Redwood Valley Outdoor Education Project

At RVOEP we spend a little time each day alone in a special spot. We call these spots our "Magic Spots". It is here that we listen to nature with our hearts. The poems below were written during our "Magic Spot" time.

Here is a challenge for all of you amateur naturalists. Don’t jump ahead!
How many clues will it take you to figure out the MYSTERY ANIMAL of the Month?

WHO AM I? Spring 2006

To ancient Greeks I symbolized resurrection, rebirth, and immortality!

You might hear my buzzing sound when you hike through the forest in the summer. I spend many years underground sucking on tree roots! When my body senses that it is time to move upward, I tunnel out of the ground and climb up on any vertical surface. I then shed my exoskeleton and begin the flying stage of my life. If I am a male, I love to sing with my tymbals to attract a mate. Our females use their saw-like ovipositors to split open the bark of hardwood twigs and insert eggs. Up to 500 eggs are laid by each female in about 50 sites. Our eggs remain in the twigs for 6 to 10 weeks before hatching. After hatching, our tiny ant-like first stage nymphs drop to the soil to borrow 6 to 18 inches underground to feed for the next 2 or more years

Answer: djdbeb
(To break the code, choose the letter of the alphabet before each letter in the code)

WHO AM I? Fall 2006

Keep your eyes and ears out for me as you walk through the forest at the RVOEP! If you are quiet I might even land in a tree nearby. You can’t miss me if I do.

You might like the drumming sound I make as I tear apart bark and wood to find my favorite food ---- carpenter ants! I’ve also saved many contaminated trees by eating the wood-boring insects that eat them! Of course, sometimes I have to settle for berries, nuts, acorns, or wild grapes.

You will be astounded at the size of my chisel-pointed beak, perfectly designed for the hammer blows I give trees! My long, barbed tongue is just the thing for impaling insects so they may be easily drawn from the wood. My stiff tail is a perfect prop as I cling to the side of trees with my sharp claws.

You might be thinking that I’m some little old woodpecker. Forget it! I’m as large as a crow, but much more interesting to look at! Notice my red crest and the white stripes on my face and neck, a perfect combination with my black feathers!

My mate and I are committed for life and we work together well! Whether it’s hallowing out a cavity for a nest, incubating eggs, or feeding our young, we work as a team and take good care of our young.

The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker is my cousin!

Answer: Qjmfbufe Xppeqfdlfs
(To break the code, choose the letter of the alphabet before each letter in the code)

WHO AM I? Fall/Winter 2005

I may see YOU at the RVOEP, but you will be very lucky to see me! I am primarily nocturnal, but I also hunt during the day, especially in the early morning.

Mixed deciduous forests and dense chaparral-covered hills are my favorite hangouts. That’s why I like the RVOEP so much!

I am an omnivore. Insects and rodents are among my favorite foods. My tail is an excellent rudder, allowing me to turn quickly to catch gophers, mice, squirrels, and rabbits. Fruit and berries are also part of my diet and their seeds and skins can often be seen in my scat (droppings).

Look out Gray Squirrels; I can climb trees like a cat!

You might find my den in a hollow tree.

I usually find a mate in early spring. The male of my species helps raise our three to five kits. He brings food to the litter and during the first summer our whole family hunts together.

My species name cinereoargenteus comes from the Greek words "cinereus", meaning ash-colored, and "argenteus", meaning silver. Urocyon, the genus name, is derived from the Greek words "uro", meaning tail, and "cyon", meaning dog.

Answer: Hsbz Gpy
(To break the code, choose the letter of the alphabet before each letter in the code)

WHO AM I? Spring 2005

I am a nocturnal animal and spend most of my life below ground. The Navajo people call me wohseh-tsinni, or “old bald headed man,” and in Mexico I am known as niña de la tierra, “child of the earth.

I am perfectly shaped for digging. I use my closed jaw as a sort of pickax to loosen soil and then shovel dirt backward out of my hole with my feet.

I am an omnivore and will eat almost anything, dead or alive. I help plants by eating plant-eating insects and aerating the soil with my holes.

When threatened, I roll over on my back and bring my powerful, spiked legs into position to kick at my tormentor. Sometimes I even play dead.

I have some other unusual habits, like eating my mate! Scientists speculate that that’s how I get lipids and proteins for my developing eggs.

During mating season I thump my large abdomen against the ground. There are well over 50 species of us that occur west of the Mississippi River and each has its own unique drumbeat (or thump).

