Wet Pants...

So, why did I jump into the pool tonight and get wet pants??? To go after our luna moth.


Yes, our luna moth emerged last night. I heard him wiggling around, which usually only happens in the morning. Too bad I didn't go and check on him. I was on the phone for about 20 minutes, and when I came back into the living room, I saw him sitting on the side of the butterfly hut!


This evening, we decided to let "him" free. We took him out in the backyard and opened up the hut and Alexandra tried to let him crawl on her. He ended up getting out of the hut and flapping around on the ground. Next thing we knew, he was headed for the pool and we couldn't stop him. He fluttered into the pool and landed on the water. I jumped in past my knees and reached gently under him and picked him up and put him back in his hut.

Tonight, we have him sitting in his hut, but with the door opened - and not in the yard with the pool but in a separate fenced in area. Our hope is that if he can fly, he'll fly away during the night.

We were hoping to get photos of us holding him, but that just didn't work out. But, he is beautiful and we were so happy to have this experience.

Green Hour Challenge #7: Inchworm

I meant to go on a "real" nature walk with Alexandra this week, but it just didn't happen. And, I've been thinking about how to do Barb's challenge of making our own field guide for our chosen topic, flowerless plants, but we haven't done that, either. So, I thought I'd submit this wonderful impromptu nature study as our challenge #7. But, before I do that, wanted to show a "field guide" we made when we studied wildflowers last year. It is very much like what Barb described in her challenge and has information on the back. It is definitely a keepsake.

Today was my weekly day to watch the kids at Alexandra's "school" for recess. One of the little girls had found an inchworm. I was very disappointed that I didn't have my camera with me! This inchworm was brown and looked very much like stick. When he would "stand" on his 4 back "legs" and have his body stiff, he looked just like a twig on a branch!


Just a few days ago, I posted a question about inchworms and Makita at Twinkling Stars Family School was able to answer the questions. So, when the kids asked me some questions, I was able to answer some of them... but, I had to come home and do some more research tonight.

Inchworms are a specific type of caterpillar. Like most caterpillars, inchworms have 3 pairs of true legs in the front of their body, but usually only 2 pairs of false legs in back where most caterpillars have 5 pair. They move by drawing their back legs towards their front and then stretching out their body. (This caterpillar is moving "up" in the photo - and crawling on lichen!)

Inchworms are also called measuring worms, spanworms, cankerworms, and loopers. They are usually about 1 inch long. They belong to a family called Geometridae or the Geometer moths - "earth measuring." (I think we might discuss words that have "geo" or "meter" in them tomorrow.) You're probably familiar with the Inchworm song that teaches arithmetic. (See video at the bottom of the page.) We actually sing it when we see 8 x 4. (4 and 4 is 8, 8 and 8 is 16, 16 and 16 is 32....)

Two unexpected things happened while we were playing with the inchworm. At one point, something brown came out of the inchworms mouth (I guess) - ON Alexandra's hand. Yuck! (Is this a kind of spit?) And, I was holding it on a stick, and all of a sudden it dropped towards the ground with a thread. It was pretty funny as I wound and wound the stick trying to keep the inchworm from getting to the ground.

Also, one of the girls found a little green spider and brought it over to me. We watched it until it climbed under the bench I was sitting on. Well, on the way home, Alexandra says "That spider is on the back of your seat!" I guess he'd climbed on me at some point. So, I stopped the car and got him on a piece of paper, stepped out of the car, and flicked him off. Well, he just came right up his thread. He did this twice. I finally had to kind of wipe the paper in the grass to get him off.

Speaking of caterpillars (earlier), we bought some new Mexican milkweed this weekend and we have it sitting by our back door. We watched a butterfly yesterday who came and laid 3 eggs! (Or maybe it was several butterflies.) So, we'll be having caterpillars of our own before long.

What an unexpected day of learning, and I'm really enjoying learning with the kids. I love that they're bringing their nature "finds" over to me to share them with me!

