Travel Tuesdays: Mount Desert Island ME and Chatham, MA

Today I'd like to focus on travel that's closer to home. Not everyone is able to travel internationally, but nearly all of my suggestions can be applied to domestic travel.

This past summer, my family took a vacation to Mount Desert Island (MDI) in Maine. MDI is home to Acadia National Park, so we spent part of our time visiting various sites in the park. The rest of our time, however, was spent getting to know the area as the locals do.

We observed birds of prey that were fledging and talked to local residents to see if they had identified the birds. During one conversation we also got a tip about a local swimming hole. When we went for a swim, we were the only ones there. We spent lots of time observing a sunfish protecting its nest. On another day, we hiked to a scenic overlook (some say the most beautiful on the island) that few tourists climb. Afterwards, we purchased delicious bread from the local bakery and tasted ice cream at a shop a block away. While eating my ice cream, I noticed a flyer for a local artist.

After seeing that flyer for r scott balz gallery for a third time, I decided I should take a drive to meet the artist. Scott and I engaged in a lively discussion of our creative processes. We viewed his bold landscapes with rich colors. When I told him I tend to take close-up photos of small things like rocks, insects and lichen he told me he used to take close up photos for a living and went into a back room to pull out a photo of kelp on the beach. It was an enriching and inspiring conversation I never would have had if I were on a scheduled tour with a program of events to follow.  Our family had scheduled a couple of things, but otherwise wandered where we felt inspired to wander on any given day.

A couple of weeks later I was in Chatham, MA on Cape Cod (about one hour from my home) with my whole family (sisters, spouses, nieces, parents, kids, etc). While kayaking in a pond, I noticed a man in waders walking along the edge of the pond. He had a camera hanging from his neck and was taking notes. I turned my kayak and paddled over. “Hi. I hope you don’t mind me interrupting you. You seem to be documenting something. May I ask what you’re working on?”

Fred went on to tell me that his parents used to own a large section of land surrounding the pond. Much of that land, including the sand banks along one edge, had been destroyed by various human activity including locals riding ATVs. About 10 years ago they sold the land to a private conservation organization at a discounted rate. Fred was out that day documenting the changes in the edge of the pond since conservation efforts were put in place. He told me that ten years ago a plant commonly called Marsh Mallow, that only grows in three counties in Massachusetts, was wiped out along the pond. Now it’s back and getting stronger. He was documenting these changes by counting and photographing the plants. By talking to Fred, I looked more closely at the edge of the pond and noticed the detailed centers of these beautiful flowers.

By connecting with the locals, we learned more about the places we were visiting and connected to the landscape in more meaningful ways.

How might you put some of these ideas into practice in your domestic travels or daily life? Have you had an enriching experience by interacting with the locals where you are? Please share your stories.

Related Posts:

Birds of Prey

Wordless Wednesday: Seal Cove- Mount Desert Island, ME

Caterpillar Investigation, The Final Installment

My regular readers probably thought I dropped the ball on the caterpillar investigation my children and I started back on September 26th. For those who don't know, we found some mystery caterpillars on our parsley plants. We observed them for a while, placed them in our butterfly house, and watched them turn into chrysalids. Then you never heard about them again.

Until now, that is! As I reported last October, we left the butterfly house in our porch all winter. Finally, on Friday, one butterfly emerged. We were very excited!

(June 3rd Update: The second butterfly emerged today- one week after the first).
We placed a small container of water in the house and let the butterfly dry its wings for a while. Then we opened the house to let it out. I gently placed my hand in front of the butterfly and let it crawl onto my finger. We didn't try to touch it in any way- I just let it crawl on me and stay as long as it wanted.

Check out the beautiful pattern on it's underside.

And look at its fuzzy back and the proboscis curled up under its eyes. The proboscis is a straw-like tube the butterfly uses to drink nectar.