Even though we thump, we cannot hear. We have no “auditory tympanic membrane,” so we can’t hear in the classical sense. We sense vibrations through special structures on our legs. “These subgenual (“below the knee”) organs are the most exquisitely vibration-sensitive organs yet found in any insect group.”*

I might look pretty smart since I have a large head, but I have no brain. Nerve ganglia direct my instinctive and adaptive behaviors.

You might find me under logs or boards at the RVOEP. If you have sharp eyes you might even see my holes in the ground in Moonlight Meadow.

Give up? Try the last two clues.

I am uncommonly large and can grow up to three inches in length. That fact, along with my smooth shiny head and two beady eyes make some people, when they see me, gasp, “My god, it looks human!”

I have no special affinity for potatoes, so please don’t call me a Potato Bug.

Answer: Kfsvtbmfn Dsjdlfu
(To break the code, choose the letter of the alphabet before each letter in the code)
*Information and quotes from California Wild Magazine, California Academy of Sciences, Winter 2005, pg.36-39

WHO AM I? Fall 2004

I am a dark gray-brown warm-blooded animal.

I have horns and I am a hunter in the RVOEP forest.

Rabbit is one of my favorite meals, but I’m not picky. A skunk will do just fine.

Farmers like me because I help keep the rodent population in check.

Just call me the "winged tiger"! I can silently catch my prey just like a cat.

And, I’m quick as a cat too! My talons are just like long claws. Look for the skulls and bones of my prey in the pellets I regurgitate.

My eyes don’t move, but my head does! In fact, I can turn my head 270 degrees.

I have a keen sense of hearing. My round face acts like a radar disc, funneling light to my eyes and sound to my ears.

I can stand two feet high and have a wingspan of up to five feet!

My horns are really tufts of feathers and serve no know function, though I think they give me a rather fierce look.
Hunting is woven into my courtship procedure. Before nesting can take place, the male of my species must present the female with a small mammal he has caught; otherwise she will have no more to do with him.

I like to mate in January or February. I’m not enthusiastic about nest building so I look for the abandoned nest of a crow or a hawk. I lay from two to five ping-pong ball-like eggs over a period of two weeks. Each egg takes 28 days to hatch, so it takes at least six weeks of incubating until the last egg finally hatches. Luckily, my mate brings me food during this time. It will be six months until my fledglings are able to fend for themselves.

Listen for my "Whoo-whu-hu-hu-WHOO-WHOO!" during Night Camp at the RVOEP.

Answer: Hsfbu Ipsofe Pxm
(To break the code, choose the letter of the alphabet before each letter in the code)

WHO AM I? Fall 2003

My ancestors lived in France twenty-four million years ago.

I am a nocturnal hunter and love to eat small rodents like mice, shrews, and rats. In fact, I am one of the world's greatest mousers! I've also been known to eat baby rabbits, bats, birds, frogs, and insects.

Open fields are my favorite hunting place.

My prey never sees or hears me.

Once my sharp talons grasp my prey, it seldom gets loose.

I don't hoot.

I am one of the most widespread of all land birds and live on all the continents of the world except Antarctica.

My eyes don't move, but my head rotates almost all the way around in a complete circle. I have binocular vision and can see a mouse up to two football fields away!

My heart-shaped face traps sounds. I can hear a beetle running through grass a hundred feet away or the squeak of a mouse a half mile away.

Since the underside of my wings and my chest are white and my call, which I give as I fly silently overhead, sounds like a screaming woman, I have probably been the subject of many scary ghost stories!

You might see my nest in tree hallows, old barns, attics, or church steeples.

Look under my roosts to find the pellets of hair and bone that I regurgitate. Scientists take these pellets apart to discover what I eat.

During my life I may kill as many as 11,000 mice, saving farmers an estimated 13 tons of crop losses.

Answer: Cbso pxm
(To break the code, choose the letter of the alphabet before each letter in the code)

WHO AM I? Summer 2003

I can be found from the Arctic Circle to the mountains of Central America, but I love to hang out at the RVOEP.

You might see me soaring high in the sky with the hawks or performing aerial acrobatics to impress my mate.

I am very smart! You can thank me for the moon and the sun. I stole them from the Sky Chief and put them in the sky. I also called the first humans up from the earth and brought them their first berries and salmon. That trickster Coyote is always giving me a bad time in these myths!

I am an omnivore. My diet includes rodents, insects, grain, and birds' eggs. In winter I might even hang out with the Turkey Vultures and eat dead animals. (I've even been known to prey upon sick and injured animals.)

Listen for me at the RVOEP. I am noted for my calls and I have a wide repertoire of vocalizations. I can croak, gurgle, and "tok". I can even learn to mimic a few human words.

