A significant aspect of what Explorers Club mentors emphasize, especially for the younger boys such as the Jumping Mice, involves paying attention. We encourage them to tune in as we walk through the forest. Hear that bird chatter? Does one call sound different from another?
Your boys are learning about the five different bird languages - Song, Juvenile Begging, Companion Calling, Aggression and Alarm. Paying attention to the differences in calls can be important in the wild. For instance, noticing an alarm call from the trees could alert you to the presence of the predator you're tracking (or avoiding!).
Bird language and tracking are complementary pursuits. Hearing a bird call or noticing scarring on a tree should prompt us to ask a few key tracking questions:
- What happened here?
- What does that tell me?
- What does that teach me?
These are the elements we're working on with the Jumping Mice this season. Sunday's outing offered the mentors opportunities to introduce and discuss these points, and in the best way possible. Rather than listening to me talk, the land was the teacher.
Our exploration of the Rock Trail began at its highest point It quickly winds around to the east side of the mountain and heads down along some amazing rock formations which are, at a few points, penetrated by caves. These caves are growing very rapidly (in geologic time) in a process described here. As far as the Jumping Mice were concerned, of course, they were cool to explore and to see how many boys could fit into each one (Sunday's record: six boys and one mentor).
As we headed further down toward Lost Lake, we found ourselves noticing places where animals might set up a den or stalk prey. Around Lost Lake, we explored what could be the world's biggest root ball and, thanks to our sharpened observation skills, noticed scat that, with the help of mentor Jedidiah, we determined was evidence of a Snowshoe Hare which was probably watching us as we played.
Mastering observation on the trail has many benefits in everyday life. In a few years, we'll ask your Explorers to expand the scope of their observation, attention and tracking to many more aspects of their lives. At this age, it can be a challenge to just notice that someone else is speaking so as not to interrupt in one's eagerness to share some nugget. We start where they are and hope to guide them toward being authentic men. One step at a time.
Check here for all the photos from our Rock Trail outing.
Time to switch to our seasonal service work. Next outing:
Sunday, May 7th, 9:30am-1:30pm
Service: BEC Connelly Creek Restoration Site, Happy Valley Park
