February 25 - 28
Dead Fish Prairie
Can you spot the nature kids hiding in the prairie?
We decided to name that spot "Dead Fish Prairie." After finding the second pile of dead fish, our hike continued on from Dead Fish Prairie, leading us down to the river where we discovered large sheets of ice serving as a barrier between us and the water. We eventually made our way to Beaver Meadows, where we found several huge beaver chews. The beautiful morning ended on a celebratory note as we sang Happy Birthday to Naturalist Emily and roasted marshmallows over the campfire!
Jellyfish gets ready to prod the fish with a stick.
Icicle and Ladybug find slabs of ice near the river. They slide them down the big ice ramp and watch them splash in the water.
Ant, Acorn, Icicle, Jellyfish and Moose play near the river.
Our Thursday morning hike toward Beaver Meadow began with us meandering through the prairie, where several nature kids played an impromptu game of hide and seek. As we sought out hiding places in the sparse prairie grass, we made a discovery: dead fish! The bodies of multiple dead fish were lying in the middle of the prairie. We wondered how they could have gotten there. These were some of the children's hypotheses:
"It was probably some kind of bird."
"A fox from Yellowstone brought these dead fish here."
"I think a deer brought them here and ate them."
"I think it was a fox."
"I think an eagle brought them here with its talons and it dropped them here and they broke with dead blood."
Nature kids examine the fish remains in the prairie.
