Posts Tagged ‘Naturalists’

Reptiles at Sawhill Ponds

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

Wednesday was another great day as we made our way out to Sawhill Ponds for a Naturalist tour around the water.  Before we got on the bus in the morning, we had time to make snakes, which were used for bracelets, toy snakes, and even bookmarks.  We ended up with very colorful and creative snakes.  Once the bus returned from Eldorado Canyon, we loaded up and headed out to the Ponds.

Upon arrival at Sawhill Ponds, we settled into the picnic tables for a delicious lunch before our Naturalist guide Robin arrived.  We began our tour by wading in the water around the edge of the pond looking for reptiles.  Our bus driver Ed was able to find us a toad in the mud, and caught it for all of us to see.  We also found shrimp, maefly larva, and tiny snakes in the water.  Out of the water we were able to look at all the creatures and plants we had scooped up under magnifying glasses.

Next we headed out on a hike around the lake to look for more creatures and to read a story that taught us all about what reptiles are, and how they are different from mammals and amphibians.  Our guide Robin was extremely helpful and we were very grateful to have her there.  After the story we had to jump back on the bus to get back just in time for GORP, which the Star Wars GORP Eating Tree Snakes had created, before parents came to pick up the campers.

Sawhill Ponds

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

Wednesday was an exciting day as we got the chance to visit Sawhill Ponds in East Boulder, where we were given a tour by four trained Naturalists.  After our morning routine of songs and games, we got together in order to make binoculars for our trip.  We decorated and put together our binoculars which we made out of paper towel tubes, and yarn.  It was a great project which got our campers excited about the day ahead of them.  Once our binoculars were completed we loaded onto the bus and headed out to Sawhill Ponds.

At the ponds we found a beautiful place to eat lunch while we waited for the Naturalists to arrive.  We were surprised to find that we would have four naturalists with us, when we only expected one.  This allowed us to break into two groups with two naturalists per group.  The Naturalists walked us around the ponds, stopping to explain the root systems of trees and the importance of water to the plants, not to mention catching and looking at bugs.  We also learned the importance of keeping our natural habitats clean, and were able to help clean trash out of the ponds.  Our campers seemed to particularly enjoy helping clean up the trash.  We were very lucky to have the Naturalists there, as they engaged the campers very well, and made the day a huge success.

Our time at the ponds was so exciting and fun, that we were late returning to base camp, but even with a small amount of time we were still able to squeeze in a story with our afternoon snack before singing “On Top of Spaghetti” and saying farewell to all of our campers.  Tomorrow is a favorite day of many campers as we will be heading over to the Spruce Pool for a day of swimming.