It was all bark, no bite for children at Marion's Natural History Museum on Wednesday.

The museum's after school group learned to identify local trees in the winter by their bark. The students compared red cedar bark to the bark of a red pine, took a close look at various lichens and mosses that grow on the surface of the bark, and counted rings in a log supplied by Hartley Saw Mill in Rochester.

On the sunny day, the students also went outside to take a close-up look at their favorite nearby trees.  The students measured tree trunks, examined the bark for color, roughness, insects, holes, and even decided whether or not the bark had a distinctive smell.