Our Roots & Shoots group gathered recently at Clover Creek Preserve for a nature outing. Prior to arrival, I was a little hesitant upon reading an online review of the area, “My house is nearby and before this area became a preserve, it was a lush green area filled with wild flowers, plants, and trees. There were a myriad of unpaved, forged trails that ran through this area of wilderness. I moved away for a year and then came back only to find that every tree on the 128-acre space was knocked down,
every hill was leveled, and a man-made lake was put in.”
Upon first look, it was clearly a recent ‘development’ as there were no mature trees. The small lake in the center of the preserve, however, does have a number of water-loving plants (Aspens, if I recall) along the perimeter. A number of birds could be seen floating on the water surface from a distance so we happily proceeded forth, curious as to what species we might observe.
Our leader – a welcome change for me – and another mom in attendance are avid birders so our focus soon became apparent and I began to record the species we were able to identify.
As a novice bird watcher, I was quite impressed with what we observed in just a two hour outing. Upon our return home, I asked each of the kids to select one of the birds from the list and to sketch it in their journals.
