Resource: Bird Identification Website

Quite a few years ago I was challenged to identify a sudden infestation of bird that descended unexpectedly on our neighbourhood. I didn't see it at first, I heard it! Flooding through open windows was a cacophony of unfamiliar bird song. And once we looked? Everywhere, upon every surface, were a medium sized bird happily "scree-ing" away.

Google to the rescue!

I quickly narrowed it down to a waxwing. But were these "ear-fulls" or "museums" of waxwings bohemians or cedars?

Well, at first I had a hard time distinguishing between the two, but found help at What Bird.com which has over 800 birds in its database.

This site gives a quick and easy Species Overview with photo, bird song audio, interesting facts, range of habitat, map, and related birds. Another tab Identification provides more specific help in identification. Two other tabs: Behaviour and Portrait round out the info on this website per bird.

And our mystery bird: Bohemian Waxwings, go check them out and hear their song-- just imagine that song multiplied by thousands!And you think I'm exaggerating?!

One of my favourite local song birds: Black-capped Chickadee
Another favourite local song bird: Robin


Oh, and those lucky enough to have an iPhone, apparently you can get the iBird app. I'm not sure if it's just an advertisement on whatbird.com or part of it. Just thought I'd mention it. And no, I'm not affiliated with iPhone  ;-)

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Deep Freeze For Sure

I am no keener and the weather on Saturday, not to mention the horrible roads, almost kept me indoors. However, we needed to venture out on an unrelated errand and, so, dropped by the festival. And I am shocked at the amount of people out on such a day! No, I'm not saying it was packed by any means (except the indoor venues and those selling food ;-), yet it was quite decently well attended.

Caged Beasts on the Ave

We wandered around, listened to a spot of music briefly at The Carrot, saw wild caged animals performing some odd ritualistic activity with sticks, caught the end of the Mummer's act, all before checking out the intense music and good food in the main hall. There were ice sculptures diligently at work and ice bars not yet in service. A photo op castle was a hit with many, but nothing beat that dragon sculpted ice slide for the kids! Curling, skating, tobogganing, warming up around the many fire stations! Tipi, free samples from Burt's Bees, Farmer's Market (we bought our eggs!) and Artisan Market. ...and more :)

Ice Bar not in Service

Sculpting Away

Free Wagon Rides

Borrow a Sled and Have Fun!

Are You Cold?

Not Just For the Little Kids ;-)

Backside of the 'castle' wall. Photo Op Anyone?

Geocaching on Vacation

Truth be told, I believe the majority of our cache finds are outside of Edmonton. The fantastic thing about geocaching on vacation, or on short/long car trips, is the neat places you may find that otherwise would have been missed. If it's not a fantastic location, at least we got out of the car to stretch our legs!

Two of our first out of town geocaching adventures were on our way to visit the Ukrainian Village, to the east of Edmonton. We stopped off at a little cemetery smack dab in between the divided highway! 100 Fun Adventures (GC1JH8B) and YellowHead East YLHDAB (GCM6QR).

Found While Geocaching

We have geocached in and around Jasper, Banff, and Canmore. Wagner Natural Area (just outside of Edmonton to the west) is a lovely place to geocache. I've even geocached around Sylvan Lake during a storytelling retreat. These are all in Alberta, of course, but we've geocached outside the province too.

Manatee Cove. Unseen in photo: two dozen manatees!

Manatee Cove (GC10260) in Florida, USA was an amazing geocache. The cache was hiding within the mangle of roots of a very cool tree, but the really great thing about this geocache (which we found on a Valentines Day) were the manatees! We counted about two dozen manatees slowly swimming and grazing in this inlet--- they had come in for the warmer waters.

The B.B. & B.C. Cache (GCWQ5K) took us to a wonderful model train museum in Bellingham, Washington, USA where we had to find the answers to the questions by searching the place. This went over very well with our son, lol!

Model Train Museum

Spin the Bottle (GCGY7J) was a traditional cache at Bottle Beach, Washington, USA. A really great place to stop and stretch the legs on a long car trip. Even better if you're a bird watcher.

And one of my all time favourites...
DR. Who. (GCW6EM) in Portland, Oregon. I can only aspire to be so clever! This one required taking *all* the clues and hints with you in order to get to the cache container... or else you'd be sadly disappointed. That's all I can say publicly/online :P

Geocaching in Edmonton

"The Migrant" at City Hall with Rabbit

I love hiking in the river valley or visiting Edmonton ravines and geocaching at the same time; it's a great way to explore the natural beauty of Edmonton. However, those aren't the only type of geocaches that capture our attention. There are tons of great geocaches in Edmonton, and we have barely scratched the surface ourselves, but I wanted to list a few to provide a sense of what geocaching can be.

