Feral Fridays: Urban Nature Journaling

This post was written by our special guest, Wanda Vesana, prophet of the sweepingly popular Feral Homeschooling movement.  Wanda is mom to two practically perfect children, son Silas and daughter Verna.  You can read more about her here. She shares her wisdom with her many disciples here on most "Feral Fridays".

I received an email from a fan recently that said, "Dear Wanda, the Homeschool Police visited our home today and asked to see our kid's "Nature Journals".  I had to admit that we haven't been keeping nature journals.   I've been ordered to have my kids start some immediately or face prosecution.  I tried to explain that since we live in a really big city, nature isn't really something we see much of around here.  I told them that I take my children to all sorts of impressive cultural institutions, symphony orchestras, opera, museums, blah blah blah, but they turned a deaf ear to my pleas.  Help!!!!"  

Dear reader, I feel your pain.  I could just direct you to one of those bazillions of annoyingly perky articles on how to find nature in the city, which usually means migrant birds landing in a park briefly out of desperation, on their way somewhere else.  But really, how pathetic is that?  Homeschoolers with actual scenery around them will be laughing at you.  What you need to do is embrace urban wildlife, the kind that people in rural areas can only dream about.  

For your edification, I'm going to tell you about three kinds of common urban wildlife, give you some amazing facts, and illustrate them with some urban nature journal pages from actual Feral Homeschoolers.  That should help peel your sophisticated, urbanite kids away from their poetry readings and lectures on masterpieces of the art of ancient Cleveland,  and get them riveted to their nearest urban wildlife refuge; i.e.,  a dumpster-strewn alley!

Rats.  Sailing ships have spread the Norway brown rat to all corners of the world, and where there are people in large numbers, there are rats. They are usually nocturnal, so in order to spot them, hanging out in dark, garbage strewn alleys at night is definitely advisable.

• The Norway brown rat is the world's most common rodent, out of 400 species.
• Rats urinate to mark their trails, which helps them find their way in the dark. Once they have walked a trail a few times, they can find their way by muscle memory alone.
• In the middle ages, fleas carried by rats spread the plague throughout Europe, killing 1/3 of the human population. 
• Their skeletons collapse to allow them to squeeze through a hole 3/4 of an inch wide.
• Rats can chew through a half inch of iron and four inches of concrete.
• Rats can survive a fall of five stories. 
• Rats talk to each other with high pitched sounds we cannot hear that can carry 50 feet.
• They can climb straight up brick walls, and through sewer pipes and into toilet bowls.  

Feral Homeschooler Nauseanna had the amazing luck to actually witness the latter in her own bathroom!    (Talk about not having to go far to experience nature!)  Nauseanna didn't miss a beat. She immediately got her nature journal and drew a picture!  Her little brother Boris, who always wants to do everything his big sister does, drew his own picture.  So cute!

Pigeons.  Pigeons hold a special place in my heart.  They are invasive animals, a domesticated species that escaped, and not protected in any way by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.  Sometimes there are local laws to protect them, but arrests for pigeon murder is very rare.  They are classified as "feral" animals!  

Boris' drawing of a statue in the
park with a pigeon and droppings.

• Pigeon fanciers are numerous.  Such luminaries as Queen Elizabeth and Mike Tyson are among their number.  About a million people race them competitively.
• Armies have used pigeons to carry messages as recently as WWII, and they have achieved many feats of great heroism.  Yes, there are actual public statues of heroic pigeons, that pigeons poop on.
• There are crazy people who launch clandestine operations to net pigeons in public parks by the hundreds, and sell them to private shooting clubs in SE Pennsylvania.  There are other crazy people who belong to  even more secret organizations who spy on them and try to thwart their evil plots, despite death threats.
• Baby pigeons are regularly on the menu in fancy restaurants as "squab".  They are said to be quite tasty.

Nauseanna's pigeon study.

Cockroaches.  Cockroaches are universally loved and easy to spot in the urban environment.

Boris' lovely roach drawing.

• Cockroaches have been an incredibly successful species, dating back 350 million years.
• Cockroaches do not have brains, and can survive for a week without their heads.
• Cockroaches can eat just about anything, including human fingernails and hair. 
• Female cockroaches can mate once and keep laying eggs for the rest of their life, having 100,000 offspring. 
• You can freeze a cockroach, thaw it, and it will scuttle off.
• Cockroaches can survive ten times as much radiation as the fatal dose for humans.  But a direct nuclear blast is still a viable option for killing them.
• The Giant Cave Roach is 4" long and has a 6" wingspan.  It is sold as a pet.
• Cockroaches will crawl onto sleeping people and eat food off their unwashed faces.



One of Boris' little friends, Archie, drew this one.

• There are many reports of cockroaches crawling into people's ears, necessitating a trip to the emergency room.  Pouring oil in the ear will drown the roach, but that leaves the patient with a dead roach in their ear that is hard to extract.  So some doctors think the best treatment is to try to get the roach to crawl out on its own.

Finally, I just want to share a nature documentary that is a favorite among urban Feral Homeschoolers.  Enjoy!  And don't forget to send your burning questions to me at:  feralwanda1 at gmail dot com!