Little Purple Flowers - Mystery Solved

Almost a year ago has gone by since my neighbor's kid pointed out to me that the little purple flowers had disappeared from around the yard. The flowers came back again this year and I remembered to take a few pictures.  I used the pictures to help identify the flowers using a dichotomous key.  I narrowed it down to crocuses. The name was familiar from hearing it around the office as first sign of spring.  So now the mystery is solved.

Late winter, crocuses are of the first to bloom. While they do come in different colors, it seems that someone scattered only purple ones in our area and they come back each year. Best part is that even when there is snow they may bloom, are still there when the snow melts again.  Go out and enjoy the first signs of spring, Meet Me Outdoors.

Butterfly in the garden

I was working in the garden with my nature class and came across a butterfly. I didn't want right scare it away before getting a good look at it and maybe a picture.  What you see is the first shot and last as I got closer.

I have narrowed the species of butterfly down to a variegated fritillary. I am still questioning the exact species but it is in the fritillary family.

WhatBird

Recently, a lot of my outdoor experiences have occurred on my walk to and from the train. This morning was no different.  I just left my house and heard some peeping sounds of a bird in the tree that is in the house across from mine and was curious to see what it was.  I slowly walked toward the tree so not to make noise or sudden movements that might startle the bird. Peering through the branches and leaves I finally saw this little black and white bird that had striped and spotted pattern on its body and was hanging almost upside-down on the branch.  As I reached into my bag to grab my camera the bird flew off to another branch and hopped around a bit before hiding in a higher part of the tree.  The pattern on the bird made it hard to see it among the leaves and branches, this is called camouflage.  Camouflage is a natural coloring adaptation that allows animals to blend in with its surroundings.  Since I couldn't take a picture of the bird with my camera I had to take a mental image, remembering its color, size and how it sounded and how it was hanging on the tree.  These details are important when identifying birds.

A good online resource for identifying birds is a website called "WhatBird." WhatBird is like the dichotomous key for trees but instead of asking about leaves and seed shapes it asks about size of the bird, shape of body, shape of bill, color, location, and other identifiers like song or call.  This may be complex for a young child to navigate on their own but with a little help from a grownup in asking comparative questions you can identify the bird together.  The bird that I saw was a woodpecker but since I could not get a picture of it to identify it more specifically I will have to try to find the bird again.

Have you seen any interesting looking birds?  I want to hear what you have found!  Come Meet Me Outdoors!

Community Gardens

Practically everyday I take the same shortcut that follows a bike path to the train.   I pass the same trees, the same little garden patches and the same sign that says "Community Garden."  But until the other day when I walked by I didn't stop to look at what this patch of greenery really was.

There are flower patches, small vegetable patches, a tin-man of sorts made from recycled parts and some very odd looking trees.  For some reason what was coming from the trees is what made me stop and look.  Picture a tree that seems to have  long green beans growing from it and that is what this tree looked.  I took photos of this tree and when I got home I used the dichotomous key same as I had used earlier for my Ten Step Challenge tree to find it, however it was not listed.  This meant I had to use a more advanced one, but I am skeptical of what the key told me is really the same tree because the pods in the picture of the key look different then the one of the tree I found. The key said the tree is a Redbud tree because it has a heart-shaped leaf and a legume for fruit. I decided to check my Golden Guide Tree book, just to be sure.

This is the tree that has green bean shaped fruit

As it turns out, this tree may not be a Redbud but a could actually be Catalpa tree.  The beanlike seed pods of this tree are closer to what the picture shows in the guide book that I have than what is shown for the Redbud tree.  I'll have to take a closer look again next time I go by to be able to identify it properly.

Leaves of the tree I found

After taking the pictures I continued walking and admiring the garden and wondering if there are other community gardens out there that I did not know about. As it turns out Somerville, town outside Boston, MA where I was walking, has 12 community gardens and there are many more through out the Greater Boston area.  If you go the website of the American Community Garden Association you can use the search box in the bottom right and corner to find community gardens in your area.

Is there a community garden in your area?  Go and explore some of the different gardens and tell me what you find.

Come along and Meet Me Outdoors!

Ten Step Challenge Results

Hey Everyone!
Last post I challenged readers to start simple and take a Ten Step Challenge to see what you can find if all you did was leave to go out the front door and take 10 giant steps in any direction. To prove how easy it was I will show you what I found in my Ten Step Challenge.

OK, so  after finding this tree out in my yard from my Ten Step Challenge and I wanted to identify it. I went online and found what is called a dichotomous key for trees. A dichotomous key is kind of like playing 20 Questions and is used as a tool to identify something.  Today I used it to identify the tree but there are dichotomous keys for other items found in the natural world (the Resource Section has good ones to check out).  After answering the questions that the dichotomous key asked it told me that the tree I have is likely a black cherry tree.  I am going to leave the eating of the fruit of the tree to the birds.


Here is what some readers sent in from their Ten Step Challenge.

This picture was sent in by Jake who noticed that the flowers were packed down in one area.  Jake guesses that an animal like a deer could have walked on them or rested in the patch of flowers causing them to be flatten. Nice observation Jake!

Nahama found this patch of clovers on her Ten Step Challenge. She said she tried find a 4 leaf clover in the patch but couldn't find one.  Keep searching, you might find one some day. 

On Jimmy's Ten Step Challenge he heard some birds and in his ten steps he was able to sneak up and get close enough to take a picture before they flew away.  Can you find the birds in this picture? There are two that I can see.

Keep sending in your results!  I am glad that you all could Meet Me Outdoors.
Stay tuned for our next adventure!