Lil' Mama's City Hall Sculpture Tour (GC14J93) a cache by Bonkerstheclown. This is a multi-cache which means that you must visit more than one location before seeking the final, physical, cache container. As the title suggests, this is a tour of the sculptures around city hall. At each you have to find the date, collect numbers, and do a small bit of easy math to figure out the final coordinates of the cache container. Who knew there were so many sculptures!

Star Blanket Sudoku (GCRWX1) a cache by Team Scratch. This is a mystery/puzzle cache. On the geocaching map, it looks like it is located downtown, however, you must solve the sudoku puzzle to find the real coordinates. I won't say where this is located, the fun is in the solving. I will say that the cache container is a regular size ammo can and contained lots of good swag for children when we found it. It's always fun to find these larger containers with great swag (aka trade items). One thing to note about swag/trading is that you should always make sure your trade is of equal or better value than what you take out!

Something on a Stick 'YXD' (GCBB2A) a cache by Tommi Potx. This is a virtual cache-- a cache that takes you to a location and asks questions of you in order to log your visit since there is no physical cache container. You can no longer create these types of geocaches at Geocaching.com. This one was grandfathered in. Now, virtual caches are considered waymarks and can be created at waymarking.com instead.

Spaceship Landing (GC1QHRO) a cache by cerebus48. This is a typical traditional cache that is easy to get to. I am offering it up as an example of a fun/unique cache container that may take some searching to find!

A Typical Ammo Can Cache with Swag

The Camel Humps (GCGR5J) a cache by Shumway. This is another typical traditional cache with a small/decent sized container. But I love these types of caches: unknown-to-me historical sites! I really enjoy being introduced to parts of Edmonton and its history that I had not known about. From the cache description: "The area was the site of a brick factory in the early twentieth century. There are several small hills here that were created by the piling up of waste from the brick making process - mostly clay. Nature being as she is quickly took root. The humps are now covered in vegetation - almost to the point that you can't tell the humps are man-made."

We've been to another historical cache when it was in need of maintenance (it was missing and needed replacement), so we need to go back and find it still: Schools Out (GC1FX06) a cache by Geo Muggler. This is Edmonton's oldest schoolhouse (1881)!


Edmonton even boasts Earthcaches, one of my personal favourites!
From geocaching.com:
"An EarthCache is a special place that people can visit to learn about a unique geoscience feature or aspect of our Earth. EarthCaches include a set of educational notes and the details about where to find the location (latitude and longitude). Visitors to EarthCaches can see how our planet has been shaped by geological processes, how we manage the resources and how scientists gather evidence to learn about the Earth."

Of course there are earthcaches in the river valley (Dawson Park Hoodoos--GC1AXTN by EngGuyJay... hoodoos in Edmonton), but there are also two downtown.
City of Edmonton-- Rockwalk Tour 1(GC19JJT) by Celestial Badger is one of two rockwalks that tour you around downtown to learn about the rocks and minerals used in building our city!

Like I said, that is only a glimpse into the types of geocaches out there.

Idea: Geocaching?!

A Rainy Day, But Still Geocache-able!

Geocaching is a wonderfully flexible outdoor activity which I highly recommend. Whether you're out for some solitude or with the family, there are a multitude of easy and difficult caches to find here in Edmonton... and all over the world. It's a treasure hunt! Often geocaches bring you to great locations and places you've never been, even in your own home town. Some caches bring you to historical locations complete with educational trappings. Some have specific themes like Harry Potter while others are designed to create a challenge. From basic hidden caches or earth-caches to complex puzzle caches and multi-caches, really, there is something for everyone!


From the official website at geocaching.com:

"Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment."

We went geocaching today to find "Net-0" on the River (GC2FQWN).  This cache, set up by Sara and Grant as their very first cache, honours a gorgeous river valley view, the downtown skyline, and a new housing project with aims at being net-zero and has a blog: Chasing Net Zero. While the terrain on this one wasn't particularly kid friendly, the majority of caches are family friendly and great fun for all.

Nature Hike Scavenger Hunt #2

While out hiking in nature, look for the following. Use a camera to capture what you find. Check off the ones you find and/or answer the question. Good Luck!

