We also saw this Red-backed salamander under a log:
And here are two other environmental educators showing the children two different mushrooms. If you look closesly you can see the red one and white one:
One of the environmental educators had her late uncles HUGE magniying glass for the kids to use. They really loved it!
Saturday afternoon, (4) cub scouts from Pack 137 became Habitat Heroes by removing Japanese Stilt Grass. They will do this 3 times a year for 3 years to ensure that they bring back a natural habitat for the flora and fauna. Keep your web brower stationed to us, to see pictures of our Habitat Heroes and to learn about non- native plants and how to go native.
Then on Saturday night (16) participants came out to Lake Michie to join us for the Starry Starry Night program. We had a clear night which allowed for some fun stories about the constellations. Also, Saturday was the beginning of the Leonids Meteor Shower which will last till November 20th but be at its peak on November 17th and 18th. We had quite the show of shooting stars. Through the telescope we were able to see the craters of the quarter moon and Jupiter with three of its moons.
DON'T FORGET: December 21st is the Winter Solstice and a Total Lunar Eclipse.
Sunday was another fun sunny day that started out with a historical program called the History of Spruce Pine Lodge and the surrounding area. We were joined by (4) people who had a chance to see where the old Bahama Road was located and why the town is called Bahama. You will have to join us another time when we offer this program to see the old road bed, but I will let you know here, how Bahama got its name. It was named after three prominent families that lived in the area: the (Ba)ll, (Ha)rris, and (Ma)gum. This became it's name in the late 1890's after the owners of the railroad didn't like the original name: Hunkadora.
The last program of the weekend ended with (12) people who came out to learn about Winter Life. On this hike we talked about winter tree identification, winter animal activity and played a few games.
Throughout the week, I will talk more about Habitat Heroes, History of Spruce Pine Lodge and Winter Life.
