Raising Old Glory, Stream study, Understanding Caddisflies , space seeds, Frankenvole, chowing down, the Mystery Fern, and more.
Click on these photos for a higher
resolution. Will be slow with dial-up connection.
The Color Guard raises the flag daily before breakfast.
Greg Park looks on as the Color guard performs their important duty.
Brenna reads the bird list for her group.
Jessica does the same...
...as does Stephen...
and Anna.
This daily ritual gives the campers a chance to get used public speaking as well as gaining a better knowledge of bird names.
Mattie pics the latest winner of Nurse Lois' nature puzzler.
And the winner is - Nola!!
Here, Julia chooses the winner for the next contest.
Blake dips into the answer can while Director Jeff and his daughter Willa look on.
Kailyn Sapienza, niece to Naturalist Dave, is another happy winner.
Counselors Conner and Ali take a moment before morning session.
Once assembled, Conner give the group an idea of what to expect during the stream study class. Conner gave use an excellent overview of the Reptiles and Amphibians we might see.
Then, it's off to the Creek!
Following Conners' careful instruction and example everyone set about looking for Creek Critters.
Conner got lucky first.
This is what Conner found and captured - an itty, bitty Northern Water Snake. Cute!
We all got a good look and then it was released.
More searching turned up about a dozen Northern Water Snakes and two Queen Snakes.
After lunch this very special group of campers assembled outside the dining hall for a group photo.
These are the first time JNCers and they are a great bunch of kids.
For the afternoon session Kathy Stout told us all about Caddisflies. Kathy uses Caddis Flies to make very unique jewelry.
Caddis flies are a group of generally over-looked mostly dull brownish moth-like insects found predominantly in the presence of fresh water. Though many school children are familiar with the case-bearing larva which are common residents of most areas of fresh water, few are as equally acquainted with the adult or imago. Caddis flies are extremely important in the ecology of many fresh water habitats from fast flowing streams and rivers to stagnant ponds where they can occur in very large numbers and are food for many fish and water birds.
In America and Africa the imagos have been known to be so abundant that they have jammed air-conditioning units and other electrical apparatus. There are about 7 000 named species world wide of which over 400 occur in Europe and about 190 in Britain. Fossil Caddis flies have been found as far back as the Cretaceous , and possibly from the Jurassic (this means there are fossils from the Jurassic but we are not sure if they are early Caddis flies or something else which might have been an ancestral form to both the Trichoptera and the Lepidoptera).
Source: Gordon's Trichoptera Page
After the session and during free time there is always much to do. Here Naturalist Dave helps plant the Space Seeds supplied by CIT Director and amateur astronomist Lenny Muni. The campers were given two seed. One seed flew on the Space Shuttle the other did not. Both are planted and then observed while germination and growth takes place to see if there are any differences.
Here, alumni Chris Slater Files types up Bird's Eye articles submitted by the campers.
Elliott and Olivia found some owl pellets, diseccted them and built a creature from the various skeletal parts
Here are the results of their efforts - FrankenVole!
Erica leads us in a boisterous and rousing of the Junior Nature Camp song.
No one goes hungry at Junior Nature Camp. We have a hardworking and dedicated kitchen staff who turnout meals like this one: Meat loaf, mashed potatoes, gravy, tossed salad with fresh chopped tomatoes, mixes Asian style veggies and chocolate pudding for dessert. Yummy!
Just another memory...
After dinner Naturalist Greg brought out the mystery plant and answer can. This time there were no correct answers, and understandably. The plant in question is Goldie's Wood Fern, AKA Giant Wood Fern (Dryopteris goldiana)
And so ends, for the photographer at least, another busy day of shooting. Now the webbing of the photos begins...
For the campers there was still more fun ahead. Post dinner free time, followed by pairing up for the Thursday canoe trip and then another great Campfire.