It was an awesome day, following up with Sasha Prosser’s class at Clem miller Environmental Education Center. To say these students had a meaningful watershed education experience would be an understatement. The students’ vitality and curiosity made this day magnificent. We got all of our gear together to head to Sculpture Beach on the Pt. Reyes Coast. The students each enthusiastically told me about the Great Horned Owl they had spotted the evening prior to our hike. Little did we know that we would have an incredible animal totem for the day ahead.

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Students gather to watch a rabbit hop across the trail!

We watched a rabbit hop across the trail right before we were immersed in a cloud of termites. Dragonflies and songbirds were bombing across the trail for a mid-morning snack. We tracked river otters and raccoons through the estuaries mud. We found two skulls of mysterious animals; one of a large raptor and the other like analligator. We identified types of seaweed and we’re followed along the beach by some curious seals in the waves. We avoided stomping on a praying mantis, when we spotted dolphins in the distance. To finish off our hike, we watched a garter snake slither as it soaked up the last drops of a rare sunny day.

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Bones found on the beach.

 

 

Watershed Education

Students Identifying Seaweed.

I left with a high feeling; like the many months of work were worth this immeasurable outcome. As I got in my car and turned out of the driveway, a coyote trotted across the road. I stopped and it stopped. While scoping its next move, it waited patiently for me to get my camera. What an interesting happening at the end of an already inspiring day.  I know Coyote as a mentor, teasing us out of our usual routines to connect in an intimate and meaningful way with the natural world and our natural selves.  What was coyote trying to say?

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Coyote