Winter Warriors

Who are the Herons? We are a group of nature lovers who look forward to spending as much time as possible outside, no matter the season - spring, summer, fall and yes, even winter. However, it’s also true that some winters (like this one) can really test the toughness of even a nature lover and if it’s hard for us, just imagine how hard it must be for the creatures who call Harrington their home. So today, our mission was to discover what the biggest challenges of winter are for the animals and birds in our area and what they do to overcome them.

Some of the challenges creatures face during the winter time are the same as ours and some are different. Take a look at the pictures below and sort them into animal or human problems. See if you can name 3 more challenges we talked about.

We were curious to find out how the creatures in Harrington have been doing so far during such a harsh winter so we headed for the trails to see what evidence we could find and who had left it. Let's see how good you have become become at identifying the tracks and animal signs we found today.

We were all thrilled to discover that there is still a lot of animal activity on the east side of the pond but we were a bit puzzled about the survival techniques they are using. See if each person in your family can come up with one strategy and then teach them 5 more. Use the pictures below if you get stuck.

Our group project for today was to see if we could offer the creatures another survival strategy and we decided we would make Survival Buddies for them. If we would have had packing snow, our buddies would have looked like snowmen. How did we change our project to match the type of snow Mother Nature had gifted us the day before?

Then we watched and waited for just a minute. What surprises did we see and hear?

What were some of the other highlights of your day?

Body surfing on icy slopes Spotting a cardinal in a tree Listening to a story in library

Happy belated birthdays Building paper snowman Making our own tracks

Snowy wipeouts Catching up with friends Welcoming Chipmunk to our flock

What a great way to start off the new year Herons! There are still so many discoveries and adventures ahead of us. Let's be sure to check on our Survival Buddies next Friday to see who's come shopping and what they've taken! Now that you know about the challenges these creatures face, maybe you can think of something you can do to help the creatures in your neighbourhood make it through the winter.