By Shannon M. Nass, Special to the Post-Gazette
FINLEYVILLE, Pa. -- Wide-eyed with excitement and wonder, 4-year-old Natalie Noll of Monongahela bounded across the field with a loosely woven bowl of rootlets and dried grasses cupped in her tiny hands.
"I found one! I found one!" she shouted to the group of parents and children who stood peering up into a stand of trees.
Natalie stood breathless and expectant as she slowly revealed her treasure -- a chipping sparrow nest she had found under a conifer tree.
The group, which included Natalie's sisters Abby, 13, Sarah, 12, Rebecca, 10, and brother Andrew, 8, oohed and aahed over the discovery before fixing their gazes on a gray catbird's nest that had been retrieved from a tree above.
The nests were two of many wildlife homes unearthed during the Discovering Animal Architecture Home School Outdoor Classroom program Nov. 10 at Mingo Creek County Par.
A similar event, Nature Scavenger Hunt, will be held at Keystone State Park near New Alexandria on Dec. 3 from 2-3 p.m. (register at 724-668-2566 or kpnature@nb.net).
The program at Mingo Creek joined a long list of park events that are geared toward educating children about the outdoors.
"We try to instill in children an appreciation for nature," said Lisa Taylor, program coordinator for Washington County Parks and Recreation. "Our goal is to bring them out here, have a great time, have fun and hopefully they learn something."
Cold temperatures and biting winds did not faze the group of 10 who gathered for the program. Jeff Donahue, Mingo Creek's superintendent of recreation, sparked curiosity by passing around a bald-faced hornet's nest that had been collected at the park. The children took turns feeling the paper-like texture of the nest constructed of chewed wood fibers mixed with saliva.
A Baltimore oriole's nest woven entirely of monofilament fishing line was next, followed by a white-eyed vireo's nest and sticks on which beavers had gnawed.
Mary Ann Dolan of Bethel Park was in attendance with her husband Aaron, daughters Emma, 13, and Sarah, 11, and son Matthew, 7. Despite their young ages, the children were surprisingly knowledgeable about the exhibits.
A home-schooling mother, Dolan said their knowledge stems from the importance she places on teaching them about the outdoors.
"Nature is one of God's amazing creations," she said. "There's just so much out there that they can experience. They just so enjoy it, so the more that they can learn about it, the better."
Aaron Dolan, who had taken the day off from work to attend the program with his children, said it's a philosophy he also embraces.
"It's important for them to develop an appreciation for God's creation and be entertained by things other than technology," he said.
After viewing the samples, Donahue and Taylor led the group to a nearby shelter where a mud dauber's nest was spotted hidden in the rafters. The urn-shaped nest was stocked with spiders that had been stung into submission and will serve as food for the dauber's offspring.
What to do: Within its 2,600 acres, the Washington County park includes miles of paved walking and bike trails and 15 miles of bridle trails, picnic shelters, ball fields, playgrounds, an observatory, a leash-free dog area, a model airplane field, two historic covered bridges and an old homestead.
Contact: 724-228-6867.
It was the first time the Dolan children had seen one.
"That was so neat," said Emma.
With curiosity piqued, the group hiked to a field peppered with mole holes before heading into the woods to search for more examples of animal architecture.
Necks craned and heads turned until Sarah Noll's keen eye spotted a yellow jacket's nest in the ground. It had been deserted for the winter. She retrieved the sample from among the dead leaves and carefully inspected the hexagonal cells where food had been stored and young hatched.
The next stop was at a clearing of goldenrod, where Donahue pointed out round, elliptical, and rosette goldenrod ball galls, which are bulges or swellings in stems that house insects. He cut one in two to reveal the cream-colored fly larvae that produced it.
For Emma, that was a highlight of the program.
"The coolest thing I learned was about the galls and where they find them, where the name comes from, what plant the insect lives on and the stage [of life]," she said.
Their appetites for discovery not yet satisfied, the group made a final stop at a forest of conifers where a giant puffball mushroom was discovered.
The children squealed with delight as they took turns stepping on it and dancing in the dark brown powder as trillions of microscopic spores emerged.
As the program came to a close, the children chattered on about their newfound knowledge of animal architecture and favorite discoveries.
"I liked walking through the forest and finding galls and lots of other things that you can find in nature," said Sarah Dolan. "And fresh air."
Matthew summed up his favorite part of the program in one word.
"Everything," he said. "It's pretty awesome to be outside."
First published on November 27, 2011 at 12:00 am
Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11331/1192448-140.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml
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