I lay 3 to 7 turquoise colored eggs in a crude, bulky nest of sticks on a cliff or in the top of a large tree. While I sit on the nest, my mate catches food to feed me, that way my eggs stay nice and warm.

Most people think that I am quite handsome with my all black feathers, which shine a metallic purple or violet.

I'm larger than a crow. I also have a heavier bill and shaggier plumage, especially around the throat. My wing span can reach four feet or wider.

Answer: sbwfo
(To break the code, choose the letter of the alphabet before each letter in the code)

WHO AM I? Spring 2003

I am an important part of the food web at the river. Birds, water spiders, fish, and some water beetles like to eat me!

Since I am a true bug, I have mouth parts fit for piercing and sucking, which helps me eat smaller insects.

Some people think I look like a long-legged spider, but I have two fewer legs than a spider.

My back two legs are my steering legs, while my two middle legs are used for rowing. I grasp my prey with my front legs.

My back four feet have thick pads of hair that repel water (you might need a magnifying glass to see them), keeping me from sinking as I skim across the surface of the stream.

Even through it may look as if I have no wings, if my pool of water dries out, I can actually fly to another location.

I lay my eggs on floating vegetation. That way if the water level drops my eggs won't dry out and die.

I am a very common sight on the surface of slow-moving waters where I often congregate with my friends.

Answer: xbufs tusjefs
(To break the code, choose the letter of the alphabet before each letter in the code)

WHO AM I? Winter 2002

I am a nocturnal animal.

I have neither legs nor eyes, but when I sense light, I slither away from it.

I eat bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and decaying matter.

Moles, centipedes, salamanders, frogs, and many other animals consider me a fine meal!

I have no lungs for breathing, instead I breathe through my skin.

My body is made up of little rings called segments.

I am long and thin and have no bones.

I am good for the soil. My burrows create channels in the soil that help the water soak down to a greater depth. The passages I make in the soil help air get to the roots of plants.

My slime helps pieces of soil clump together creating space for air, and my slime contains nitrogen, an important plant food.

I am a few inches long.

My babies hatch from small lemon-shaped cocoons about 1/3 the size of a grain of rice.

Answer: fbsuixpsn
(To break the code, choose the letter of the alphabet before each letter in the code)

WHO AM I? Fall 2002

I am a warm-blooded animal but am not a mammal.
In warm areas, I am a year-round resident, but in colder areas, I migrate south for the winter. I am a member of the stork family.
The Cherokee Nation calls me "peace eagle" because, unlike the eagle, which I resemble from a distance, I do not kill.
I have a wingspan of up to six feet and can soar on wind currents for hours, as high as 20,000 feet.
You might see me sun bathing on the top of my favorite tree at the RVOEP.
I recycle dead animals!! I can smell my next meal up to a mile away! Scientists are very interested in my digestive system, which kills the virus and bacteria of diseased animals I eat. Bad stuff in, good stuff out!
Hey, I also eat lots of vegetative matter (grass, leaves, seeds), which can be half of my diet.
I don't build a nest, laying my two eggs on a rocky ledge, in a cave, a hollow tree, or even in an abandoned shed or barn.
When it's really hot, I poop on my feet to cool off! When threatened by another animal, I throw up on them! The smell usually drives them off! (Actually, I am a very clean bird, preening myself 2-3 hours daily.)
I can live to be 24 years old. My family and friends have been known to share the same roost for 100 years or more.
My bald, red head looks a lot like a turkey's head. That's how got my name. It is a perfect head for thrusting into the depths of a dead animal. No messy feathers on my head!

Answer: stqjdx utkstqd
(To break the code, choose the letter of the alphabet after each letter in the code)

WHO AM I? Summer 2002

Keep your eyes out and you might see me in the upper parts of the forest canopy.
I weave sticks together to make a nice waterproof nest, and then I make a cozy lining of moss, leaves, fur, and feathers.
I use my nest in the early summer when I am raising my young. In the winter I like to use a den in a hollow tree.
I am a mammal.
I eat pine cones, acorns, fungi, berries and sometimes insects.
You might see me burying nuts in the ground.
I also have keen eyesight. I'm always on the look out for predators like large hawks.
I can live 7 or 8 years if I'm lucky.
I have four sets of whiskers that are very sensitive and that give me information about my surroundings.
I think that my grey fur and bushy tail are quite becoming. My tough curved claws help me climb trees and hang on to narrow branches. My tail helps me balance as I leap from tree to tree.

Answer: Xftufso Hsfz Trvjssfm
(Hint: To break the code, choose the letter of the alphabet before each letter in the code)