Identifying Winter Trees

Trees are a big part of the environment. Trees provide us with maple sugar, fruit, shade, lumber and good tree houses. You can identify trees, even in winter! You can look at a twig to tell what tree it came from. I did this and found out a twig came from a hickory tree.

• We looked at the buds. They were pointy.



• We looked at the branching. It was alternate, which means one branch on the left, then one on the right, sort of like a vine.



• We looked at the leaf scars. The leaf scars are the little marks under or near the buds, and on a hickory tree, they look like smiley faces with dots in the middle.



• We looked at the pith, which is the pattern on the bottom of the twig, but we couldn't tell what shape it was.



• We found out the twig's age by counting the bud scale scars. We discovered our twig was about 12 years old!



• We used the Virginia Tech Twig Key for help.

Trees can be identified in winter and summer, whether beech, ash, or hickory. We shouldn't cut down trees too often, and if we cut one down, we should make sure to plant another one in its place.

Great Backyard Bird Count

Here is our report for the 2010 Great Backyard Bird Count:

Observation Date : FEB 12, 2010
Start Time: 9:45 AM
Total Birding Time: 4 hours 30 minutes
Party Size: 2
Skill: excellent
Weather: good
Snow Depth: 6 - 8 in (15.2 - 20.3 cm)
Habitat(s):
suburban
Number of Species: 3
All Reported: yes
Checklist:
Dark-eyed Junco - 7
Northern Cardinal - 1
House Sparrow - 2

This is the report for our town:

Species [taxonomic]
[alphabetic] Number of Birds

Canada Goose 14
Mallard 24
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 3
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 21
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Downy Woodpecker 9
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Blue Jay 30
American Crow 13
Black-capped Chickadee 7
Tufted Titmouse 10
White-breasted Nuthatch 7
Carolina Wren 4
American Robin 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
American Tree Sparrow 16
Song Sparrow 8
White-throated Sparrow 94
Dark-eyed Junco 94
Northern Cardinal 55
Red-winged Blackbird 131
Common Grackle 62
Brown-headed Cowbird 4
House Finch 11
American Goldfinch 6
House Sparrow 63
Total 696


A total of 29 species were reported.

Winter Birding

This week in science we learned about the parts of a bird and made a presentation to the group about our individual bird photo. We learned how to use binoculars and how to focus in on birds with our eyes first before using the binoculars. After that we put on snowshoes and hiked and saw some birds. It was fun!

Glaciers

I am taking a class at Pyramid Mountain Natural Historic Area. We learned about glaciers and the teacher gave us some homework. here is somthing that I found out about the Carbon Glacier:

• Name of glaicer: Carbon Glacier


• Location of glacier: Mount Ranier


• Type of glacier: Mountain glacier


• How it has changed in size over time: In 1970s, growing. Currently, shrinking.

This information came from the National Snow and Ice Data Center, and from the National Park Service site on Mount Rainier. I also saw a video on Discovery Streaming about glaciers called Glaciers: Movers and Shapers. Here's the video:

The Sun

The Sun is a medium sized star, but one million earths could fit in it. It may look like the Sun is burning but it's really exploding like a giant bomb. The Sun is exploding because hydrogen atoms are being split apart and being put together again as helium atoms. This is called nuclear fusion.

This fusion takes place in the Sun's core which is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit. Next the heat goes to the radiative zone which surrounds the core. Then the heat travels to the convective zone which is like a conveyor belt. Last but not least is the photosphere, which churns gasses.

Not only heat comes from the photosphere,but also tiny particles called the solar wind. When the solar wind hits the earth, it creates an aurora borealis or northern lights. They are seen in Russia, North Pole, Alaska, and Canada.

The solar wind may not be harmful to humans but solar rays can be. Ultraviolet rays can cause major or minor damage to your skin. To protect yourself against these harmful rays, wear sunblock. 15 SPF and up will do.

The Sun is a very interesting star to study. It is about 4.6 billion years old, which is middle aged for a star. The Sun will be around for a long time, much longer than we will.



Works Cited

Dowswell, Paul. The Usborne First Encyclopedia of Space (First Encyclopedia). New York: Usborne, 2001. Print.

Tachell, Peter. Science Encyclopedia (Usborne Internet-Linked Discovery Program). New York: Usborne, 2003. Print.

Walker, Richard. The Kingfisher First Human Body Encyclopedia (Kingfisher First Reference). New York: Kingfisher, 1999. Print.