After a few minutes, it flew off my finger and went directly to the irises blooming in my flower garden. Look closely and you'll see the proboscis going into the flower to get nectar. The butterfly flitted to several flowers to eat. Imagine... this critter hasn' t had any food since the parsley it ate last fall when it was still a caterpillar. We thought it seemed hungry.

When it left the flower, we chased it into the backyard, watching it flutter up and down in the breeze. Then things got really exciting and a bit scary. A bird came out of nowhere and chased after the butterfly. We could hear its beak snapping shut! I have never heard that before. We watched in horror, certain our newly emerged friend was going to be bird food. At the last minute, the butterfly swerved into the leaves of a nearby maple tree and escaped. Of course, we understand the laws of nature, but boy were we glad it got to live as a butterfly for a least a while longer.

Here's the bird that chased it. I know it's small in the photo- I didn't have my zoom lens on because I was photographing a butterfly. Can any bird lovers out there identify it by its silhouette?

Last fall I asked if any of you knew the species. Now that one has emerged as a butterfly, my son looked it up in a field guide and declared it a Black Swallowtail Butterfly.

This investigation demonstrates that you can never fully predict what will happen in nature. I knew the caterpillar would emerge as a butterfly if all went well, but I could not possibly have planned the chase scene with the bird. Such excitement! And, as an aside, just 5 minutes later, a Bald Eagle swooped though our yard so low to the ground that we could easily see it's white head. There was no better show in town on Friday than the one happening right outside in our yard.

Have you noticed any butterflies in your area lately? Ours was the first one I had seen this year, but over the weekend more appeared. How about in your neck of the woods? Do you know the species?

Teachable Moment- Caterpillar Investigation

Last weekend I noticed some new residents in our vegetable garden when I was harvesting parsley for dinner. My first thought? It's time for an investigation with the kids!

This is the perfect example of what educators call a "teachable moment:" a time when an event prompts learning about a new, unplanned topic. In a classroom, the moment may be spurred by an intriguing question asked by a student or a guest who arrives unexpectedly. For science-oriented teachers like me, it may be when something exciting happens in the classroom aquarium such as a crab attacking a mummichog (Challenge: Does anyone know what a mummichog is? If so, post it in the comments!) Or, in this case, some caterpillars decide to move into our garden.

When teachable moments occur in a classroom, teachers usually have a few moments, at best, to decide whether to veer off topic and delve deeper into the new topic or to continue with the scheduled lesson. Ideally, our days would be filled with teachable moments because they represent times when kids are usually highly motivated by the events at hand. The reality is, however, that digging into every teachable moment could lead to a classroom with no focus or one that doesn't reach the required goals for the year. Teachers are faced with the daunting task of choosing those moments carefully.

(Note to educators: I would choose to explore this particular teachable moment with my elementary students because I know I can address many state mandated science and ELA standards along the way. This represents a place where standards and a teachable moment overlap. A win, win all around!)


 So how do you plan an investigation? It's simple. You watch. You make observations. You ask questions and try to find the answers to your questions.

The kids and I went out to examine the little caterpillars more closely on Wednesday. We chose to draw them and record other important data such as the date, their size, their location on the plants, the number of stripes, etc.   Each of us chose a different focus, but between us we have a fairly complete record of what we saw.

My 4 year old daughter focused on drawing the pattern in the stripes. Her dictated caption reads, "His eyes are tiny. We found him in the garden. We found him on the parsley."

My 8 year old son focused on the stripe pattern, the shape of the caterpillar, and it's legs.



My journal entry included the most data, which makes sense since I'm older and have been doing this longer! I included measurements, locations on the plants, etc. A portion of my entry:

Our plan is to watch them over the next few days or weeks and record the changes we see. We're hoping to see a big change in a week or so. Check back to see what happens! I'll post the changes as we see them. I'll also offer suggestions for guiding children in their science investigations.

Has anyone seen these caterpillars before? Do you know what they are? We've purposely avoided field guides for right now, though we have a pretty good idea what they are. If you know, please share!