Sunday, February 15, 2009

You're a porcupine

On Fridays, I go for nature walks with the school kids as part of my volunteering project down at the BioPark.

This past Friday, we visited the aquarium before going on our hike. We saw giant Moray eels.














This sea horse was only about 3 inches tall.

















This lobster was easily 18 inches long. Boy, I'll bet he'd taste good!! hehee.














Believe it or not, in this picture, there are 2 fish! One is buried in the sand at the bottom. You can just about make out his shape down below the striped fish.














We saw sea turtles almost 2 feet long.














We saw alien looking jelly fish too, but I didn't think I'd be able to get a photo of them. I just love watching them float around in their tank.

I think everybody liked seeing the sharks the best.













Then we walked 3 1/2 miles along the Rio Grande river to some ponds. Besides learning the names of all the fish at the aquarium, I am learning the names of the different ducks, geese, and cranes. This time I stayed at the rear of the group to make sure no one got left behind. Sometimes, it's hard keeping 45 school age kids, parents, and teachers on track. They get stretched out along the trail for up to a half mile or more.

I always enjoy seeing the trees with their autumn leaves still clinging.
Although we didn't see any bald eagles, we did see one porcupine up in a tree. This was taken with a zoom. He was about 25 feet up.


I think it's cool that you can even see the quills.
We even saw a train in the distance.
It was such a beautiful day that when I got home I rode Nadia out and around. We rode over to another neighborhood for a change. We saw a windmill, dumpsters, horses, dogs, mailboxes, plastic bags, and so many other "horse eaters," but she was her good little self and just enjoyed the walk with me.

I love how her little ears prick forward and back as she looks around and she walks at a brisk animated clip. It's too bad that I didn't bring along a camera. It got really cold as the sun went down though, so we hurried home.


All in all, it was a great Friday the 13th!


You're a porcupine - song: Crack, Baby Crack, artist: David Bowie, album: Aladdin Sane

4 comments:

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Hey Fiona!

That porcupine is so cool! What exactly do they eat?
Lucky you getting to spend time at the Aquarium and down by the bosque on beautiful winter New Mexico days. You're going to become a wealth of knowledge on New Mexico's flora and fauna, too.

Awww...Nadia has the sweetest face, kindest eyes and adorable and ears. I'm glad you had such a nice ride together, too.

~Rapunzle

Melanie said...

I love this picture of Nadia! She resembles Bo alot...especially because they are both wearing their winter woolies. :)

Aren't porcupines cute?? I think it is cool that you found one in a tree.

The Wades said...

Check and make sure that's a lobster for me. I thought I remembered it having a diff name at the aquarium since it doesn't have pinchers.(I could very easily have my animals mixed up.)

Looks like a terrific, great day! What a fun place to volunteer.

Fantastyk Voyager said...

I believe porcupines eat grass, grubs, and leaves. I've been told they spend most of their time up in the trees. Ocasionally they fall and get seriously hurt.
I wish I could have gotten a good picture of his face.

I will definitely have to look that "lobster" critter up! Thanks for the tip.