Puget Sound Explorer's Guide

The Puget Sound Explorer's Guide is an all-season activity guide that classes, families and just plain folks can use to learn about Puget Sound and have fun. Activities are divided into "Walk Outside" and "Help Out" activities.

Spring Explorer's Guide

Spring, a great time to get outdoors. Leaves are coming back and there's planting to be done.

Spring -- Walk outside!
Have you been watching the trees outside? What's going on there now? Spring is a great time to be outdoors. Leaves are coming back on some of the trees, and the evergreen trees have new growth. There's lots of rain this time of year to help everything grow. Birds are coming back from their wintering grounds, and hibernating animals like frogs are waking up.

When you get ready for school in the morning, stop to listen by a window. You'll hear hundreds of birds singing! Look between tree branches and peer deep into bushes, and you can watch them building their nests and finding food. (If you've been feeding the birds, don't stop now! It will take a while for the new crop of seeds to grow. In the meantime, they still need your help.) If you find a bird's nest, watch it from a respectful distance. If you get too close or touch the nest, you might scare away the adult birds so they won't come back to their eggs or babies.

At night, listen carefully and you might just hear frogs singing. If you live by a pond or wetland, look for frogs' eggs and tadpoles (but leave them behind when you go home!) And watch for familiar wetland birds like redwing blackbirds, great blue herons, and all kinds of ducks.

Now's the time of year to start a garden. Watch for salamanders under rocks or woodpiles in your yard. Even if you live in an apartment, you can use a window box or pots on a balcony to grow plants that will attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Or see if someone in your neighborhood with a big garden would like some help with it.

Spring -- Help out: Plant something!
Spring is the best time of year for planting trees, shrubs or other garden plants. You can do a big favor for the animals that live near you by planting native plants in your garden (see the list below for ideas).
Native plants provide food and shelter for native animals, which means you're more likely to see some! Visit a nursery and ask how to plant your plant properly.

Native Trees

• Cedar
• Douglas Fir
• Big-leaf Maple
• Vine Maple
• Madrone

Native Shrubs

• Service Berry
• Salmon Berry
• Evergreen Huckleberry
• Oso Berry
• Salal

Native Small Plants

• Sword Fern
• Wild Lily-of-the-Valley
• Columbine
• Wood Sorrel
• Wild Strawberry

Spring -- Help out: Watch the world wake up!
Starting in early March, try to visit a place outdoors where trees or shrubs grow at least twice a week (once a day is even better). Take paper and something to write with and write down what you see, or draw pictures. If you don't know the name of a plant or animal, just describe what it looks like.

Pretty soon you'll start noticing changes. Watch how the leaf buds on plants grow and open. See if flowers are blooming. Turn over logs or rocks and see what's underneath (be sure you put them back when you're done!). Take a careful look at leaves and stems. Do you see any signs that animals or insects have been there?

Dig in the dirt a little bit. What do you find? Bring along a magnifying glass for an even closer look.

Make a list of native plants and animals that you see.

Continue to Summer Explorer's Guide

Continue to Fall Explorer's Guide

Continue to Winter Explorer's Guide

Continue to What Next? 

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