This week E and I joined Grade Threes on their morning adventure around EBF. It was quite a soggy wet day, but that didn’t prevent us all from learning lots. I was amazed at how much the Grade Threes already knew about birds—and how little I knew!

For instance, we learned about nests: some birds are cavity nesters, building their nests in hollowed-out holes in branches and things, and others are non-cavity nesters, building more out in the open. Erica asked us to name birds that make each kind of nest.

Our knowledgeable guides taught us all kinds of other neat thing about birds:

We learned what tree swallows line their nests with, and what purple martins line their nests with.

We learned what purple martins eat. (And it’s not mosquitoes).

We learned the four things birds need in their home environment.

In a low-roofed shed out of the rain, Claudia let us touch wing feathers and fluffy downy feathers and bats (which are not actually birds).

We skimmed bugs out of the pond with nets and were careful not to fall in or get bitten by the bugs we examined.

By lunch time E and I were pretty wet and tired and it looked like our Learned Leaders were also.

The Grade Threes, however, had lots of energy and looked like they could go all afternoon too.