Hello campers and families!
Today we learned about birds at animal camp!
Campers dissected a chicken egg. How many shell layers are in an egg?
See the yolk. Why is the yolk important for a baby chicken?
This group looked at a diagram of an egg to find all of the parts.
All of the pepper groups spent time with the chickens to observe their behavior. Where are the comb and waddle on a hen? Why do chickens have combs and waddles?
Chickens cannot sweat and have combs and waddles to help them regulate their body temperature.
Can chickens see more colors or fewer colors than humans? (more- they see ultra violet colors as well)
How many days does it take for a fertilized egg to hatch? (21)
In the garden, campers looked for potatoes to harvest. Potatoes are tubers and grow off of the roots of the potato plant. 
Onions are similar to potatoes and the edible part is the root. 
How to raspberry plants make seeds?
Corn seeds are located in the corn kernels. 
Tomato seeds are located in the fruit as well. Do we eat the tomato seeds?
The flowers on the squash turn into the squash fruit. The seeds are located in the fruit.
The campers played a game called wrens and jays. The campers pretending to be wrens hid a cup and gathered as many eggs as possible. The jays hunted the nests of the wrens. 
Where is a good location to hide a nest?
Did your camper use any strategies to avoid the jays? One camper stopped at other bushes before placing her egg in the cup to avoid the jay finding her nest. Did the jays use an strategies to find the wrens’ nests? 
The campers went on a hike to find animal habitats in nature. 
The blue peppers hiked to the big oak tree in the hay field. What animals enjoy shade from this tree?
Why are bird feathers hollow inside? One, this helps keep the bird light enough to fly. Two, the hollow middle allows for air to travel up and down the feather for temperature control- warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
The campers found deer tracks in the mud. Which was was the deer traveling?
Who lives in this habitat?
Who benefits from a home in the high tree branches?
Who has a home in the forest?
What critters live in the vernal pool?
Does this vernal pool have different critter than the one pictured above?
Here are the garden kitchen recipes from today:
Golden Nuggets with homemade ketchup
Morning: Prepare golden nuggets
1 can chickpeas (or any light colored bean), drained, rinsed, and mashed
½ cup rolled oats
¼ cup gluten-free flour
1 tsp salt
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
Seasonings to taste such as rosemary, thyme, sage (optional)
Panko or gluten-free breadcrumbs (for coating nuggets)
Mix ingredients together well. Roll into balls and flatten into nuggets. Coat breadcrumbs over nuggets and place them on a baking tray with parchment paper. Bake for 20 minutes then flip and bake for 10 more minutes. Allow nuggets to cool before eating.
Afternoon: Make homemade ketchup
1 cup tomato paste
4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp oregano
Sea salt to taste (optional)
Here are additional photos from today:
https://goo.gl/photos/hna9NroBB6vav8yt5
Have a great evening!