And just like that it seems everyone I talk with is being pummeled with the same question. What do I do with all of this unstructured free time? As life comes to a near halt with work hours in flux and activities canceled, my family and I have spent more time together this past week than ever before and a lot of that time has been outdoors. My family is fortunate enough to live in a house with a yard and I am now, more than ever, thankful for my yard and the couple acres of mixed forest and fields behind my house. For us, there is no time like the present to get outside.
Like many places, in Spring, Virginia, can be absolutely gorgeous. Famed cherry blossoms dot the entire D.C. area and are in full bloom while mild temperatures and plenty of sunshine beckon us outdoors. On day two of school closures I took my children to an area park known for bird watching with a quarter mile (I think) boardwalk over a preserved wetland. Huntley Meadows is the name of the park and it is definitely one of my favorite sites to observe wildlife. However, being a teacher, I made sure my kids, ahem students, went prepared with appropriate learning materials to document what they learned while on our field trip. Like a real classroom not everyone was thrilled to be going and I did get some resistance from two of my kids, however I did not have to worry about permission slips being signed.
We had a great trip. My students learned about wetlands as they completed their KWL sheets. My students are in grades K thru 5 so I differentiated their sheets as best I could based on their ability level. My kindergartner had a sheet that was mainly bird identification while my fifth grader had open ended questions including what the role of man should be in maintaining a wetland like Huntley Meadows. My second and third graders had the same sheets which included the KWL followed by several questions on the back. Kinda nerdy, I know, but I am dad after all.
We saw some ducks up close, including the American Coot, were serenaded in surround sound by Red-Winged Blackbirds, and saw the dreaded Snakehead fish slithering and swimming through the marsh just below the boardwalk. Though there was griping and even a tear or two on our field trip we saw some pretty cool wildlife and still made it home in time for lunch.
Next up was a walk around an area lake a couple of days later. Anytime I’m outdoors I’m scanning for birds but this was not a birding or wildlife trip per se. Also absent were any classroom connections so no KWL sheets this time. This trail is right off the Capital Beltway of Washington, DC so it should have come as no surprise that the park was crowded and, at times, I felt I was not doing a good job of social distancing. This was a couple of weeks ago, however, when the concept of keeping our distance from others was something that was not quite real, the way it is right now. For the most part, however, we enjoyed some time by ourselves in the early Spring woods of Northern Virginia.
This change in lifestyle has caught us all off guard and wondering how to react. I wonder how it will all play out. I wonder how this pandemic will affect nature now and in the long run. How will this affect area wildlife? Too many questions to consider, really. However, I am not asking myself what to do with my time. Now, more than ever, there is no time like the present to get outdoors.
the suburban naturalists 