Download Wascana Marsh - Outdoor Ed RBE

WASCANA MARSH
This is a guide to help you in exploring the area around the marsh with a view to
developing certain attitudes toward the environment and the use of the outdoors.
You can conduct a field study without stressing names of either plants or animals. Interest
and enthusiasm are the only equipment you need to help your students develop positive
attitudes toward learning in the outdoors.
The natural interest of children in their surroundings can be directed into an inquiry
which is purposeful, into an appreciation of the richness of the environment and a desire
to preserve it; and can lead to a growth in understanding of each other as they learn the
value of co-operation.
Encourage the use of all 5 senses in gathering information.
1.
Cover your eyes and listen - what do your hear? (Wind, machines, voices, bird
songs, etc.).
A tape of bird songs will help to make the children aware of various bird songs.
Young children sometimes enjoy and increase their awareness of such sounds by putting
words to
bird songs. Some examples you can hear at the Marsh:
Robin
Meadowlark
- Cheer Up! Cheer Up!
- Aren’t you glad that Spring is here?
I’m going to tell the teacher on you.
Red-winged blackbird
- Conk-a-ree
Clay-coloured sparrow
- Buss, buzz, buzz
White-throated sparrow
- Sweet Canada, Canada, Canada
(here only during Spring and Fall migration)
Yellow-headed blackbird
- Peterson writes that this bird’s
call sounds like the noise of a
very rusty hinge.
2.
Look for:
a)
or
seeds (more abundant in Fall, of course, but many can be found in Winter
Spring)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
a seed with a parachute
a seed with a wing shaped like a valentine
seeds which the Cree sometimes used as diapers
square seeds growing around a square stem
seeds in a pod
6.
seeds with a wing shaped like a canoe paddle.
7.
a seed covered with hooks like tiny fishhooks
8.
seeds in a white berry
9.
seeds in a red fruit
10.
seeds shaped like a tiny pumpkin
11.
seeds raised for bird food
12.
a grass seed named for an animal’s tail
13.
seeds used to make something we might eat on a hot dog
14.
a seed which tastes like pepper (don’t encourage children to
explore for this
show them the peppergrass which is a mustard and
let them bite a seed and
hold it on their tongues)
15.
a tree seed with a wing which whirls like a helicopter blade
If the children are interest in naming the seeds they have found, they could use
reference
books to learn more about :
wild mustard
rose hips
caragana
mint
ash tree
canary reed grass
b)
blue bur
maple tree
peppergrass
dandelion
curled dock
cattail
aster
snowberry
wild flax
goatsbeard
foxtail grass
Flowers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
a flower whose Greek name means star (fall only)
a flower whose French name means lion’s tooth
a flowering plant whose flowers and leaves are grey and fragrant
a flower whose petals grow in the form of a cross
a flowering plant with milk-like juice (3)
a flowering plant with a square stem
a daisy-like flower (Peter Rabbit’s mother used this plant to make
tea)
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
French name
13.
14.
a white mustard flower
a flowering plant armed with thorns
a flowering shrub with yellow blossoms shaped like butterflies.
a white flower with divided petals
a flowering plant with fine fern-like leaves (* see story below.
milfoil - meaning a thousand leaves)
a flower named for Canada
a flower the colour of the sky
Names and more interesting information can be found in Carmichael’s Prairie
Wildflowers or Wildflowers Across the Prairies by Vance, Jowsey, and McLean.
aster
dandelion
sage
yarrow
wild flax
mint
rose
camomile
caragana
chickweed
Canada thistle
* Yarrow was brought here from Europe where it grows in many countries and
was used
in many ways. In Sweden the leaves were once used to make beer. In
England, it was a
cure for baldness. And in other countries it was used as a medicine,
the leaves being
brewed into tea for stomach ailments. The children are interested to
hear the story of the Greek warrior Achilles (whose name is part of the latin generic
name of this plant). You
can find this in books of legends. Achilles was supposed to
have used a salve made from yarrow leaves to heal his soldiers’ wounds. Since Achilles
and his men fought with bow and arrow, the children find it interesting to remember the
name of this plant by adding ‘y’
to arrow.
c)
the Marsh
d)
1.
2.
What is a marsh?
What are the plants growing in the marsh?
3.
Is the water moving?
4.
Why are there no big trees growing near the marsh?
5.
What kinds of plants are growing near the marsh?
6.
Why are there so many birds living at the marsh?
Birds
1.
Look for a)
a bird flying or hovering over the water in search of food
- black tern - sooty grey and black
- common tern - white with black cap, forked tail
- tree swallow - blue back, white breast
b)
a shorebird searching for food in the mud
- killdeer - double black necklace
- yellowlegs - check leg colour
c)
a duck-like bird which isn’t a duck
- coot - black plumage, white beak, seems to walk on the
when it pushes with its feet on take off
water
d)
a male and female mallard - compare colouring
e)
ducks with descriptive names (see a bird book for pictures)
- blue-winged teal - white crescent on face, powder blue on
shows only in flight
wing
- pintail - male has white stripe up side of neck, long black
pin tail
- shoveller - male has large shovel-shaped beak, chestnut
side patch
- baldpate - male has white patch on top of head
- ruddy duck - male has small reddish-brown with cheek
patch
f)
nests of:
near
- goose - on high points of land near water, on ground in or
snowberry bushes, on platforms above the water
- ducks - in low brush or among marsh plants along the
shore
and other
- mourning doves and yellow warblers in caragana hedges
shelterbelt areas
- killdeer - on bare ground in waste areas
- clay-coloured sparrow - in low snowberry bushes
When you flush a bird from its nest, move carefully and do not touch or disturb
the nest in
any way. Replace any camouflage material hiding the nest. Move away
from the nest as
soon as possible. Please discuss the reasons for these nest
observation rules with the
children.
3.
Learn with fingers and nose and tongue
blue bur,
Touch - prairie wool grass, tree bark, cattail seeds, thistle, poplar leaf,
etc.
the soil?
Smell - flowers, stinkweed, sage, yarrow, etc. Can you smell the marsh?
the trees?
those
Taste - mint, rose hips - make sure children realize they should taste only
plants which they know for sure are safe to eat.
Questions or comments for consideration:
Why are there so many birds in this area?
Food - water plants
- water animals - insects, shrimp, etc.,
- seeds
- roots
Variety of habitat - game preserve with fence to keep out people.
Nests provided for geese; food supplied to water birds in winter; injured geese and swans
brought here by biologists.
Why are there so many geese?
A goose nesting scheme was begun by Mr. Fred Bard with 2 geese, Hiawatha and
Queenie (see booklet in study kit). Some eggs were incubated and the young released in
the area. As free flying birds, never pinioned, they either stay here all year, or return to
their place of birth after migration.
What mammals live here and why?
Muskrat - look for muskrats swimming, feeding on shore, for muskrat houses, scent posts
(small piles of cut vegetation), etc.
Jack rabbit - look for them in open fields bordering the marsh; their droppings; bushes or
trees gnawed in winter.
Short-tailed Weasel - rare - sometimes seen near ground squirrel burrows.
Meadow mouse - look for runs, nests in grass or under logs.
Ground squirrels - look for burrows in open fields and along the road. Note dirt around
the burrows - front and back doors, droppings, plants eaten, pathways from burrow to
burrow.