Goose Pond Mountain Created Wetlands, 20 April 2007

It is SPRING!!

Our outing today at Goose Pond Mountain drew quite a crowd. We had roughly 18 adults and 21 children join us today for our first warm spring outing of the season. It was perfect, too, because Goose Pond is a great place to go to see the first official signs of spring. Our outing started off with a bang... as we were gathered under the shagbark hickory tree (thanks for the identification, Rich!) and before we even set foot on the trail, Kat saw an Osprey (or "fish hawk" as it is commonly known) splash into one of the far ponds, looking for a meal. It was too far off to photograph well, but it was close enough for the group to watch it as it flew away with it's catch.

Excited to see more, we set off along the path towards the first pond. Our varied group spread out along the edge of the pond, making it easy for passersby to see exactly who the Nature Strollers are. The Nature Strollers who joined us today included babies in slings and strollers, toddlers and young children on foot, older siblings, moms and future moms, dads, grandparents, and even one family pet! This is the kind of activity that people of all ages can enjoy, from the two-week-old infant snugly wrapped in his sling, to his grandmother, excitedly looking for pond creatures to catch and observe with his older sister. Beth, a mom-to-be (due next week!), expressed her happiness about being able to come today and meet other families, looking forward to joining us again after her baby is born. As we were becoming acquainted with each other, Laurel excitedly exclaimed, "The toads! I can hear the toads, and they're HERE!" We moved towards her, and she pointed out a pair of mating toads, saying that we might even be able to see the long string of eggs they lay later today, if we are lucky. All at once we saw the pond come alive... we were spotting these toads everywhere! They were singing to each other as they searched for mates. One of our "future naturalists" netted one, and she held it out for all to see.

View a short quicktime movie of the singing toads here!

After a while, we started to move towards the boardwalk and the other two ponds. Though our noisy group most likely scared off any birds or large mammals, we knew the ponds would hold a vast amount of life for us to observe. In the second pond, children were netting tiny crayfish, gigantic tadpoles, dragonfly nymphs, snails, and water bugs. We also saw a few fish and spotted one newt (most likely a red-spotted newt), but they were too quick for our nets. With each dip of the nets, the children were bringing their catch back to Laurel's tupperware container to see what they had gotten. This was a great opportunity for the children to see and even touch some of the creatures they might not even realize exist here in their environment. It was also wonderful for parents to be able to see their children's excitement, and take this opportunity to share their own excitement with their kids. The thrill of the catch was contagious, and children were sharing their catch with anyone who would listen! They huddled around the temporary aquarium, telling each other what was "on display" in the tank. One of our "future naturalists" netted a water spider, placing it in his bug house, and offered a close-up view of his catch to the toddlers in their stroller.

After saying goodbye to those who were heading home, a few families decided to go back and see what was happening with the toads in the first pond. They were making so much noise it was almost deafening. We netted a few more, and Seneca even held one out for everyone to get a better look! It seemed that no one wanted to leave; no one wanted the feeling of being outside on this gorgeous spring day to end... not even the toads!

Thanks, Suzanne, for sending me pictures and the movie of the singing toads. If anyone has trouble viewing the movie, please click here to email Kat... adding video to the blog is new for her! Thank you also to everyone who joined us today. We hope were were able to show you some of the wonders of our natural world, and inspire you to go back and visit again with your families. It was a huge success, and we hope that we see you out on the trails again soon!