Eagle Cruise

One of the many things I love about homeschooling is going on field trips. For three weeks we were scheduled to go on an "Eagle Cruise" but because of strong winds or rain we were postponed. The weather finally agreed.

A few weeks ago we studied about eagles and even watched a video about one that dropped a fawn on a power line.

Disclaimer: I wouldn't exactly call this a cruise and unfortunately we didn't see any eagles even though the previous two cruises spotted our national bird.  Arkansas is home to many migratory birds in the winter.  Since this has been a mild winter, not as many birds have been on Lake Maumelle this year as in years past.

On the first stop, the cruise director pointed out bufflehead ducks and passed around a few pieces of wood that had been gnawed by beavers.

bufflehead duck from Wikipedia 

On a later stop he pointed to loons that were diving for dinner.  They put on quite a show.

a Pacific Loon from wikipedia

The temps were in the 70s yesterday - my son wore shorts - but the wind chill on the lake was frigid!!  He came and sat by me for a few seconds (precious seconds of snuggling!)

Note to local homeschoolers: you can schedule your own private cruise for much cheaper than the advertised price (we paid $1 each).  Please note the website says to dress in layers for extreme cold and windy lake weather.  Just sayin'.