I asked her what she wanted to do: "Starbucks!" (that's my girl)
What else? "I want to go birding with you, Mommy." (heart melts into a puddle of goo)
She specifically wanted to see a Great Blue Heron, so we decided to go to Kelley's Nature Preserve.
As we left the house, Lorelei spotted a sparrow eating dandelion seeds in the yard.
"Mommy! I see a new bird!"
White-crowned sparrow? In my yard in May? That's fairly late for around here.
Lorelei thought it was a life bird for her (though I think she has seen one before), so I dutifully filmed her version of the Life Bird Wiggle...
Let's get in the car....oh, wait. We need to look at some very tiny mushrooms first:
Never interrupt a child when they are investigating nature.
No Great Blue Herons at the Preserve (The Little Miami is too high and fast for them right now), but Lorelei scared up some Prothonotary Warblers...nesting Prothonotary Warblers:
They kept popping up from a tree cavity hanging over the river....
"Mommy! Those birds are yelling and they are hurting my head!"
"We are in their territory, Short Stack. If we move on, they will stop yelling."
With my shiny-new Nature Attitude, we reveled in simple things:
We imagined how it would be to climb out onto this impossibly vertical sycamore tree and gaze out on the river.
We tried to count the number of living things on a single fence post.
We were brave and watched a bumblebee sip dew from a stem of grass.
We laughed at a firefly, hanging on for dear life, on last year's growth in the meadow.
A pair of Eastern Towhees burst from the trail side. I whispered to Lorelei that they make their nests on the ground, so we shouldn't disturb them. Lorelei whispered back, "Mommy...don't step on the nest. Let's move on so they can get back to their babies."
And we enjoyed the blue sky and popcorn clouds over the trees.
9 comments:
Thanks for sharing your day, and so glad you're raising the next generation of the flock to follow in your footsteps.
...fun post and congrats to Lorelei! We go to Kelley's Nature Preserve all the time to look for birds. It's a tiny little gem. I've seen lots of box turtles there too, and I don't get to see them very often.
I loved this post, even better than the West Virginia ones. How wonderful to see your child experience the joys of nature. Her compassion for the creatures is something she learned from her mother. This is a REAL Mother's Day post, because this is what it's all about.
Hey, all that and Starbucks too! Happy Mother's Day.
Well, Susan--I don't know about you--but as great as WVa was, sounds like Ohio & Lorelei has that trip beat hands down.
What a kid! And what a mom to have raised her thus.
Happy Mother's Day.
Susan, you win the prize for Mother Nature Award of the Year, hands down! Keep up the good work.
What a great day with your daughter!!! Yay that she loves nature so much!!
Awe..that was so sweet!
Susan, You are one awesome Nature Mom! Great job Lorelei!
Hey, a new kind of cloud--popcorn clouds. Thanks, I'll add it to my list!
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