Ecology is Everywhere

Welcome to Session Two of Hitchcock Camp: Ecology is Everywhere! Campers have been playing get to know you games, exploring the trails here at Larch Hill and yes, drinking lots of water in this heat!

First, here are some final photos from last session. Here are the Young Naturalists visiting with Maizie, our corn snake. She's always a huge hit!

On Friday all campers walked to Groff Park to explore the river, have a picnic, and play on the playground. Campers found lots of crayfish, including babies!

Yesterday camp got off to a great start. All campers hiked around the Larch Hill conservation area, getting to know the trails and each other. Here are the Explorers playing a relay race style game.

All campers have been working on pie tin gardens. Each camper filled their pie tin with gravel and soil, then planted seeds and decorated them. Kids became so absorbed with creating their own miniature gardens! They will spend the next two weeks watering and caring for them. We hope that by the last day of camp, some of their seeds will have sprouted!
  

Hideouts and Habitats

We're already here at the last day of Session One: Hideouts and Habitats! We have had a lot of fun making friends, exploring the outdoors and learning about the relationships between ourselves and our land and the animal and plant inhabitants of our place. Here are some more photos from our session.

Explorers traveled to Mount Pollux conservation area in Amherst last week for some sensory activities, quiet reflection and journal time.

 On Tuesday we had an all-camp quest. Monday the Explorers prepared a quest for the Young Naturalists, placing clues all over our trails for the campers to find. The next day they led four groups of the younger campers through the woods, looking for the clues. At the end there was a "treasure" of freeze pops!

All Camp Habitat Quest: Searching for the Next Clue

Where is the clue?

Questing at Bramble Hill Farm

Twice a week the Explorers have been going to the Mill River pool and conservation area. They have been catching a lot of crayfish!

After spending days studying animal homes and habitats, the Explorers built shelters for humans in the forest on Wednesday.

Each day, all campers participate in group challenges. This is an important part of our camp tradition and serves to encourage teamwork and help campers feel a sense of accomplishment as a group.

Chocolate River: Our Favorite Group Challenge!

Chapel Ledge, Web of Life, and Bird Photography!

Reminder: On Friday, July 13 we are holding Camp Share at 2:30 here at Hitchcock. This is a chance for the older campers to present to the younger campers about what they've learned at camp, and vice versa. Families are also welcome to attend this gathering, just let your counselors know you're coming.

Pretending to be horses in the classroom

Campers have been having a great week learning about shelters, habitats and ecosystems. Yesterday the Young Naturalists learned about camouflage as a strategy for survival. Then they went on an epic adventure, all the way to Chapel Ledge in Ashfield! They hiked Pony Mountain - an impressive feat for 6 and 7 year-olds - and picnicked at the top, where there was a fantastic view!

Reading a story at the top of Pony Mountain

The Explorers have hard at work all session sculpting animals for the web of life hoops. Each camper has a hoop made from a bittersweet branch with animals they have made from craft dough. Yesterday they painted their animals and attached them to the webs. When they are done, they will show the interconnectedness of all the members of the ecosystem.

Today campers had a special visitor: John Van de Graaff, a bird photographer from Northampton. He presented his amazing shots of local birds, and birds from all over North America, including Alaska, Maine, Michigan and Utah!  Campers recognized some of their favorite birds, such as peregrine falcons, common loons and bluebirds, and learned some new ones as well! Photos of chicks and ducklings were big hits.  

This is John's photo of a Willow Ptarmigan, an artic bird that turns white in the winter to camouflage itself from predators!

Snakes, Rivers and Crawdads!

 

Eyes-closed forest imagination time

 

The Young Naturalists spent the day at the Amethyst Brook conservation area yesterday to discuss layers of the forest and to explore the inhabitats of a river. Look what they found!

Last week the whole camp watched Maizie, our resident corn snake, eat her weekly meal. This was an important event to witness because Maizie had not eaten all spring long - for three months! We told the campers that we had been worried, but that one day we learned the reason why: Maizie laid eggs! The whole time she wasn't eating, her body was preparing to lay her first batch of eggs. Maizie didn't have a mate, so the eggs were not fertile. We were glad that she finally ate again!

Look at how big her mouth can open!

Little Pond, Big Pond

Yesterday the Young Naturalists discussed who lives in a pond habitat. Then they went to the irrigation pond at Old Friends Farm next door to catch frogs and explore the macroinvertebrates that live there.

Patrick demonstrates proper frog handling

Then they played parachute games in the afternoon! 

Meanwhile the Explorers trekked to the Quabbin Reservoir to learn about changing landscapes and get a good view of this amazing wilderness right in our backyard. They made watercolor paintings of what they saw.

 

Pond Mysteries and Berry Bonanza

 On Wednesday the Explorers went ponding!

They brought back a mystery creature, shown here in the top left corner:

Campers were extra determined to identify it, so they pulled out aquatic entomology books and their colored pencils so they could draw it in their journals. With a little help from Hitchcock staff, we guessed it was a creeping water bug in its nymph stage.

The Young Naturalists began the day by talking about where our food comes from. The went on their first field trip to the berry farm. Campers picked every kind of berry at Nourse Farms: blueberry, red raspberry, black raspberry and even some late-season strawberries!  Later they cooled off in the sprinkler, which was a huge hit!