Eggs ruled the day as we started with Alexis teaching us all about seabird eggs including all the things that make a murre egg special and ideas about how they evolved that way. We made murre and gull eggs out of dough and baked them to run eggsperiments tomorrow.
For our playground game we played “Protect your Egg.” Teams of seabird parents went through four different nesting strategies: solo nesting, colony nesting, camouflage nesting, and crevice nesting. Each time a hungry fox tried to steal the eggs. Back in the classroom we graphed the results. The fox was foiled my colony nesters and crevice nesters. That must be why those are the two most common nesting strategies on St. Paul!
Next it was time to continue our egg-based crafts. Kids chose light green, dark green, light blue or dark blue for their murre egg color. Most kids preferred a blue shade. The other crafters burned wax off of their pysansky eggs.
After a lesson entitles “Poop Splatters” campers constructed a variety of seabird nests out of simulated grasses, seaweed and guano (tortilla chips and grated cheese). Later in the session we devoured our nests with great vigor.
The kids are always eager to do another cavity search in the Grub Hub. This time 4 chicks had hatched. We also lost a few eggs, including one to a rat.
Our Lukanan Beach field trip finished up the session. Kendra conducted the “Seabird Needs Habitat Relay Race” as each species of seabird (group of kids) collected everything they need to raise a chick. Next, the whole group helped create beach art depicting a Crested Auklet head. Construction materials included driftwood, kelp and seashells.
