Nutty about tracks

Guess what I learned at Nature Nuts?

Nature Nuts is a class at Oxbow Park. Miss Krista is the teacher and it is all about nature. Today we learned about tracks. A couple of times we have done birds, pumpkins, leaves, snow, and other things (and that is etc). I have held a sssssnake, turtles, salamander, and pretend scat!

Today we learned about tracks. We made a track book using paper and plastic molded tracks. We also made our own tracks.

Here are some “beary” good tracks. You can find the raccoon print and the deer print here in our backyard.

The cougar and the black bear, probably around the mountains or Michigan. I am not sure if we can find them here. I hope not!

This is a “racoooooonlllll” site. http://www.bear-tracker.com/

Now for the really “racoonl” stuff, at least for me. I got to see some roadkill! You would think Ewww! But, it was racoonl! It was in the freezer (it was a road kill freezer) in the building where we had Nature Nuts today. In the road kill freezer, I saw a hummingbird, a hawk and a white tailed rabbit. They looked like clumps of leather, very furry or feathery leather, to be exact.

There was a fawn skin drying out. They were going to stuff it. They took off all the meat, then they put the skin (or feathers sometimes if it’s a bird) in the freezer. They soaked it in salt and ??? whatever it is called ??? (I forgot). Then when they take it out, they tan it and then I don’t know what all they have to do to “stuff it” but they put it on plastic creatures. I got to see the plastic fawn. They use marbles for eyes.

Thank you Miss Krista! I really enjoyed it! I still think that the tanning process is “racoonlll“!