Learning in the Sunshine State

Boys at the river.

The lagoon holds sea life to

catch, observe, release

Seminole is a native green anole. Speedy was a Cuban brown anole with two broken back legs. Katie is a young female brown anole. Then there’s Two-Tails, the brown anole with, well, two tails. He was found at the park and came home with us. They all live in our backyard. Our indoor lizard is Sarge, the Leopard Gecko.

Ever since he was a little tyke, Dennis has loved lizards. Apparently lizards also have an affinity for Dennis too. Or at least he doesn’t terrify them. He can catch a lizard and it will sit on his hand making no attempt at escape. In our part of Florida, we see native green anoles, Cuban brown anoles, and house geckos on a regular basis. He started catching them when he was about three and a half years old. He could spend all day catching, studying, and releasing lizards. Every now and then he discovers that one of his friends is also interested in lizards. They catch and observe lizards in each other’s yards as well as at parks and playgrounds.

A few months ago, Dennis decided he wanted to start a nature club, and managed to get a few friends to go along with it. The first thing on the club’s agenda was to make a lizard rehabilitation center. That’s how Speedy came to live in our yard. Alas, Speedy didn’t make it, but at least his last days weren’t too uncomfortable. Two-Tails and Katie are still doing fine.

Sarge came to be with us last summer, by more conventional means. Dennis had been asking if he could get a lizard for a pet. I did some research and found that Leopard Geckos are about the easiest for a kid to take care of, and make good “first reptile pets”.

I’m not sure where this love of lizards came from, but now Dennis is talking about how he can turn it into a career. He says he wants to be a lizard vet. He’s at an age where he can see how a love of something can become a career. We talked about possibilities such as a working at a zoo, in the wildlife field, or even as an owner of a pet shop that specializes in reptiles. No, he said. “I want to be a lizard vet and help pet lizards when they get sick.” Right. Okay.

Two-Tails

Sarge

I posted some butterfly pictures over at my garden blog. Rather than write the post again here, I’m just linking to it. Enjoy.

Mom’s Garden Adventures

Today’s mail brought an envelope from the National Wildlife Federation that says our backyard is now an official Certified Wildlife Habitat. Sounds impressive, doesn’t it? Well, it’s really quite easy to get certified. I have to give credit to Dawn, of By Sun and Candlelight, for giving me a kick start. She asked the question in her post, What Makes a Backyard a Habitat? When I read her post, I realized that we too could have a certified backyard. Our backyard doesn’t look like anything special. While I have dreams of a magazine-worthy yard, the reality is it looks a lot like many other yards in suburbia.

What makes my family’s yard a habitat? Well, here are the NWF requirements. And here are the simple ways our yard meets those requirements–

Food–
5 birdfeeders in various locatons — 3 tray feeders, 3 tube feeders
a wooden squirrel feeder attached to our fence — the kind that holds a corncob

Conserving Resources–
we practice organic gardening, composting, and mulching as much as possible

Having a backyard habitat is pretty easy to accomplish. If this is something you’ve thought about, but thought it was too difficult, think again. Anyone can do it, and just imagine how it can fit into your homeschool.
Everything from evaluating your current yard (or patio — even apartment and city dwellers are eligible) to sending for your certification, can bring wonderful nature study lessons for children and adults.

The NWF goal is 70,000 yards for their 70th anniversary in 2006. Our family is No. 67,922. Will your yard be on the list?