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Phenology for April:
A Reminder
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| Today's
Reminder Includes:
- How
the Season is Changing >>
- Outdoor
Observations for April: Tune Your Ears! >>
- What's
Happening to the Sunlight? >>
- Phenology
Resources to Explore
>>
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What clues can you find? >>
Photo:
Ann Cook
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How
the Season is Changing |
Fuzzy
pussy willows, kids playing outdoors with no coats, worms wriggling
in mucky mud. These are just a few of the sightings reported by
sharp-eyed observers this month. But some of the most exciting
spring signs are ones you don't even see! Explore more in Outdoor
Observations for April (below). Then go outside and look, smell,
feel, and listen carefully.
What clues tell you that the season in your hometown
is changing? Pay special attention to what's happening to the
sunlight and daylength.
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Outdoor
Observations for April: Tune
Your Ears! |
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| This
noisy spring peeper is barely as long as a paper clip! |
"The
sound is lovely, rising and falling in volume as the wind shifts
and singers drop in and out of the chorus," writes one Journey
North observer. A concert? No, she was describing the sound of thousands
of tiny chorus frogs and spring peepers!
What have you heard this spring? When you make your April
observations and fill in
your checklists,
try to be spring sound sleuths!
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Sounds
of Spring: Go outside with a journal or notebook. Find
a spot to sit still for 5 or 10 minutes. Close your eyes and
open your ears. What sounds do you notice? Next, write a description
of each sound and what you think caused it. (A buzzing bee?
Scurrying squirrel? Squishing mud? Dripping water?) Which of
these are mainly spring sounds? Explain why you chose those.
- Animal
Sound Tracker: Track down three wild sounds until you
find the animals making them. (No fair tracking dogs or cats!)
Observe the animals for as long as you can. In your journal, describe
the sounds as well as you can. Also record what you see the animals
doing while they're making the sounds. Try to record the date,
time, weather conditions, location, and habitat for each sighting.
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| What's
Happening to the Sunlight?
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Are
you tracking sunrise and sunset times, daylength, or shadows in
your hometown? What have you noticed? These things continue to change
very quickly! How do they affect the progress of spring?
Imagine you're in space looking at Earth on the morning of April
1. >> |
How
is sunlight changing?
>> |
| Phenology
Resources to Explore |
- Spring
Checklist:
Grades K-3 >>
- Spring
Checklist: Grades 4+
>>
- Student
Journal: Signs of Spring >>
- Signs
of Spring: You can post your observations on one of our
migration maps or the "other
signs of spring" map.
- Share:
Exchange Observations with a Partner! >>
- Observation:
How is sunlight changing? >>
- Sound
Clips: Red-winged Blackbird Vocalizations >>
- Tool:
Sunrise/Sunset Tables >>
- Teachers:
Phenology and Journey North >>
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| Phenology
for March: A reminder will be posted on
May 1, 2008 |
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