So what did i do at camp last week???

I probably forgot to mention that i was going to camp last week. Well actually i was part of a teaching team for Ecology Camp at Camp Occohannock http://www.ootbay.org/
We had 14 nine to twelve year olds who wanted to learn about the Ecology of the Chesapeake Bay. Even in 90+ degree heat these kids just kept on going. Nancy, my co-teacher, and i were not so exuberant and looked forward to 3 PM coming so we could go home and drop.

My favorite day was Tuesday when we took the kids seining and exploring in the marsh. Being wet and having a nice breeze made the day really nice. They enjoyed id’ing all the critters they caught in the seine nets, and the fiddler crabs they caught in the marsh.
After lunch they got to dissect a squid and look at the major parts. Then they cut up the outer squid body for bait and went fishing. BUT camp rules didn’t allow them to bait their own hooks or to cast out (thankfully). So one of the counselors and i took care of that and i am happy to say that “NO EARS WERE CAUGHT”. The only fish caught was a 5lb Croaker, but there were no takers to have it for dinner (Miss Emily the cook would have made it a nice dinner).

On Friday our life guard came up to us and said he was raking the beach and had hit what he thought was a turtle nest. We went over to check and sure enough it was a nest, but he had stopped raking when he realized what it might be. He had only raked up 3 eggs, so he covered it over and i marked it out in the hopes that no one will dig it or step on it. The problem with turtles is that they don’t check out the neighborhood before dropping their eggs. This nest is right between the life guard stand and the boat ramp.

Sorry that there are no pics of the kids, they kept me way to busy trying to think up questions that they wouldn’t know the answer to. This was by far one of the smartest groups that i have worked with. All in all a fun week.