Ashton Home School: August 2006

Seventy Birds!

1 American Crow
2 American Goldfinch
3 American Robin
4 Bald Eagle
5 Baltimore Oriole
6 Barn Swallow
7 Belted Kingfisher
8 Black Skimmer
9 Black Vulture
10 Black-capped Chickadee
11 Black-crowned Night Heron
12 Blue Jay
13 Brown Thrasher
14 Brown-headed Cowbird
15 Canadian Goose
16 Cardinal
17 Carolina Wren
18 Cedar Wax-wing
19 Cliff Swallow
20 Common Grackle
21 Common Loon
22 Dark-eyed Junko
23 Double Crested Cormorant
24 Downy Woodpecker
25 Eastern Bluebird
26 Eastern Kingbird
27 Eastern Wood-Pewee
28 European Starling
29 Forster’s Tern
30 Glossy Ibis
31 Gray Catbird
32 Great Black-backed Gull
33 Great Blue Heron
34 Great Egret
35 Green Heron
36 Herring Gull
37 House Finch
38 House Sparrow
39 Indigo Bunting
40 Killdeer
41 Laughing Gull
42 Least Sandpiper
43 Little Blue Heron
44 Mallard Duck
45 Mocking Bird
46 Mourning Dove
47 Mute Swan
48 Northern Flicker
49 Osprey
50 Oystercatcher
51 Pileated Woodpecker
52 Red-bellied Woodpecker
53 Red-tailed Hawk
54 Red-winged Blackbird
55 Ring-billed Gull
56 Rock Pigeon
57 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
58 Scarlet Tanager
59 Semipalmated Plover
60 Snow Goose
61 Snowy Egret
62 Song Sparrow
63 Summer Tanager
64 Tricolored Heron
65 Tufted Titmouse
66 Turkey Vulture
67 White-breasted Nuthatch
68 White-throated Sparrow
69 Wild Turkey
70 Willet

Our Trip to the Island of Ponies

Bird watching at Chincoteague Island.

Ponie watching on Assateague Island.

Surf watching.

Listening to a ranger give a talk on clams, as part of the Junior Ranger program for Assateague Island.

Wallops

We had never heard of it before, but it seems Wallops is NASA's most active launch range, having launched more than 15,000 rocket missions since 1945. We stopped in on our way to Assateague Island.

William and Beth had fun with some of the experiments available in the hands-on area of the museum.

Bird List Update

08-12-06 - Just after the Bay Bridge, Chesapeake Bay

Mute Swan

Great Black-backed Gull

Laughing Gull

08-12-06 - Chincoteague Island, bird watching boat ride

Bald Eagle - on Assateague Island

08-12-06 Assateague Island nature drive (Southern end of island)

Great Egret

Green Heron

Black Skimmer

08-13-06 Assateague Island (Northern end of island)

Glossy Ibis

Tricolored Heron

Least Sandpiper

Total: 70/60

Tennessee Aquarium

While we were in Tennessee, we decided to visit the aquarium.

Bird List Update

08-06-06
- On the phone line over the stream at the entrance to Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, TN.

Belted Kingfisher

Total: 53/60

Mammoth Cave

We had left early for our trip to Nashville so that we could spend a day at Mammoth Cave. We arrived early in the morning and got a quick start on the Junior Ranger materials before our first tour group was scheduled to leave.

It was very hot outside, even though it was early in the morning. Mist can be seen at the mouth of the cave from the cold air the cave was breathing out.

The first tour we went on was the Violet City Lantern Tour. On this tour there were no flashlights, only the original style lanterns that were used in the cave over 100 years ago.

The second tour we took was the Frozen Niagra Tour. You wind down a very narrow stairway. The elevation change on the trip is about 250 feet.

Harpers Ferry NHP

We stopped at Harpers Ferry on our way to a music gig in Nashville, Tennessee. We only had a few hours to spare on our trip down but we managed to see quite a lot of what was there and the kids had time to complete the Harpers Ferry Junior Ranger program.

While we were crossing the footbridge across the Potomac River, Amtrak made its evening trek Northwest to Chicago. It is shown here stopped at the Harpers Ferry station. This is significant because we make a short stop at this station when we take Amtrak to the Division Level Bible Achievement events. In fact in this picture you can see the chain-fence-covered walk way that we were crossing when I took the picture below. (2005 trip) (2006 trip)