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Bike Camp Retrospective
I just finished a week of bike camp. There were 9 kids who participated in a week long camp designed to introduce and excite kids about the wonderful world of biking. We had a great time.
I learned a lot about planning trips for kids. First, it’s a lot of work and a lot of worry. Will it rain? Do I have enough food ordered? Will the kids poop out? Will the rides be strenuous enough? In the end, I learned that you just have to go with it and see what happens. It worked out.
We had kids on the trip from all walks of life. Four kids were on scholarships and 6 were paid. This meant that some kids came to camp with bikes that were barely useable. We had spare bikes for them to ride. Other kids needed to get their bikes fixed to make them usable. A few kids were experienced bicyclists, but most were just regular kids out to have some fun. Overall, the kids got along well and did a great job.
The best part was watching Joey blossom. In one week, he went from being self-conscious and embarrassed to outgoing and friendly. This was great to see because on the first day, he became so self-conscious about his helmut not fitting right that he couldn’t do the last ride. Then he felt even worse because he didn’t ride. Emotionally, he just was having a hard time. The next day, he turned it around and had a good day. He loved being with other kids and enjoyed himself. On the last day, he brought balloons for everyone on the trip, a very sweet gesture.
While the camp was a lot of work, it turned out to be worth it.
Camp Randall Joy
How do you spell joy? Let 50 kids run out of the tunnel on to the field at Camp Randall Stadium on a beautiful April 70 degree day.
Watching this was like watching an explosion of energy and joy. There’s something magical about letting kids loose on a football field. They burst into full tilt runs; faked passes and made pretend touchdowns. They posed on the giant “W” in the middle of the field and screamed “Go Badgers!” Some kicked off their shoes and laid down in the end zone. They touched the soft, fake turf and marveled at it. “Is it real,” some muttered. For a moment, they pretended to be football stars, careening down the field for a game winning score.
There are large open fields everywhere, but only one Camp Randall Stadium. The excitement of a Badger game oozes from the field, even when empty. I’m glad the kids got to experience this excitement.
A Wonderful 20 Minutes
Wonderful things can happen in short amounts of time. On Tuesday, I had about 20 minutes to explore the rain garden next to our community center with three second grade boys. We started at the pond to look for frogs. We didn’t find any, but the boys quickly spotted some water striders moving across the water. We talked about how they “floated” on top of water, but what I really wanted to show them was a picture in a book. Note to self: Pur together a nature backpack with field guides, magnifying lenses and collection vials for these kind of short trips.
Of course, the kids started to throw rocks immediately when we got there. Rocks + kids = kids throwing rocks. One boy even started tossing them inside a drainage pipe that fed the rain garden. This led to a conversation about the pipe and where it might lead. I don’t know if the concept of rain gardens sunk in with them, but they seemed curious about where the pipe led to so we followed the pipe to the fence that stands between our property and railroad bed.
We didn’t find where the drainage pipe came out, but upon inspection, we found a large culvert under the tracks. One boy commented that his mother once explored one of those and told him about it. Part of me wanted to let these kids explore this culvert, but a fence and giant grate prevented that, as well as a healthy dose of common sense. The kid part of me did want to explore it further. Perhaps I will another day and then find a safe alternative to take kids. There are places in Madison where you can safely walk under railroad tracks and roads. These are great places to talk about drainage and run-off.
We then walked to where we could safely cross the railroad tracks. The railroad bed is covered with rocks and we found some good ones today. One boy found a piece of chert (flintrock), a hard limestone found west of Madison near Blue Mounds State Park. This rock was commonly used by native people to make tools and spear points.He seemed genuinely thrilled by his find. He also found a beautiful piece of quartzite, all shimmery in the sun.
The third boy identified garlic mustard growing along the railroad tracks. This impressed me. He had gone out with his mom and she told him about this noxious plant. The other kids got to smell it and Joey, a compulsive and eager child, took a big bite out of a leaf and took some home with him (I had to remind him not to eat plants without asking an adult first). When I told the the boys about alien species and why they aren’t good for native plants, they wanted to pull all the plants out! Wow! They just started pulling them up. That’s the fastest I’ve ever seen anyone move to tear up this plant. I was impressed by their enthusiasm, but also cautioned them to not pull up plants without being sure of what they were doing.
All together, I thought that was a productive 20 minutes. The kids got hands-on lessons in groundwater regeneration, run-off, geology, plant biology, and even a bit of entomology, all in 20 minutes.
I look forward to developing these hikes into formalized lessons and welcome opportunities to explore the area around the center. However, I do not want to make these trips too academic. A sense of wonder needs to present to truly enjoy nature and too much emphasis on structure can destroy that. I really like just letting the kids explore and seeing where their interests take them. Perhaps setting up stations and tools for learning may be a better way to go. Regardless, the rain garden and railroad tracks are a gold mine right outside our door.
Last winter, we even slip-slided on the ice here. Kids explored different kinds of ice and rode their sleds down the snowbanks onto the ice. They chipped at it; held it up to the sun; sat on it; looked into it; slid on it; laid on it; wondered about the air bubbles in it and lots more. But I digress.
It’s spring and that was a wonderful 20 minutes.
The things we do for love: Flight of the Woodcock
It’s spring and romance is in the air. Literally. While people are known to hire sky writers or airplanes to profess their love, there’s a tiny bird that is the king of outrageous and romantic gestures - The American Woodcock.
On a recent Audubon expedition to Cherokee Marsh, me and about 20 other bird enthusiasts went to experience what Aldo Leopold describes as sky dancing.
At dusk, exactly 8:10 pm, our guide Levi Wood led us to a meadow east of the parking lot where we heard our first “peent” — the pinched, throaty sound of the male woodcock. While we can’t see him, Wood tells us that he’s walking around in a circle on a soft mound of grass or moss preparing for flight.
The bird peents and then pauses, peents and then pauses, up to a dozen times before spiraling into the air 200 feet. On the way up, the bird’s wings make a twittering sound. On the way down, he warbles excitedly, all the while careening downward like a crippled plane, again Leopold’s words. He lands in silence back on the same spot he started from where he begins peenting again.
Peent, Twitter, Warble. Repeat.
This goes on until dusk has faded and darkness sets in, unless of course there’s a full moon. The light has to be just right for this romantic bird. Meanwhile, somewhere in the brush, a female woodcock stands by. If she’s impressed, they mate.
No one really know why male woodcocks do what they do, but then no one knows why anyone does what they do for love. It’s Spring and love is definitely in the air.
The flight of the woodcock continues at sundown through May at Cherokee Marsh and the UW-Arboretum. To hear the full peent, twitter, warble vocalization go the Cornell Ornithology Lab’s website: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Woodcock/id
The loons among us: Waterbirds have been flocking to Lake Monona
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