Buggy Books

Our local museum is hosting a year-long book club. Each month they have a "theme" and the kids are supposed to read one book from their long list of books. This month's theme was insects and spiders and I looked through their list and picked some of my favorites. We've read a lot of these, and others I thought sounded good from their description. So, here's the list:

• books by Himmelman - A Mealworm's Life... Butterfly's... Luna Moth's... Pill Bug's.... Earthworm's...
• books by Judy Allen - Are You A ... Bee?... Butterfly?... Dragonfly?... Grasshopper?... Ladybug?... Spider?... Ant? (We have read and enjoyed a few of these - I'd like to read them all)
• Becoming Butterflies by Anne Rockwell - we've read and enjoyed quite a few books by Anne Rockwell
• books by Doreen Corin... Diary of a Worm... Fly... Spider (we love the Worm book and I'd love to read the others!)
• The Honey Makers by Gail Gibbons - this is the one we read this month - enjoyable and informative!
• books by Charles Micucci - The Life and Times of the Ant... the Honeybee... the Peanut
• The Magic Sschool Bus Explores the World of Bugs (we've read all of these MSB books and enjoyed them all - many times!)
• Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive
• Magic School Bus Butterfly and the Bog Beast
• The Prince of Butterflies by Coville
• Wings of Light: The Migration of the Yellow Butterfly by Swinburne

Boy or Girl?

How do you tell a male Monarch from a female?



Do you see how the butterfly above has 2 dark spots on his lower wings? This is a male.

Do you see how the butterfly above doesn't have the spots? This is a female. Now you can impress your friends. Just kidding! :-)

We have butterflies!!!

Yesterday, we had our first butterflies emerge. It was so neat!!! We never got to see one actually climb out of its chrysalis, but we caught several within minutes of emerging with their wings still curled up.


We've now released 6 butterflies! Above is our first. I carried the lid out and Alexandra reached in to have the caterpillar crawl on her finger. (This photo is taken "blind" - I couldn't see the screen, but it turned out pretty neat!)

Now it's on her finger! But, it was still not ready to fly. It takes about 5 hours for its wings to be ready, and it had only been about 3. So, he walked around some.

And hopped up on her shirt!

We finally set it on the milkweed plant. I was really surprised at her spotted body! I thought it would be solid black, but it matches the edge of her wings, huh? (I'll post later about how I know this is a girl). I'm also curious as to why the butterflies seem to have only 4 legs. Don't all insects have 6??? Where are the other 2???

Almost Butterflies....

Wow! I have taken so many photos the past week or so. So much to share! But, I have to start with this. I think we'll have a couple of butterflies tomorrow morning!

Before the butterflies emerge, their chrysalis becomes transparent. Well, I looked tonight and are first 2 are transparent! You can actually see the orange, black & white butterfly through their chrysalids!!! :-)

Usually, early in the morning, the butterfly will emerge and it takes about 5 hours for the wings to dry out. At least, that's what I've read. (In the photo, the 1 ready to emerge is on the left. Try enlarging it - so cool!!!)

Also, I had two other things I wanted to mention about the caterpillars. We saw how they make a little defensive move when another caterpillar (or finger) gets too close. They kind of jerk the front half of their body up in the air. I can see how it might be scary!

The other thing is about the silk disc where they finally attach themselves. From what I could tell, though they "spin" this disc with their hind end (is this called a spinner?), they then turn around and use their mouth to gather this all together and make a little spot to attach themselves. (You can see where they're attached in the photo.) Then, I believe they kind of crawl over this disc keeping it between their legs until their hind legs reach it. Then, they "stick" their last prolegs in it and start their J-shape. Again, this isn't something I've read - just observed. I'd like to read more about it and see if my observations are correct.

Hoping to show you some photos of the newly emerged butterflies tomorrow!

Changes

The caterpillars have made lots of changes these past few days. As of right now we have 3 chrysalids (plural of chrysalis), 3 J's, 1 large caterpillar getting ready to be a J, 1 large one still eating, and 4 babies! Whew!


Two days ago, our first 2 caterpillars climbed to the top of their cage to start their transformation. The first thing we noticed, was that they got shorter and fatter. They'd been about 1.75 inches, and they "shortened up" to 1 inch! Then, or maybe while this was happening, they each spun a silk pad which they would later hang from with their last pair of prolegs. (Caterpillars have 6 "true" legs which they'll keep as butterflies and 10 prolegs which will disappear during metamorphosis.)


By yesterday morning, both of these caterpillars were hanging in the J-shape as seen on the left. (The one on the left isn't one of the original 2.) We missed the molting of the first caterpillar, but we actually got to watch the second one molt! I got a poor video of it, but it is still neat. I took this through the side of the plastic cage. We have 3 more who should molt this evening, and I'm hoping to watch and video it!

