Welcome to Bethpage State Park

Children's Discovery Trail

At each stop use your senses to help you discover the plants and animals that call this forest home. Play the Scavenger Hunt game inside while you walk along this trail.

Leaves of three, let it be! Watch your step! Poison ivy can be found along this trail. It can grow like a vine around a tree, as a single plant from the ground, or as a shrub. Although humans get itchy rashes from touching this plant, the white berries are loved by birds.

Look Around! This forest is a great home for many animals.

Rabbits hide in the shrubs, squirrels hide in holes of trees and mice live on the forest floor. Box turtles carry their home on their back. As you walk along the trail try and find 3 different animal homes. Draw a line to help the animal find its home: Spider

Chipmunk

Bird

Bee

Spider-Web, Chipmunk-Log, Bird-Nest, Bee-Hive

Nature Scavenger Hunt

Non-living Things
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ smooth rock shiny rock soil water sunlight clouds

Living Things
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ bird chipmunk squirrel moss flower grass green pine needles butterfly insect leaves

Signs of Living
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ ant hill bird nest bones broken twigs feathers spider web animal track _____ animal footprint

2 Dead Trees

Fallen trees are an important part of the forest! Some insects and fungi get their food from the tree by chewing it up, burrowing through, or digesting it. They are called decomposers. They break the tree down and the nutrients are returned to the forest to be used again. Can you see any decomposers working on this log? What other animals are taking advantage of this fallen tree? The connections between these creatures are called a food web. Decomposers are an important part of every food web. Draw an arrow from the creature to its food. There can be more than one line to and from each picture.

The logs are food for the worm and mushroom. The mouse eats the worm and mushroom. The robin eats the worm and the hawk eats the mouse and robin.

Animal Food
Search the forest floor for things wildlife might eat. Some things that would make us sick are good for animals. Orioles love to eat poison ivy berries, and Monarch butterflies love Milkweed.

Can you help the animals find their food? Check your answers at the bottom of the page.

Hawk

Bird

Rabbit

Squirrel

Hawk-mouse , Bird-sunflower seeds, Rabbit-clovers, Squirrel-acorn, Toad-cricket

A special tree called a pitch pine grows in this forest.

Feel the thick bark that protects this pine. The pitch pine is an evergreen because the leaves, which look like needles stay green all year long. Bark is a trees way of protecting itself from fungus and insects. The bark of pitch pines is extra thick to protect the trees from fire. This cone is open so the seeds can sprout. Can you find a closed one? It protects the seeds from fire. A fire will melt the wax on the outside, opening the cone and releasing the seeds so they can grow!

Birds eat the seeds that fall when the pine cones open

5 Feel the bark of these three trees.

Bark is a trees way of protecting itself from insects, fungus, and diseases. The bark of different types of trees looks different. Find three different types of trees, and use the boxes below to make a bark rubbing.

6 Listen to the birds!

The berries and insects in this forest attract many different kinds of birds. Woodpeckers, Chickadees and Cardinals are just some of the birds that can be seen here year round along the trail.
Link the numbers to draw an animal that hunts in the moonlight.

Downy Woodpeckers look for insects hiding on the bark of trees.

Great Horned Owls get their name from tufts of feathers that are mistaken for ears or horns on the top of their head. These owls nest in the park.

Word Search
Can you find these common birds and mammals? Words can be vertical, horizontal, diagonal and backwards.

R C H I C K A D

C A D Y A Q B E

O R B L E U K Z

W D V B L U E J

O L A N I D R A

D N S J E T B E

S O M U S S O P

S Q W Q M O U L O I N D R S P R C E E G C L V K

Blue Jay

Rabbit

Woodpecker

Cardinal

Opossum

Raccoon

Chickadee

Squirrel

Near the end of the trail take a few moments to stop and look at the plants around you. This is an excellent place to see insects searching for nectar to drink flying from flower to flower. All insects have 6 legs and 3 body segments. How many different insects can you find?
Thorax Head Abdomen

Butterflies start as an egg, hatch into a caterpillar, make a chrysalis and emerge as an adult butterfly. That change is called metamorphosis

Life Cycle of a Butterfly

Flies, beetles, and frogs all go through metamorphosis too!

Many butterflies drink nectar using a tongue shaped like a straw called a proboscis.

Monarchs cant survive the long cold winter so they fly up to 3,000 miles to Mexico! Monarchs face many dangers on their migration. Help this Monarch on its journey to Mexico. Avoid the storms, predator, and lawn mower.

Mexico

You can help the Monarch by planting Milkweed in your yard. www.Monarchwatch.org has more information on how you can help Monarch butterflies. Visit www.LINPI.org for information on native plants.

For your safety and the enjoyment of all , please . . .

-

- Remain on trail to avoid ticks and poison ivy. - Do not litter, deposit trash in the proper receptacle. - Prevent fires, no smoking in woodlands. - Help keep wildlife healthy, do not feed wild animals.

New York State Parks Long Island Region Environmental Education Office