Summer Nature Scavenger Hunt

Gabis is known for its rose garden. Look there to find a red rose flower. Red flowers can also be seen in the native plant garden.

There are many butterflies within the prairie (bluebird trail) in the summer. There are monarchs, swallowtails and skippers’ butterflies that you can spot, among others.

There are thousands of ant mounds within the prairie. Look on the ground while walking the trails and you are likely to find some.

There are hundreds of beetle species at Gabis. Look at most plants and you are likely to find a beetle.

Yellow is one of the most common colors for flowers. All of our gardens have flowers that are yellow.

Look at the ground for wolf spiders as they don’t make a web. Look within vegetation to look find spiders making webs.

Strawberry, elderberry, raspberry, apple, pawpaw, grape, are all fruits that you can find growing at Gabis. The trees growing along the road next to the Adventure Garden are apples trees.

We have a couple species of hickory trees at Gabis. The easiest to identify are the shagbark hickory’s since they have bark that looks like it is flaking off the tree. These trees produce large nuts that are eaten by wildlife.

To spot a hawk you must be patient and wait. We have coopers’ hawks and red-tailed hawks year-round.

This unique tree can be found growing around the southern entrance to cardinal trail. Even without leaves its scaly bark is easy to spot.

Look in the prairie for this colorful butterfly. You can look on milkweed plants for the caterpillars.

These birds are usually attracted to tubular flowers, especially if they are red in color. Look for the red royal catch fly flower in the native plant garden and you might spot one.

These can be seen towering over the prairie at the end of summer. There large, serrated leaves orient themselves to face east and west.

Look for an unnatural ball protruding out from a cluster of oak leaves. These galls are formed by parasitic wasp.

Duckweed is the world’s smallest flowering plant. They are larger than algae and look like tiny lily pads. Find them in a pond.

Listen for a deep croaking around the ponds. Walking around a pond slowly makes it possible to sneak up on one.

These mounds are created by terrestrial crayfish. They can be found near the windows to the wetland in the summer months.

Look at logs that are in ponds. Usually, they will have turtles sunning themselves.