Take a Hike.Add variety to a nature hike A hike can be more than just a walk through the woods when campers are encouraged to appreciate and understand the wonders of nature. Color Hike Before going on the hike, ask campers to fold a piece of paper into four or six sections and color each section a different color. When campers hike, have them look for something that matches each color on their paper and write the name, sound, etc., on the corresponding colored square. Scavenger Hunt scavenger hunt n. A game in which individuals or teams try to locate and bring back miscellaneous items on a list. Hike Before going on the hike, make a list of items the group should look for and find. For example, oak tree, bird's nest, deer tracks, a certain flower, walnut, or other items that are indigenous to your area. As a group, campers search for the items and mark them off the list. Unlike a traditional scavenger hunt where individuals and/or teams search on their own for items, encourage the group to stay together and search for item within the established boundaries. Animal Evidence Hike Animals often hide when they hear a group of noisy campers hiking through the woods, but the signs of where they have been are everywhere. Campers can look for this "evidence" and identify what type of animal or insect inhabits an area. For this hike, you will need field guides and animal track guides, magnifying glasses and binoculars, and pencil and paper pencil and paper - An archaic information storage and transmission device that works by depositing smears of graphite on bleached wood pulp. More recent developments in paper-based technology include improved "write-once" update devices which use tiny rolling heads similar to mouse . Encourage campers to look but not touch. Discuss with campers the many ways animals make their presence known, such as dropped feathers, food remnants, tracks, tree marking, and droppings. Ask campers to identify as many animal traces as possible. Work together to identify which animal left the evidence behind. Things to look for: * bird eggshells * cicada cicada (sĭkā`də), large, noise-producing insect of the order Homoptera, with a stout body, a wide, blunt head, protruding eyes, and two pairs of membranous wings. castings * cocoons, empty or full * earthworm earthworm, terrestrial, cylindrical segmented worm of the class Oligochaeta. There are 2,200 earthworm species, found all over the world except in arid and arctic regions and ranging in size from 1 in. (2.5 cm) to the 11-ft (330-cm) giant worms of the tropics. tracks in mud * eggs laid on leaves * empty insect exoskeletons * feathers * holes in trees * old bird nests and squirrel nests * wasps' nests * sandy ant hills * spider's web Alphabet Hike Find something in nature that begins with each letter of the alphabet. Before leaving for the hike, write the letters of the alphabet on a piece of paper. As you walk, look for an animal, a plant, a sound, or a scent for each letter. Sunrise Hike Before sunrise, hike to a high point to watch the sun come up. Bring along a ready-made breakfast or cook breakfast on the trail while you watch the new day emerge. Adapted from the Cub Scout Funbook and the Nature Specialist. Tick Prevention Tips A hike brings the chance of exposure to deer ticks which carry Lyme disease Lyme disease, a nonfatal bacterial infection that causes symptoms ranging from fever and headache to a painful swelling of the joints. The first American case of Lyme's characteristic rash was documented in 1970 and the disease was first identified in a cluster at Deer ticks hide in shady, moist ground litter and also cling to Verb 1. cling to - hold firmly, usually with one's hands; "She clutched my arm when she got scared" hold close, hold tight, clutch hold, take hold - have or hold in one's hands or grip; "Hold this bowl for a moment, please"; "A crazy idea took hold of tall grass, brush, shrubs, and low tree branches. People and animals acquire ticks only by direct contact. When hiking, follow these precautions to prevent exposure: * Wear light-colored clothing so you can more easily see ticks. * Wear long sleeves buttoned at the wrist and long pants tucked into socks. Take a hat to protect your head. * Walk in the center of trails to avoid brushing up against dense vegetation where ticks hide. Avoid sitting directly on the ground, use a blanket or towel. * Do a tick check every few hours or more often if in heavily infested in·fest tr.v. in·fest·ed, in·fest·ing, in·fests 1. To inhabit or overrun in numbers or quantities large enough to be harmful, threatening, or obnoxious: areas. Visually check clothing and exposed skin, At the end of the day, do a final, full-body tick check. * Use an insect repellant containing DEET. Lightly spray clothing, especially children's, and avoid direct contact with skin. * Remove ticks as soon as you detect them. Do not touch them directly, use a tweezers tweezers An instrument with pincers used to grasp or extract. See Optical tweezers. or tissue and do not crush the insect until it is separated from the skin and placed in a disposable container. Tick Alert! What does a bumper crop In agriculture, a bumper crop refers to a particularly good harvest yielded for a particular crop. Example: "With all the rain we've had over the last few months, we are expecting a bumper crop this year. of acorns have to do with the deer tick population? According to researchers at the Institute of Ecosystem Studies The Institute of Ecosystem Studies (IES) is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the scientific study of the world’s ecosystems and the natural and human factors that control and change them. in Millbrook, New York Millbrook is a village in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 1,429 at the 2000 census. It is considered one of the wealthiest towns in the State of New York and is often thought of as a rural and more low-key version of The Hamptons. , plenty. Researchers at the institute have discovered that a large acorn crop correlates to an increased deer tick density. It seems the acorn crop attracts a large number of white-tailed deer white-tailed deer or Virginia deer Common reddish brown deer (Odocoileus virginianus), an important game animal found alone or in small groups from southern Canada to South America. , the feeding and mating grounds of adult deer ticks, and mice, which carry the Lyme disease bacterium and serve as hosts for young deer ticks, and thus leads to an increase in the tick population. The cycle takes two years. Many oak forests in the eastern United States experienced bumper acorn crops in 1998, meaning the tick population in these forests may be especially bad this year. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion