Explore Outdoors ~ Funky Fungi in the Garden!

Just last week or so I was clearing a patch of garden so I could plant garlic, when what should I spy - but these cool and funky fungi!

 

These are cup fungi - and they look just like cups, don't they!

What cool discoveries will you make this week?

 

Getting to Know Crows

This is the time of year when I see crows – lots of crows – gleaning grains from the cornfields and gathering in trees. I hear their caws in the morning, sometimes a single bird and sometimes a ruckus of noise. Crows are brilliant and brainy and worth getting to know. Here are two recently published books to help get your crow study started.

theme: birds, animal behavior, nonfiction

Crick, Crack, Crow!

by Janet Lord; illus. by Julie Paschkis 

32 pages; ages 4-8

Margaret Quinlin Books/Peachtree, 2024

Crow lives with his noisy family high in a treetop.

He is curious and loves to have fun … but mostly Crow likes to stir up trouble! He gets into some thieving trouble, some tricky trouble, and some trapped-in-the-dark trouble. With his ability to use tools and solve problems, Crow can usually get out of trouble. Until he finds trouble too big for one bird…

What I like about this book: I love the couplets of “Crick, crack, crow! Ready to go!” The words change throughout the book, depending on the situation, and kids will love anticipating the repetition. I appreciate the accuracy of how the author and illustrator depict crow behavior on the page. And I love the back matter, “Crick, Crack, Crow! So much to know!” Lots of great crow facts and resources for expanding the story and learning more about these brainy birds.

How to Know a Crow: The Biography of a Brainy Bird 

by Candace Savage; illus by Rachel Hudson 

120 pages; ages 9-12

Greystone Kids, 2024

This book takes you into the world of the American crow, starting in a crow’s nest … where, with a tap-tap crunch, one tiny bird breaks free from the egg. Readers will get an inside look at the family life of crows. It’s not just mama and papa bird, but brothers and sisters from previous years help take care of the babies. Good thing, too, because there are SO many jobs to do! There’s feeding, and nest maintenance, and taking out the trash, and protecting the nest. Plus, there’s an up-close look at the life of a teen-aged crow!

What I like about this book: So Many Things! There’s the pie chart showing the kinds of things crows eat, and the relative quantities thereof. There are “Crow Lab” sidebars with activities, such as a check list to determine whether your bird is crow or not-crow, and an experiment involving a nut and a string. There are mini-features, which focus on a particular aspect of crow life. For example, “Cawing 101” is all about how to understand crow language. There’s a list of ways you can help crows (and other birds) stay healthy. There’s a great book turn so you get a vertical page showing “high rise living” crow style. And throughout, the author raises intriguing questions, like: do crows have “culture?” Oh yeah, there’s an entire chapter devoted to “bird braininess.” Organizational features include a table of contents, a glossary, resources for curious kids (and adults), and an index. I give this book 5 feathers!

Beyond the Books:

Play a game of “I Spy a Crow” – keep track of where you see crows, and how many different kinds of behaviors you see them doing. You might see a group of them chasing a hawk, or a single crow on a telephone pole acting as lookout. Or, as in our neighborhood, a flock walking across harvested fields looking for leftovers.

Fold an origami crow. All you need is some black paper. It's not too hard - you can follow the video here.

Think about your neighborhood – or your yard – from a crow’s point of view. Draw a map showing large trees that might provide nesting spots, lawn or gardens for foraging, and snacking opportunities (pet food, compost bin). Here’s more info about crows from Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Learn how to speak in Crow. Check out these recordings from CLO and see if you can make crow sounds.

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers. And on Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copies provided by the publishers.

Explore Outdoors ~ I thought this was a Desert Plant!

 Last fall I discovered some yucca plants growing in one of the yards down in the village. It surprised me because I think of yucca as a desert plant, not one found in northeast gardens! But they have a wide distribution across the US and even up into the southern Atlantic states.

 The cool thing about yucca plants is that their leaves have lots of fibers curling off - I wrote about them in a previous post.

 

 

Those fibers look fragile, but if you spin them together they can make a pretty sturdy string.

 

As fascinated as I am about yucca fibers (and I am, because I enjoy twining and spinning anything from milkweed to grasses), I found their seedpods even more interesting.

The seeds themselves are flat, round-ended triangles, and thinner than I expected. I planted a bunch this spring and managed to get half-a-dozen seedlings (about 50% germination). The seeds took a long time to germinate, and the seedlings are slow-growing. On the plus-side, they seem to tolerate benign neglect. 

Though I may have to bring them inside for winter ...