Today for Nature School we met out in between Los Osos and Morro Bay at Cerro Cabrillo. It is one of the Nine Sisters of San Luis Obispo County which is an extinct volcano chain. It was a really great place to see animal tracks because the ground was very dusty and it was holding prints really nicely. We saw lots of raccoon and rabbit tracks. Because of how dusty it was, the kids all ended up covered in dirt, but they had a lot of fun.
One of the first things we came across once we started our hike was a lot of scat from many different species of animals. I didn’t take any pictures of that, but I did take a picture of this really nice raccoon print.
The kids all together learning about their surroundings.
One of Dylans and it seems like most all of the kids favorite things to do while at nature school is to play a game. In this game some of the kids were prey and some were the predators. If the prey can hold still in the bushes then the predator can’t sense them there and will move on. Today Dylan was supposed to be a young predator who was being taught how to hunt by the older more experienced hunter.
After the game the little girls continued on being predators. I think at this time they were tigers heading up the mountain.
My little predator looking for something to eat.
At the end of class the kids convinced Evan to play another game. I think they like this one the best. They all get to be a predator and Evan is the prey. The kids crawl behind the prey and they are supposed to be silent. When the prey animal turns around to look to see if anyone is following the predator has to stop or it will be seen by the prey and the prey will run off. I think they really just enjoy making a big dog pile on top of Evan when the game is finally over.
To see more pictures from this excursion, please click here.
Tags: Animal tracks, Aubri, Cerro Cabrillo, Dylan, Evan, Game, Nature School, Nine Sisters, Predator, Prey, Rabbit, Raccoon, Tiger, Volcano Chain