On a clear but cold Fall day the Red Tailed Eyas gathered for their third outing of the season at the trailhead for Stimpson Family Nature Preserve. This is a unique location; Beaver ponds, intaced wetland ecosystems, mature second growth forests, many amphibian species, and endless opportunities for exploration.
Once in the forest we found a small clearing next to the beaver pond for an opening circle. We all circled up in our usual fashion and began to lay out some plans for the day. The Red Tailed Eyas skill or this season is the art of tracking and bird language. Since our previous two outings (a long traverse and service at Connelly Creek) had not provided us with many opportunities to practice this skill I was eager to dive in.
We agreed to spend the first half of the outing focusing on really getting a foothold on tracking and then be able to spend the second half of the outing paying and exploring on the land. With this decision made we began hiking deeper into the reserve. Almost immediately we saw to small rough skinned newts in the trail.We all crowded around and took turns looking at the two newts.
We came to a place where the main trail continued and a small deer trail took off to the right traversing the banks of the Beaver pond. Some boys wanted to take the deer trail while others wanted to stay on the main path. Stimpson Nature Reserve is a technically on trail only place, this fact gave way to a great discussion amongst the boys on land use ethics. After many good points being brought up on both sides of the issue we decided that as a group we could take this game trail and travel in a way that would leave only a little impact with the reward being greater abundance of animal sign by the pond.
Down by the pond we all gathered up again to discuss the specifics of how we would be looking for animal tracks and sign. We handed out journals and pens to all the boys and instructed them to go out on the land and find either tracks or signs of different animals. Eagerly the boys spread out along the pond’s edge in search of animal sign. Soon enough everyone had found something. Looking out along the shoreline boys could be seen studying animal dens, nests, tracks, chew marks, rubs, and a variety of other sign. After almost and hour of focused time the boys came back in and shared their findings. A few boys showed a lot of interest and even took a field guide back to an animal den to try and identify it.
After lunch we made the decision to stay in this location for the rest of the day. Some boys went off to explore further down the pond while others chose to spend their time practicing their carving skills. It felt good to have done a solid session of tracking to leave the rest of the day open to work on whatever we wanted. Those of us carving relaxed by our packs and worked on butter knives and spoons, listening to the voices of the rest of the boys from the pond.
The afternoon flew by. The boys by the pond where lost in their imagination as they played on a giant rotting stump, and the boys carving were lost in the work of shaping wood. It was one of those amazing moments in an outing where everyone was doing exactly what they wanted to be doing. With the day coming to a close we packed up to head out of the woods and back to the parking lot.
Thank you Red Tailed Eyas for a great outing and all your hard work. Parents thank you for sending your sons out to explore with us. Next time you are out on a hike with them have them point out all the animal sign they see, they are becoming excellent naturalists. Be sure to look at our photo gallery for more pictures.
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