Swaner Wetland in Winter

Savannah took us on another fun and informative journey.
We covered track identification, layers of the snow, habitat and wildlife adaptations in winter at the wetland, and we even got to see a vole run across the snowy field.

The Swaner Ecocenter is alive and pulsing with many opportunities
for interactive environmental learning (inside and out).
We had a full day of adventure and discovery,
and at the end of our day we enjoyed some creative
writing that tied our experiences together.

Once upon a time, there was a rabbit that changed color in every season.
First, in winter it's fur is white and you can barely see the rabbit. Now, the rabbit is hunting
to find it's favorite food, wetland flora. As it chases to find food, it realizes that it is tired. Right when the rabbit is taking a rest, it looks to see if their is any more wetland flora. Then, he looks and sees a plant and he decides to see if it is the wetland flora, hopping with all four legs. Then when it got there, it sees baby beavers. The rabbit smells them to see if they needed some help, then, the mother beaver was watching the rabbit. The beaver came to her babies trying to protect them, but the beaver babies tried to tell their mom that the rabbit was just protecting them. She realized that her babies were right because the rabbit just stood their scared as a cat, and the momma beaver said, "Sorry I was just trying to protect my babies. Would you like to stay for dinner?" The rabbit asked, "What are you having for dinner?" "Well, I was going to see if I could find some fish. Do you want to come with me or do you want to watch my babies?", the beaver Mom asked. "I'll watch your babies", the rabbit said and, "Where is their dad?",
asked the rabbit. "I'll tell you what happened when I come back." And she ran to get the food and came back with the fish. As they ate the food the mother told the story.
-Anonymous

Once upon a time, there was a long-tailed weasel. He was in his house waiting for his wife to come back from hunting for food, mean while, the mother was waiting for the scent of an animal. Suddenly, she found the scent of an animal. She quickly went into it's burrow and snatched it. They were baby animals, so she took them for her husband and her own babies. When she got home, all the baby weasels were gone and she asked her husband, "What happened?"
"They got eaten!" He answered. "Oh no!" cried the mother, "Who ate them?!"
The father looked sadly at her, "The badger!". "Oh, No!" She cried, "What will we do?"
"I really don't know what we should do. What do you think?" asked the dad.
"Oh, I don't know. I can't think of anything."
The mom said, "Well, I guess we'll just live our lives."
And, the dad said, "You're right!"
The End.
-Elise

Beaver's Family
Once upon a time, there was a beaver family and the mom was going to find food. So, she went to the river to find a fish. Instead, she found a weasel. The weasel had found berries, so as soon as the weasel had gone away, the beaver looked for the berries but they were all gone. So she went back to the river to find a fish. She finally found a fish. She tried to grab hold of the fish, but it was too slippery. So she tried again, and missed. Then, she thought of a fishing stick. She found a stick and a fishing string and two little sticks to tie and make a hook. By the time she was done, she tried and caught a fish, but it was too small. She kept it anyway. She tried again, but it was too big. It pulled her across the river and then it hit a rock. She picked it up and went home to her family. Her family was so excited, they had a feast, (the dad, mom, son, and daughter). They all went to bed and slept for a long, long time. Then, they woke up because there was a robber. And the robber was a badger. They saw him trying to take veggies and fruits. And they all lived happily ever after, except they wanted their fruits and veggies!
-Camryn

The Fox
There was a family of foxes. There were two young ones and their mother. She was brave and loved her pups very much. One day, she went out to hunt. She was gone for a long while. The pups started to worry very much. Then, a thought come into the pup's mind like she wasn't coming back. He kept it to himself, so he went to find her. He searched a day and a night. His hopes started to fail. Then, he thought when he dies he will see her again. He went home and went to bed. When he heard her voice in his ear, it was her. The end.
-Anonymous

The Dead Snake
A snake slept in a burrow.
It woke up, but it was spring. The snake fell asleep for two more months. But it still did not care. The snake went to go get a vole, when a hawk attacked it and it dies. The End.
-Anonymous

Beavers
There was a family of beavers. The mother beaver was about to give bith to five kits in a lodge. A few week later, mother beaver and her kits went for a swim. When they got to the lodge, Mother beaver saw that one of the kits was missing! Mother beaver dove into the water and found her kit. He didn't look so good. Mother beaver picked him up. When they got to the lodge Mother beaver carried her kit. It was having a hard time breathing! All of a sudden, their kit could breathe better. The mother beaver gave her kit a beaver kiss. The kit's family was so happy he was alive. Two weeeks later Mother beaver gave birth to five more kits! Father beaver said, "We have a handful!" Everyone laughed at what father beaver said, even the new kits laughed. The beaver family live happily ever after, for now. Ha ha, ha ha.
-Allyson

Savannah shows us how to discover different layers within the snow, using popsickle sticks. We determined that the layer closest to the ground was a lot softer and warmer. We also took the temperature of the different layers!

Spruces in Winter

Vanessa Welsh was our guide from the Cottonwood Canyons Foundation.

Margaret and the middle school students teamed up
with us for a soggy adventure!

Vanessa covered a lot of ground with us in terms of
animal adaptations for winter living, especially for non-hibernators!

We inspected the handy work of busy beavers,
who we discovered have amazing adaptations for their lifestyles.

We also discovered the importance of huddling!

Noah gets somewhat used to his snowshoes.

Vanessa shows us the squirrel cache of Engleman Spruce
pine cone shavings. Apparently they eat them like corn on the cob and make a big mess while doing it. However, it works out great for the Spruces!

Here, we find an easy entrance (possibly for a weasel or vole)
into the insulated subnivian zone.

We learned how to identify coyote tracks that wind
around from place to place.

Despite the cold and wetness, we learned a lot
and discovered some of the benefits (at least, for non-humans!)
of wintering in the sub-alpine habitat!