Local kids get an up-close look at the insects of the Crooked River during Discover Nature Days at the wetlands

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What kinds of creatures live in the Crooked River?

Fish, of course, and bugs — lots of bugs.

Eighteen kids learned exactly what kinds of insects live in the Crooked River during Watery

Wonders with Discover Your Forest Tuesday morning at the Crooked River Wetlands Complex.

The partners of Children's Forest of Central Oregon presented Discover Nature Days twice this summer in Prineville.

"This is our very first time we've done any program here at the Wetlands Complex," said Bess Ballantine of Discover Your Forest, a nonprofit partner of the U.S. Forest Service. "We run all sorts of different environmental educational conservation education programs."

The Children's Forest of Central Oregon is a big network of organizations that puts on these free programs throughout Central Oregon for children ages 5 to 10.

On Tuesday, the young biologists peered into buckets of river water and caught critters that they examined with magnifying glasses. They then identified the insects using pictures of bugs that are commonly found in rivers.

"Anything that we can do to get them outside in nature and science," said Prineville mom Kim Bartolotti, who brought her two children to the event. "They love science."