The Kindergarten Field Trip to the Dam

The kindergarten field trip on Friday was awesome! The kindergartners got to see many life birds! Birds they had only previously seen in a book, were seen. On the drive to the Fort Randall Dam, I was able to pull up to ponds and they saw lots of different ducks, American Coots and Yellow-headed Blackbirds. They marveled at the colors and were surprised at how small Blue-winged Teal and Buffleheads were. At one point we came across 200 American White Pelicans resting. They were on both sides of the road, so the kids could see them. I slowly drove up and we watched them.  Soon they flew off right in front of the vehicle. The kids were cheering! They were shocked at how huge they were.

When we got to the dam, I took them on my favorite trail.  A Spotted Towhee came close to show-off by spreading its tail and wings, while singing. The kids were impressed! We saw other birds like a Wild Turkey, Bald Eagle, Forster's Terns, Eastern Bluebird, Western Kingbirds, and many more. There were smiles all around! I was very happy that they were able to use their binoculars and able to see the birds more easily. They also heard Northern Cardinals, which is a song they knew. They know about 30 bird songs, so they were able to recognize a few songs. I heard a Yellow Warbler, but we couldn't find it. We also did a lot of exploring and checked out other things such as: web worms, caterpillars, fungi, flowers, Yucca plants, trees that a beaver chewed on, a tiny nest, an enormous {empty} Bald Eagle nest, acorns and cool rocks!

Later we had a picnic in a shelter where the Barn Swallows kept trying to come in. Then they played on the awesome playground before traveling to another playground to fly kites and play some more. We made pine cone bird feeders too. Then we had birthday cupcakes to celebrate Cait's summer birthday. It was a quiet ride home as some were sleeping. I didn't know it was possible to wear them out!  It was such a wonderful day that we will not soon forget!  Thank you to our chaperones, Cheri V. and Jim W. for helping us out!