November is for Nature Appreciation With Farmingdale's Scouts

 Recently, I hosted Farmingdale Girl Scouts for a fun-filled nature event in the Picnic Area of our park! This is the second year in a row this Troop proudly visited in the month of November...a time that lends itself to a specific, seasonal-kind of education!

Since plenty of flowerheads and seedpods were noticeably hanging around our Picnic Pollinator Garden, we started off with that! The Troop got to see and feel different parts of the dried out plant and learned that the fluff part on the seed helps with dispersal. This led to a discussion about milkweed, and how it is planted to benefit the larva of the Monarch Butterfly. 

 

This lead me to a little overview of the lifecycle and the magnificent migration of the Monarch Butterfly to Mexico for overwintering. I was impressed to find out that the girls knew quite a bit about this species' needs and journey! It seems we have ourselves some butterfly enthusiasts (possibly future entomologists?)! 

 Next we embarked on a trail walk. I handed out field guides and photographs, for the troop to learn different native birds and their nests. We listened for bird calls as well. Much to my surprise, the girls were musically inclined themselves and creatively came up with a song to remember the Black-Capped Chickadee (clearly a fan favorite).        

Bethpage State Park not only values and protects wild spaces but also takes action in creating supplementary habitat for different living organisms too. This is a lesson I tried to highlight along our walk by pointing out examples. For instance, leaving a collection of tree logs and branches, known as brushpiles, helps small mammals (chipmunks, rabbits, mice etc.) to seek safety from predators in the woods. A second example is installing bee homes in our garden. This establishes extra space for native, solitary bees to nest and lay their eggs.

 

Since it was the perfect time of year to focus on color, we spent the second half of the event completing a color scavenger hunt. Here we talked about why leaves change color with less sunlight.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hoping to turn this into a yearly tradition!

Post photography and writing by Yael Weiss.