Father Nature

In celebration of Earth Day (which was actually yesterday) I thought I'd share about our trips to Strawberry Farms to check the bird traps with Daddy. For the past four years, Matt has worked for Griffith Wildlife Biology trapping Brown-headed Cowbirds during the nesting season of April, May and June. He daily checks four traps that are positioned around the 18 holes of golf at Strawberry Farms. He releases the non-targeted song birds, counts newly trapped cowbirds and makes sure they have fresh seed and water. To learn more about why this is necessary follow this link. It's really very interesting!

Usually on the weekends the girls and I go with him for a scenic ride in the golf cart. I love it because of all the divine smelling roses and Strawberry Farms is where Matt and I had our wedding reception - so it's always fun to reminisce! The girls love it because Matt let's them help drive the cart and go into the traps with him (Mommy is not so brave!) Megan can identify the female from the male cowbirds and is starting to learn some names of the other birds such as CATO (California Towhee), HOFI (House Finch), and MODO (Mourning Dove). She even knows where on the course the Red Winged Black Birds congregate. We count the number of bunnies we see each time (the most was 57) and last week saw a young deer up on a hill! We often see hummingbirds, coots, barn swallows, and egrets. Today we saw two Roadrunners (my favorite) but they were too fast for me to snap a picture. The girls are also starting to learn some golf etiquette - at least the part about being QUIET when people are hitting!

It's such a fun time for us as a family. I love all that the girls are experiencing and learning - and that they are continually being introduced to their Science teacher Father's love and knowledge for all things living. I also love that these experiences are teaching them to appreciate and respect nature, but not be afraid of it. He's taught them to be in awe of things like spiders, snakes, bugs, and lizards... and facinated by rats and squirrels (or as my sister calls them "small furry running things"). Let's see if it stays that way! I hope so.