Friday camp roundup

Rain stopped mid-morning yesterday, so the kids from Adventure camp were able to enjoy an afternoon of catching crayfish and minnows down at Beaver Creek.  I worried that the rain would have the creek so muddy that the kids wouldn’t be able to see anything, but that turned out not to be the case. They caught many minnows and crayfish, found a water penny, saw a water snake (to much screaming) and generally had a good time.

The water penny was a tiny one, more like a water pea or perhaps a water lentil.  It was so small I don’t even know how the girl saw it but she did.  Water pennies are quite sensitive to pollution of any kind and can’t live where rocks are covered with algae, fungi or other inorganic stuff.  Finding one in this little creek is a sign of its good water quality. 

The snake was an ordinary, though quite small,l water snake.  It poked its head above the water during a time when the biggest group of the day was at the creek, prompting a lot of screaming.  I tried to get the kids to calm down, but by the time that was accomplished, the little snake was in hiding, where it remained through the rest of the day. 

The last group found a large millipede and that proved to be a huge hit with them.  I never know what’s going to strike their fancy.  Some groups get fixated on the crayfish, others don’t think their time is a success unless they’ve landed one of the lightning fast minnows.  This group liked the millipede.  The group before them liked the ebony dragonflies—some groups totally ignore dragonflies.  I’m just happy when the kids find something to catch and have a good time.