DEER

By Lindsay Carlson, Gr. 7

One day we looked out of our windows and a deer was eating our flowers.  My mom went running down the road after them.  Well, the deer turned and stomped its hooves at my mom and SHE went running!

Deer are beautiful and shy animals, but beware of their hooves.  They’re sharp!  You can tell a boy deer from a girl deer because a girl deer usually has no antlers.  A boy-or buck-has antlers but loses them in the fall.

WALLEYE

By Brett Wittman, Gr. 6

I like walleye because it does not taste fishy like other fish.  I think they are the best fish to eat.

Walleye live in our lake and must adjust their living when our lake freezes over.  The walleye then live at the bottom of the lake because the water is warmer down there.  They remain there until spring.

WOLVES

By Lindsay Carlson, Gr. 6

One day when my mom and dad were on their way to town, they saw two timber wolves eating on a dear carcass beside the road.  They didn’t seem to be concerned about anything other than the meat. 

Wolves eat many things like deer, mice, grouse, and beaver.  Wolves look like a German Shepherd, but they have short ears and a very powerful jaw.  Wolves live in families called packs and they mate for life.

DUCKS

By Kelsey Jensen, Gr. 4

We have a lot of ducks by our resort during the summer.

Ducks spend most of the time in the water.  Their webbed feet make them fine swimmers.  Their legs are in back of their body.  The feet serve as paddles.  Ducks like to eat wild rice that grows in lakes.

EAGLES

By Richard Kelly, Gr. 3

One day in the boat on my way to school, I saw 5 or 6 eagles.  Some were sitting in tall, dead trees and the others were flying over the lake looking for food.

Eagles are one of the largest and most powerful birds in the world.  Eagles rank second in size only to the California condor among birds of prey in North America.  Eagles eat mice, rabbits, fish, ducks, and many more animals where I live.  They are beautiful birds.

OTTERS

By Hannah Wandersee, Gr. 4

Otters live around our dock.  They know how to open the minnow cages to look for something to eat.

Otters live everywhere except Australia.  They have special muscles that help them close their ears and nose tightly so they can swim comfortably underwater.  Otters like to play a lot.  Otter babies are born blind.

SQUIRRELS

By Cole Wandersee, Kgn.

The squirrels that live at our resort are tame.  I can almost touch them.  They like to play with our cats.

Most squirrels live in trees and jump from branch to branch.  Some squirrels don’t like trees so they live on the ground.  There are more than 300 different kinds of squirrels.

FROGS

By Erica Kastl, Gr. 6

When I was little, my brother, sister, and I caught 120 tiny frogs.  We put them in ice cream pails and then we let them go.  It was fun seeing how some were alike and how they were different.

Frogs live part of their life on land and part of their life in water.  They eat mosquitoes, flies, and other insects.   Frogs hatch from eggs.  They grow to be tadpoles.  They grow legs and lose their tail.

PELICAN

By Erica Kastl, Gr. 6

When my family was boating home one dark evening, we almost hit a pelican that was sleeping in the channel of the river.  We saw its red-rimmed eyes staring at our boat lights.  My dad quickly turned the boat to miss it.  It must have been a nightmare for the pelican!

A pelican is a huge water bird.  They eat fish.  There are white and brown pelicans.  Is it true that their beak can hold more than their belly can?

BEAVER

By Kya Kastl, Gr. 2

One day my mom was going to school in the boat.  She thought a moose was swimming ahead of her in the river.  Its rack was big on both sides of its head.  When she got closer, she saw it was a beaver frantically swimming out of the way with a big stick with branches sticking out of it!

FIELD MICE

By Tanner Cox, Gr. 2

I saw a field mouse by our house.  It was running in the long grass.  It was cute.

Field mice are food for many kinds of animals like cats, wolves, owls, fox, and eagles.

TURTLES

By Nicole Carlson, Gr. 2

My cousin found a baby snapping turtle in the lake.  He gave it to my sister and me.  My sister wanted to name him Timmy but I wanted to name him Tiny and so we put him in an ice cream pail with water and called him Timmy the Tiny Turtle.  And then before our family trip, we let him go down by the creek.

MOOSE

By Austin Carlson, Kgn.

My mom saw a moose along the road on her way into town.  The moose’s legs were taller than the car!

CRAYFISH

By Chelsea Carlson, Gr. 2

We were at Sugar Pt. and my cousin and I were walking to a rock.  When I looked down, I saw a crayfish.  It was reddish-orangish and it had a dent in its side.  It was missing a claw.

OWLS

By T.J. Kastl, Gr. 4

We hear owls hoot at night near our home. 

The owl usually lives alone and hunts at night.  There are about five hundred twenty-five kinds of owls.

The smallest owl is the elf owl.  It lives in southwestern United States and western Mexico.  It is hardly six inches long.  The largest owl is the great gray owl.  It lives in Alaska and Canada.  It is thirty inches long.

Most owls eat mammals.  The larger owl eats rabbits and squirrels.  Smaller ones eat mice, rats, and shrews.

PORCUPINE

By T.J. Kastl, Gr. 4

On our way to school, we saw something in a tree.  When we got closer, we saw it was a porcupine.

The word porcupine comes from the French.  It means spiny pig.  Porcupines have hollow needles…if they didn’t, it would feel like they were carrying a sack of potatoes around! Porcupines are slow moving and rather stupid.  When it is afraid or excited, the quills stand up.  It eats bark, twigs, buds, and leaves.

FOX

By Samantha Carlson, Gr. 6

I had a pet fox when I was about 2 years old.  I had crackers and said, “Here puppy, puppy!”  He was so nice, my dad gave him fish.

Most species of fox resemble a small, slender dog.  Fox look like dogs but fox have bushier tails.  Fox are not known to attack unless they’re cornered or have rabies.

BEARS

By Samantha Carlson, Gr. 6

One night my mom heard something thumping.  It was a black bear jumping on our car.  The black bear was not scared at all.  Soon, he got off the car and scratched our wood wall on the house.  Then he went back into the woods.

NORTHERN PIKE

By Erica Lynn Kelly, Gr. 6

Northerns are good to eat, but they have too many bones!  My family likes to catch Northerns by our creek.

The northern pike is the common name of a fresh-water fish noted for its greedy appetite and fighting quality.  The northern pike may grow to be 4 feet long and weigh more than 40 pounds!

LOON

By Lana Kelly, Gr. 7

One day a couple of years ago, my family stopped to rest on an island.  While we were on the little island, I saw a loon.  It startled me with its flapping wings and I quickly jumped back into the boat!

Loons are water birds with black feathers and white spots.  They have glossy black and green necks and black webbed feet.  They make oohing calls in the early morning.  They are about 36 inches long and they live in the northern United States and on up to the Arctic Circle.