of grass in the photo at the beginning of this post. It confirms my claim that I know the park better in the dark.

I think Mike's story is hilarious. I also think it documents a special moment - me discovering who was responsible for insuring this lovely grass was represented in the park and Mike seeing the long term importance of his work. So often we don't know the impact of our efforts - but we keep on planting seeds.  Here is his story:

          There is a lengthy history with that particular plant! Originally the 
          Bushy Bluestem sign was positioned very near where you are standing. 
          Park staff mowers would routinely mow down the plants leaving a sign 
          with no plants in sight. I transplanted a plant from elsewhere in the park 
          to the sign and was mowed again even with rock barriers.

          I was asked to transplant again out into the water. The plant in your 
          image is one of three I planted which came from my backyard. These 
          were still victims of weed eating staff!

          Finally I was asked to move the sign which is now down the trail closer 
          to the boardwalk, with many plants nearby and out of the mowers path!
                                                                                       ~mikef451