On a beautiful early-fall afternoon last Saturday, kids enjoyed exploring the trails near the Harris Energy and Environmental Center in New Hill, looking for signs of wildlife. As part of the SWC Eco Kids Program, Bonnie Eamick, Environmental Educator, led a group of inquisitive kids along the wooded trails and along a dry creekbed in search of clues to what wildlife has been there. And there was plenty of it! There were mud dauber nests in the picinic shelter rafters, a host of decomposers in decaying logs, amazing spider webs, and best of all, all kinds of tracks in the moist streambed. They found clear tracks from probable coyotes, raccoons, and deer who had visited the creek recently. Other examples of their discoveries include a salamander, arrays of holes in trees from yellow-bellied sapsuckers, and even the unusual parasitic native plant called the “ghost plant” (Monotropa uniflora).
If you have kids, keep an eye out for future Eco Kids activities, but especially be sure to sign up for Kids in Nature Day, which is being held Oct. 4th at Lake Benson Park!
South Wake Conservationists 