HOLDEN – Recently, six classes from Bucksport were scheduled to arrive at the Fields Pond Audubon Center in Holden for a “Secrets of the Forest” tour. It sprinkled and rained. It poured and drizzled.

But troupers that they are, the children and their teachers made the visit anyway. The pupils ate picnic lunches sitting on the floor in the center’s meeting room where mounted owls, a fisher, black ducks and an opossum look down from shelves.

Just outside the windows, chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers and blue jays flocked to the feeders to join the lunchtime activity. Feathers, the children discovered, are waterproof.

After an indoor introduction about some of the secrets the children would be looking for, it was time to head outside.

First stop was the hollow log. Pupils climbed inside the log and declared it much drier inside than outside where their parents stood. Would they like to live inside a hollow tree like a raccoon? A resounding “yes” echoed from the log.

Next stop was the rain gauge. How much rain have we had so far? About a half-inch, according to the pupils. As they traveled up into the woods with their guides, a few ventured under the child-size brush pile. It wasn’t nearly as good at sheltering them from the rain as the log had been, said one boy. Without a hat, he shook his head to shed some water. “That’s what animals do to get dry,” he said.

Deeper in the forest, the youngsters discovered that under the dense tree canopy the rain seemed to lessen. They noticed that the beautiful moss was emerald green with moisture. One girl patted the moss and remarked at how soft it was. “Usually the moss feels stiffer,” she observed.

With many of the children not fully prepared to spend an extended tour outside in the rain, the group headed back early. One soggy girl wasn’t quite ready to go back inside.

“Can we check the rain measurer again?” she asked. “I want to see how much more is in it now.” We checked, and sure enough, there was nearly a quarter-inch more rain.

It may not have been the most comfortable outdoor tour for the children, but the experience was one that made an impression. And just as the bus pulled out of the driveway, the rain stopped.

A brief ray of sun shone on heavy water droplets like so many sparkling diamonds. Tour leaders hoped one of those observant children on the Bucksport school bus noticed, and shouted out with amazement at the shiny, wet world the rain had left behind.

For information on Fields Pond Audubon Center, call 989-2591.