Items Needed: some paper with a pencil/crayon, a small garbage bag and gloves to pick up trash.

Nature Hike Scavenger Hunt #1

While out hiking in nature, look for the following. Use a camera to capture what you find. Check off the ones you find and/or answer the question. Good Luck!

Items Needed: some bird seed or water, a piece of paper with a pencil/crayon, a small garbage bag and gloves to pick up trash.

Nature Scavenger Hunt-- Template

This is from my long, but not exhaustive, list of outdoor hunt ideas. As you will notice, some of it is very local and much of it is not geared towards our winters. I'll have to remedy that later... find icicles, build a snow home, look for animal tracks, draw in the snow, etc!

Here's my little spiel....

Scavenger hunts can be indoors or outdoors… to break boredom, to have fun, to foster outdoor interests and play. Specific lists for specific locations are a great idea too (for example, Fort Edmonton Park or the Zoo). Create short or long or themed lists from the ideas below. Print off and use! Bring a pencil/pen to either check off or fill in answers. Another option is to take a camera and CAPTURE all the answers with it; this is a great way to document the excursion and maybe scrapbook/photo album the adventure!

If you forget to print off a list, but find your family wanting to engage in a scavenger hunt, try finding something that begins with the letter "A" and work your way through the alphabet--- it's most challenging if you keep to alphabetical order before proceeding to the next letter/item!

Read on for the list... 

Idea: Scavenger Hunts

Cross a Bridge

Whether it's for a change of pace, to alleviate boredom, to entice interest in an activity that is less desirable, or to play as an entertaining game, scavenger hunts are often a hit with children and adults alike. It's a treasure hunt, a challenge!

Spot a Pumper Truck

Scavenger hunts come in all shapes and sizes; they can be competitive or cooperative. As an adult, I've participated in scavenger hunt rallies that required driving around town (or bussing it) trying to collect all necessary items or information within an allotted time. Sometimes this was a fundraising event, other times this was simply a fun raising event. I've even designed one for a friend's birthday one year. And then there's geocaching--- but I'll keep that treasure hunting for a separate post for later!

And, of course, most children/ young people love them too. Go figure! Perhaps, like The Box, this is another area of our childhood we never truly grow out of.

My inspiration for scavenger hunts lately has been my son's disinterest in certain activities conflicting with my interest in doing them. Believe it or not, nature walking was one and going to the art gallery another. So I designed a few nature walk scavenger hunts (and a huge list from which to create new ones) and even found one online to print out. As members of our Art Gallery of Alberta, my husband and I love going to the opening receptions. Sometimes our son comes and often he doesn't, but this gives me time to check out the exhibits and ascertain whether there is something that will intrigue him or not. As I walked through the M.C. Escher exhibit, I imagined my son enjoying this one, but he has convinced himself he doesn't like art (weird). So, I examined the prints and jotted down some notes and designed a scavenger hunt for this exhibit.

Find something that doesn't belong

Did it work? Well, no. Lol. My son willingly went with me to the AGA just the other day (he's in a new mood and insists he loves everything) and we had a lovely time. In the first exhibit he carefully paid attention to the various pieces of art until I asked if he wished to sketch the art. He readily agreed. I only had a very small note book in my purse and a pen, but it was well received as my son enthusiastically sketched and sketched and sketched. Awed by his inspiration, we went to the gift shop and purchased an inexpensive sketchbook and pencil which he almost filled up by the time we left. His sketching turned into his own drawing creations inspired by what he saw as we made our way up the floors of the AGA. And the M.C. Escher gallery? He unenthusiastically took my scavenger hunt and started it, but barely did a single item, lol. He just wanted to draw! And who am I to stop him?! A sketchbook, not a scavenger hunt was what he wanted this time. 

Still, scavenger hunts have their place and time. And there are all kinds to be had and the options are endless...

Here are some scavenger hunt themes/ideas:

Photograph Some Graffiti

nature walk scavenger hunt
city walk scavenger hunt
car/vehicle ride scavenger hunts
house items scavenger hunt
photo album scavenger hunt
Halloween/other holiday themed scavenger hunt

themed hunts: find items only beginning with a specific letter or colour
internet scavenger hunts
shopping mall scavenger hunt
....and more



Here's a website to help with specific examples and more ideas:

Scavenger Hunt Guru

this website is intended for both adult and child oriented activities including corporate team building ideas and kids camping hunts.

Find a mushroom not growing on the ground

I will post a few of my nature walk ones for people to copy and print.