Too bad videos on blogs are so small - I can watch this full screen. Anyway, they one wiggling around & around & around is the one molting. He's working his exoskeleton off (It's dark near the top of him.) He did this for about 20 minutes, I'd guess. Usually, the skin will finall drop off. This one didn't - it's still sitting on top of his chrysalis, perhaps because we interrupted him.

Now, we will wait about 9 - 14 days to watch the butterflies emerge! The chrysalids should darken as they become transparent about a day before it emerges, so hopefull we'll get to see that, too!
I'm finding the following information from Wikipedia very helpful:
The Monarch goes through four radically different stages:

1. The eggs are laid by the females during spring and summer breeding months.
2. The eggs hatch, revealing worm-like larva, the
caterpillars. The caterpillars consume their egg cases, then feed on milkweed, and sequester substances called cardenolides, a type of cardiac glycosides. During the caterpillar stage, Monarchs store energy in the form of fat and nutrients to carry them through the non-feeding pupa stage.
3. In the pupa or chrysalis stage, the caterpillar spins a silk pad on a twig, leaf, etc. and hangs from this pad by its last pair of prolegs. It hangs upside down in the shape of a 'J', and then molts, leaving itself encased in an articulated green exoskeleton. At this point, hormonal changes occur, leading to the development of a butterfly. The chrysalis darkens (actually becomes transparent) a day before it emerges, and its orange and black wings can be seen.
4. The mature butterfly emerges after about two pupal weeks and hangs from the split chrysalis for several hours until its wings are dry (often in the morning). Meanwhile fluids are pumped into the crinkled wings until they become full and stiff. Some of this orangy fluid drips from the wings. Finally (usually in the afternoon) the monarch spreads its wings, quivers them to be sure they are stiff, and then flies in a circle and away, to feed on a variety of flowers, including milkweed flowers, red clover, and goldenrod.

Recent Nature Sightings

We have been spending lots of time outside the past few days. The weather is incredible! It's been in the low to mid-80's. And, we seem to find something amazing every day!


I just corrected my previous post, but the bug above is actually a PECAN weevil, not a boll weevil. I got this information from my County Extension Office when I contacted them.


But, we had so much fun learning about the boll weevil. Tonight, we read, George Washington Carver What Do You See? by Benge and it talked about the boll weevil. (We've studied Carver before and have listened to his story many times on Your Story Hour 7.)


So everywhere he went, Carver urged poor farmers to grow peanuts, but they wouldn't listen to him. That is, until a beetle called the "boll weevil" came along. The boll weevil began eating the cotton crops. Farmers quickly changed their minds about growing peanuts. Soon thousands of acres of peanuts were growing."


Of course, then Carver had to find something to do with these unwanted peanuts. The book goes on to tell how Carver prayed to God asking Him why He made the peanut - and God "went with me back to the laboratory and, together, we got down to work."

Unfortunately, I didn't research the pecan weevil as much and don't have much to tell. They do lay their eggs in the pecans and it ruins them.




One of the 6 Monarch caterpillars we are taking care of inside. We found them last weekend and they have grown so quickly! I think they are about ready to make their chrysalis. They better hurry as I'm running out of leaves and there are 3 more catepillars outside! We're excited and hope we get to see them turn into butterflies. We did this once with a Painted Lady kit, but this is our first time with Monarchs from our backyard.



We believe this is the same cicada we had the other day that drowned and then "came back to life." We found it, lethargic, in the grass yesterday. Last time, Melissa left me this comment: "Jeannie Fulbright has an experiment in her Zoology 1 book where you drowned an insect, then "bring it back to life" by sprinkling salt on it." I'm going to have to find out more about this!
In the past 2 days, we've seen 11 katydids! And, we hadn't seen any before this. So, they must be hatching, I'm guessing. We found both some brown and some green varieties. I did read on this site that Katydids get their name from the way their songs sound. Some katydids have been called long-horned grasshoppers because of their long and slender shape. However, all katydids are more similar and related to crickets than grasshoppers. One of the things that makes them different from their relatives is their antennae which may be two or three times the length of their body. These antennae are covered with sensory receptors that allow katydids to find their way around in the dark, when most of them are active.

Alexandra found this amazing group of about 15 assassin bug nymphs. I'm guessing they'd newly hatched as they were all bunched up together. These have a very painful bite, but they are great for ridding your yard of other pests, so we left them alone. I remember several years ago covering some plants to protect them from one of our rare frosts. When I brought the sheets in and put them in the garage, these nymphs were all over them! I'm so glad I didn't get bit - I didn't even know what they were at the time or that they would bite.

