November is for Nature Appreciation With Farmingdale's Scouts

 Recently, Bethpage State Park hosted Farmingdale Girl Scouts for a fun-filled nature event in our Picnic Area. This proudly marked the second year in a row that the Farmingdale Troop came for an autumn visit, which lends itself to a seasonal-kind of education!

To kick off our event, we started off with a sensory experience in our Picnic Pollinator Garden! With plenty of flowerheads and seedpods hanging around, the scouts got to see and feel different parts of the  dried out plant. They learned that the fluff part of the seed is an adaptation that helps with dispersal. Milkweed noticeably had this feature in our garden, as it is not only prevalent but protected at our park, to benefit the larva of Monarch butterflies. 

 

This segued us into our next topic: the Monarch lifecycle and their magnificent migration 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 (and possibly future entomologists)! 

After, we embarked on a nature walk along our Children's Trail. I handed out field guides and photos; this was to familiarize the scouts with different native bird species. We listened for bird calls and then, to my surprise, the girls creatively came up with a song of their own (to remember the Black-capped Chickadee, a clear fan favorite).        

While walking and talking, I made the point that Bethpage State Park does not just value and protects wild spaces, but also takes action in creating supplementary habitat for different organisms too. For instance, in the woods we leave large collections of tree logs and branches or brush piles, to help small mammals (chipmunks, rabbits, mice etc.) seek safety from predators. In our garden we also install bee homes to establish extra space for native, solitary bees. The girls learned that it is here that mason and leafcutter bees nest and lay their eggs to ensure the next generation for spring.

 

 For the second half of the event, we did an interactive activity: a leaf scavenger hunt. This focused on the colors of autumn! As we searched for leaves, I discussed why changes in temperature and hours of sunlight brings about changes in leaf color. In this season, plants are not completing photosynthesis and storing their energy. Chlorophyll, breaks down and so, the green pigment in leaves fade. This shifts the leaves into orange, yellow and red mode, as anthocyanins and carotenoid are the new pigments now visible. 

 

The scientific term for this color shift is leaf senescence! 

 

 While it may have got competitive to find leaves of all shades and shapes, in the end the group came together. I had them show their findings and work as a team for the finale.  

A nature arts-and-crafts session, to create one big tree! 

  

  Overall it was a fantastic day of learning and creativity! To be able to use all one's senses, to fully experience the joy of autumn, appeared to be a memorable experience. I wish to turn this into a yearly tradition and welcome the idea of more seasonal, nature programing.

 

 Thank you to all the scouts who attended!

Also Kathy Pirrone, the Scout Mom, that helped make it possible. 

 

 Hope its been a Happy Fall, Y'all!

 

Post photography and writing by Yael Weiss