Enchanted Forest

Last night I took the girls to our local Audubon's Enchanted Forrest. It was a little rainy but we had a great time anyway. They have some trails thru the woods lined with candles in milk jugs. A 'firefly' with a lantern leads us along the path, stopping along the way to learn about some animals.

The first was a wood cockroach. They have some characteristics of house roaches but are very good for fertilization of the soil. They can go without food for 30 days, without their head for 5 (they breath thru their body) and although they can see from every direction because of a thousand lenses in their eyes, they can't see red. Too much cockroach information?

We saw a bear that told us he was afraid of butterflies and that he could run 30 miles an hour. He also said he eats way more vegetation than he does animals. Mostly he likes people garbage because he doesn't have to work hard to get it!

Next was a star nose mole. There are actually tentacles on the end of it's nose. This type mole, unlike it's cousins, can even go under water. Payton seemed to think this was a bird!

This 'frog' is what we call peepers. In our area, we know spring is here when we hear their peeping noise at night. The male makes the sound as a part of the mating ritual. They are only about an inch long so we rarely see them in the woods.

Lastly we saw a couple very cute mice. One is a deer mouse and the other a wood mouse. They were picking on each other about who was the best type of mouse. This seemed to be Payton's favorite because she was scared of all but these and the frog. Jerzie couldn't pick a favorite but she was disappointed we didn't see the Monarch Butterfly this year. She kept asking Payton if she liked it.
As usual, it was a great time at the Audubon!