Birds, Environmental Awareness, Plant Life & Screaming Chickens

The screaming chickens is actually a game played during down-time at camp. A group with the instructor finds some open space in the woods. The instructor walks about 50 yards further on, then when the signal is given, the kids run towards the instructor and scream as loud as they can while they run. That's it. Screaming chickens in the name given to the activity. Not exactly something we do at MBMA every day, which, I think, is the point.

Today was a full day of ‘classes’. Each of the three topics, birds, plants and environmental awareness took up about two hours of the day. Our instructor in one group was Danny, a recent graduate from University of Georgia with a degree in biology. The birds lesson we started with was much like the others, except that Danny is an avid birder. The group set out in the in the direction of Jenks Lake, about a mile up the trail, where we would eventually have lunch. About 10-15 minutes up the trail, we veered off to find a nice spot to sit for a short lesson, during which Danny pulled out a small white board from his backpack. Some vocabulary is introduced, a there's little discussion of bird life. On this occasion we actually spotted a red-tailed hawk, stellar jay, mountain chickadee and, a rare (we're told) brown creeper. Then, when the group seemed to get a little restless, we headed on up the trail another 15 minutes or so, found another spot to sit, or do an activity. In this case, we had a game to help understand how birds’ beaks are adapted to different types of food. So the kids were given small tools to pick up items strewn around by the instructor. The tools were spoons or small clips one might use to close a bag of chips, and the items used to represent food were strings and beads and buttons. So, as the kids ran around trying to pick up items in the woods, they were gaining an understanding of how some beaks are more efficient for different food types. Then, another 15 minutes up the trail, the lesson continues with a wrap up of the activity, and a discussion of how the loss of a food source might affect a bird that has a particular adaptation.

We eventually made it to our destination, Jenks Lake.The rest of the afternoon was more of the same on the way back from the lake, with the two other lessons built into the walk back.

Tonight we have an astronomy lesson, then the kids get to do some raucous line dancing in the dining hall.