On Tuesday all campers got to meet baby wood ducks! The Mileski family has been caring for
some abandoned wood ducklings they found earlier this summer. The ducks are now
teenagers and ready to be released. Campers got a close look at them and one
especially amazing adaptation: the claws on their feet! Wood ducks spend a lot
of time up in trees – I can attest to this, because I saw a pair up in a tree on
Mount Holyoke at Skinner State Park this May – and the claws help them climb.
These teenage ducks are all a dark greenish gray color now, and their sex can’t
be distinguished. But campers all got to see in a field guide what their
coloring will look like as adults – the males are very striking and colorful
and the females are remain an overall greenish gray, which helps them
camouflage in their wetland habitat.
All
campers have been playing the Dinosaur Rock-Paper-Scissors game this week.
Everyone starts by being an egg, low to the ground. They play
rock-paper-scissors with each other. The person that “wins” can advance on to
the baby dinosaur phase, and the person that doesn’t stays an egg and keeps
playing until they win. By the time campers are adult dinosaurs, they are
completely upright, and theatrics are encouraged, so there’s roaring and
outstretched arms and chomping jaws too!
The
Explorers went to the Mill River recreation area on Tuesday, where they had the
choice of swimming in the pool or exploring the river. The river looked
particularly picturesque that day!
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