Nature Day

Yesterday, our nature group went on its monthly Nature Day. What an amazing day! The weather was in the mid-80's and we had a great turnout. About 10-12 families with around 45+ people. Our first stop was in a classroom where a park ranger at the W. G. Jones State Forest give us a talk about woodpeckers, snakes, and safety in the woods.

The Jones State Park is actively trying to safe the endangered Red-Cockaded Woodpecker. This is the only woodpecker that makes its cavity (the hole where they nest) in a LIVE pine tree. He showed us an amazing video of how they band the baby woodpeckers. They build their cavities high in the tree. To protect their cavity, the woodpeckers make holes on the tree beneath their nest which makes the sap run out. The sap is very sticky and discourages "visitors." Above is a photo of a man-made cavity that they sometimes place in trees with cavities have been knocked down by storms or for whatever reason. They actually cut a hole out of the tree and use a special epoxy to glue it in place.

The park ranger then talked about the 5 different kinds of venemous snakes in our area. He actually catches these snakes to preserve to show classes! He said his job doesn't pay for his medical bills when he gets bit (which he has) because they've told him it is dangerous and not to do it, but he does it anyway.

Lastly, he talked about safety in the woods. For example, when you have to walk over a log in the wood, take a wide step on and a wide step off. Snakes love to curl up right near the log and will bite if frightened. And, never - never put your hand in any hole in a tree or in the ground - it's probably the home of an animal and he will try to defend himself!


He also talked about what to do if you get lost. Stay put! He said he's been on lots of search & rescues and the people they find the quickest are those who stay put. (Alexandra got to be the demonstrator.) He said if you're lost, there are 360 degrees in a circle and so 360 ways to go and only 1 is right and the other 359 are wrong. Great lesson to teach the kids as the rescue parties will start where they think the lost person is and they walk slowly - a lot slower than someone lost & scared and trying to get home!




A nest that had fallen - there's a piece of a broken egg shell in the nest, and I love the large piece of plastic trash the bird used as building material.

I believe this is a type of leaf-footed but, though I haven't made a positive identification yet. He was a beatiful pale lavender and black!

Beautiful lavender flowers - part of the butterfly garden which had dozens of butterflies

My favorite find of the day - which was pointed out to me; I didn't find it - a grey treefrog! It was a beautiful pale green, almost white. He was sitting in the butterfly garden on one of the leaves!

Cicada skin

A chrysalis - with the butterfly still in it! It was on a tree near the butterfly garden

A bunch of cicada skins on one tree! Later in the day, when we went to the second stop just about a half mile away, I only found one cicada shell! There were lots on this tree. Check out this site about a family who searches for cicadas before they shed their skin!

Our nature group "leader" teaching us how to watercolor a leaf - by tracing the shadow of the leaf so you don't break a fragile one! Then, she watercolored it and used the "wrong end" of a paint brush to draw in the veins. It was a neat effect!

Daddy Long Leg - I remember seeing tons of these at camp as a child and haven't seen any in years

I guess this is a gall on the trunk of a tree which has been broken in half

My photo doesn't do this justice - a tree had a huge break in it and there was lots & lots of sap. I'll see if anyone else in the group got a better photo.

Nature On My Own

What can you do when your child has a class and you've got some time to kill? Take a nature walk on your own.

That's what I did today while Alexandra was in a class. And it was so much fun! This was our first truly Autumn-like day with temperatures in the mid-80's. Beautiful!!!


I found this interesting butterfly that I wasn't sure wasn't a moth. Thanks to Beautiful In Its Time, I was able to identify it as a Esmeralda Longtail Butterfly. (And, she has a much better photo than I do and has so incredible images all over her blog!) That explains the strange wings that I found so interesting... and confusing!


I believe these are 2 types of galls. But, someone asked me how I could tell they weren't insect eggs. How can you tell the difference?

Another cool type of gall. (I think.) They were actually hard and kind of sharp to the touch.

A green anole. I followed this little guy around for about 5 minutes taking photos, but he was just a little too far away to get a good, close shot.

Purple Beautyberry. (Thanks, Marjorie, for the help identifying this!) I love how they grow in clumps along the stem.

I wasn't sure what this was at first. But, I figured out it was sap from the pine tree next to it. I'm not sure what the small white things are - they didn't move. Wish I would have had my magnifying glass! I think they might be a small insect.

The pine tree that was dripping sap. A lot of sap was coming from holes made by woodpeckers, I believe.

A curl of a tree.

Again, thanks to Marjorie for helping me identify this. This is a False Turkey Tail fungus. Isn't that a great name for it?

A woodpecker - I believe a red-bellied woodpecker. He was up high in the tree and I didn't have my binoculars! (He's on the bottom side of the horizontal branch.) He was building (or digging out) his nest! I watched "him" repeatedly go into the tree and evidentally dig more out. Each time he came back out, fine bits of wood would float down so I knew he was digging, even though I didn't hear him. Earlier in the day, I had seen 2 woodpeckers (same kind) and they were traveling from tree to tree together. Perhaps this is their nest and I'll get to check it out each week.

I know I had more questions than answers tonight. I'd appreciate any help in identifying these different nature finds!

Free Milkweed Seeds

I saw in a homeschool magazine about this site where you can get free milkweed seeds to start your own butterfly garden. When I went to the site, I read the following sad news:

"Monarchs need your help NOW! During the past few years, over 75% of the wintering Monarchs from North America froze to death in Mexico as a result of three days of rain and sub-freezing conditions. There is also a Nationwide shortage of milkweed. These freak weather patterns and destroyed habitats kill millions of helpless Monarchs. Habitat must be protected now to ensure their survival, before we see the day when this miracle of nature is only a memory. The Monarchs need your help NOW. Please plant seeds and ensure their survival. A Milkweed in every yard!"

So, they're offering free milkweed seeds (though there is a suggested donation of $2) so they can plant milkweed to help save the Monarchs. We only have 2 milkweed plants in our backyard we planted last fall and they are being rapidly eaten. There are so many mosquitos around it, that we haven't spent much time looking at it. But, a few days ago, we made a quick trip and found a monarch caterpillar under the very first leaf we turned over. So, I think we'll add a few more milkweeds to our garden!

Butterfly Box

On Saturday, we went to one of Home Depot's monthly Kids Days where they can build things. This time, they gave each child a choice of what to build from four projects. Alexandra chose to build a butterfly box!

I highly recommend these Kids Days. The kids get to learn how to use tools (like hammers) and read instructions. I learned about wood glue this week, too. And, Alexandra made such an improvement in her hammer skills this time! The helper showed her how to hit softly until the nail gets in a little ways and then hit hard to finish it off. What a lesson! We'll be adding it to our butterfly garden.

I Ate An Ant

Yes, today I ate an ant. (My first) A chocolate covered one. And, the chocolate was so big (and yummy!) that I never tasted (or felt!) the ant (thought I could see a tiny piece of him).


We went to a Bugstravaganza event at the grand re-opening of our Entomology Hall. I can't believe the wonderful transformation they've done to this area! It was a little crowded or we would have spent more time.




After the "Bug Hall", we went to the Butterfly Pavilion. Wow! I think they must have released hundreds of extra butterflies for this event! I've never seen so many. And, they were landing on everyone. This little black and white butterfly landed on Alexandra's shoe 3 times! She said it tickled, but she held still for a photo.



We also saw pineapples growing. I'd never even seen a photo of how they grow and I got so excited to see this! I think we'll have to try to grow our own, though I've heard it takes several years.




A little boy let this butterfly crawl from his finger to Alexandra's. She was so excited to see its proboscis which was all curled up.





Then, she handed it to me and I took some more photos, including this close up. I love the antenae in this photo! (You probably have to click on it to get where you can see it closely.)



Here's the chef stir-frying up some bugs - some kind of bamboo "something" larva. (No thanks!) They even have a new machine in the permanent exhibit where you can buy boxes of crickets (how about some with cheese or sour cream and onions?) for just a couple of dollars. `


Here are some of the "declicious"samples. (I just couldn't do it, but lots of folks were! Did you know that people in most of the world eat bugs?)


Alexandra and I also pet quite a few bugs including a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach (Alexandra was the first to be brave, so I had to follow), a giant walkingsticks, a millipede, and several others. Alexandra also did some crafts and we watched a cockroach race. (Alexandra put #2 in the starting box, but he came in 4th, I think.)


We also toured other parts of the museum and enjoyed a "talk" a lady gave us about different kinds of rocks. She was impressed that Alexandra knew what pumice and obsidian were (we were studying volcanoes this week) and she kept saying how smart our little kids (homeschoolers) were. It made me feel good! :-) And, we just had a great day!