Colton-Pierrepont sixth graders Alexa Gilbert and Abeni Payne, both 11, participate in a digital photography scavenger hunt

RENSSELAER FALLS -- Roughly 70 students from Colton-Pierrepont and Heuvelton Central schools, as well as Massena’s Trinity Catholic school spent a day immersing themselves in the natural environment at Indian Creek Nature Center's Conservation Field Day.

Each year, fifth- and sixth-graders from across St. Lawrence County have can get hands-on experience in a variety of field science activities.

On what nature center officials called “a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the upper 70s,” students participated in activities ranging from pond life exploration with Clarkson University researchers, to bees and beekeeping with Greg Kalicin from Harmony Farm Apiary, to a guided bird walk with MaryBeth Warburton from the Northern New York Audubon Society.

Nature Up North hosted a nature scavenger hunt with digital cameras. The list included ferns, flowers, fruit trees, mosses, lichens, dragonflies, butterflies, frogs, woodpecker holes and a place where a troll might live.