Trailblazers Adventure Summer Camp, June 2017

The first session of Trailblazers Adventure Summer Camp for 2017 was a great success! Twenty-one students joined Mr. BQ & Mr. McLaughlin for an action-packed week of environmental education and adventure.

We spent the first day on-site sharpening our skills in birding, plant identification, and hiking before venturing out on a week of field trips to local hotspots in search of great species and even better times!

Schedule of the Week:

Monday - BSES Nature Trail & Concord Nature Trail

Tuesday - Okehocking Preserve

Wednesday - Valley Creek Park

Thursday - Nolde State Forest

Friday - BSES Nature Trail

For the week, we tallied a grand total of 53 species of birds! We had countless highlights throughout the week including stellar looks of very active Cedar Waxwings feeding at Okehocking Preserve! There, we also learned how to tell the difference between Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow, and Northern Rough-winged Swallows since all three were quite abundant. Also, we observed an American Kestrel on territory at the preserve as it was hunting and returning to its nest with food. We also had a flyover Common Raven, a rarity to our area, on our way to Valley Creek Park.

We also had two bird "lifers" for Trailblazers: Hooded Warbler at Nolde State Forest and Veery at Okehocking Preserve! A "lifer" is when you see something for the very first time in your life. These two species have never been found by Trailblazers before which was exciting for all (especially for Mr. BQ!) Check out our profile on eBird to see specific lists from the week and from past trips:

Trailblazers eBird Profile

We had one reptile lifer this week: Eastern Milk Snake at Nolde State Forest! We were also treated to excellent views of Painted Turtle, Red-eared Slider, and American Toad throughout the week.

Check out a ton of photos from the week of camp with contributions from Mr. BQ, Mr. McLaughlin, and from veteran Trailblazer Jonathan Bowman:

Here is our checklist of all the species seen during the week of camp: