On the Trail: Observing Flowers and Insects

One of our favorite family activities is hiking. The weather lately has been perfect for being outside. On one of these perfect weather days, we headed to a local trail. Walking along the trail, we spent some time observing flowers and insects and enjoying nature.

The three of us walked along the trail at Aiden’s pace. He stops to observe everything, which Patrick and I love. First, we see the cattails. Patrick grabs one for Aiden to feel.

Then, we happened upon a field of yellow flowers. This is where we spent most of our time on this particular day. Aiden noticed the insects on the flowers. He looked at every flower he could reach to see what insects were there.

We saw soldier beetles, lady beetles, and cucumber beetles on the yellow flowers. On the flower below, you can see one soldier beetle and two cucumber beetles.

We continued our hike and saw some butterflies. Here’s a picture of one I was able to catch with my camera.

What to do when you find a pile of leaves that have fallen on the trail?

You dance in them of course.

Don’t forget to pay attention to the little details you find on the trail itself.

We stopped to look at tracks in the mud. We saw dog tracks and cat tracks.

And Aiden found these deer tracks.

On our walk, we passed by a few ponds. We paused for a while at one and just took in the peaceful scene.

Here’s a snapshot of Aiden and me.

The picture below is my favorite from our trail hike. My camera has a setting that will add different effects to the picture. I was playing around with the different effects as we walked.

 The next time your out on the trail, take a little more time for observing flowers and insects and all of the other great things in nature. You don’t have to go to the trail find nature. Read about our nature walk around the neighborhood for examples of what I mean.

Thanks for stopping by today!

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