Wednesday, August 19, 2009 - First Caterpillars of the Season

Cameron and I consider ourselves Monarchologists. I'm not sure that is a real word but that's what we are.  We look forward every year to when we can start looking for Monarch caterpillars.

We were visiting my mom's house.  Cameron was sent out to the mail box and RAN back to the house to breathlessly tell me that he found one.  I wasn't even sure what "one" was yet.  He wanted to drop everything and go harvest it. He had even already named it Edward.

Today, Cameron measured Edward.

He may look small but he wasn't even 1/4 of an inch when Cameron found him.  We were amazed with how much he grew in just a week.

With Edward we ended up with two other caterpillars.  They were so tiny, we didn't even spot them on the leaves at first.

We just love Monarchs.  And even though we've done them for a few years, they are still exciting, interesting and a big learning opportunity for us.

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Thursday, June 18, 2009 - Tadpoles!

We were given five tadpoles the other day.  They are FASCINATING.  I have not had much luck with tadpoles in the past so this is probably even more exciting to me than Cameron.  The will be frogs any day now. 

Smile for the camera!

They are SOOO cute!!!  As soon as we get a moment (laugh) we will try to look at them more closely.

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Friday, March 13, 2009 - Signs of Spring

We have not been very good about doing our nature studies.  But today, we actually took the time to just do it.  We had a short errand to run and instead of heading straight home, I headed to the trail that is very near our home. 

The assignment?  Look for signs of spring.  We had a good walk and a great hunt for those tiny little signs.

Buds

New plant growth.  (Possibly Colt's foot?)

New growth:

Insects:

And the number one sign of Spring? 

MUD!

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Monday, December 8, 2008 - Tree Study

We are studying trees this term.  So far, we are just studying them in general and not any variety in depth.  At first I thought that studying trees going into the winter season wasn't excatly the best idea but we are still learning much about trees.

"To understand how firm a base the roots form to hold up the tall trunk, we need to see an unrooted tree." (Handbook of Nature Study)

On our nature walk last week we looked specifically for roots.  We found a few fallen over trees to examine.  Cameron found a great tree by the creek.  Parts of the bank were washed away and we could see a lot of roots.

And then my camera batteries died.  Newly charged batteries took TWO pictures.  I was so dissappointed. 

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Thursday, October 16, 2008 - Fall

Cameron and I have really been enjoying the nice fall weather.  On Sunday we went on a bike ride.  There are many trails in my area that used to be train tracks and are being converted into trails.  I couldn't help thinking as I was traveling under a great canopy of autumn leaves that ran along the river, what a great site the engineers of old must have had.  It was the perfect day for a ride.

Tuesday, we went for a leaf hunting nature walk.  We found a bunch of caterpillars and of course a bunch of leaves.  We brought leaves back and made some really great leaf rubbings.

Today, at the library, we checked out a few tree books to help us identify the leaves we found.  We found some very interesting leaves outside our library.  My favorite sums up how we feel about fall.

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Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - Chrysalis Study

"As [the] chrysalis is usually hung to the underside of a fence rail or overhanging rock, or to a leaf, it is usually surrounded by green vegetation, so that its green color protects it from prying eyes.  As it near the time for the butterfly to emerge, the chrysalis changes to a duller and darker hue.  The butterfly emerges about twelve days after the change to chrysalis."  (page 308 Handbook of Nature Study)

Today we looked at one of our last chrysali.  Some observation questions taken from the Handbook:

• When the caterpillar gets read to change to a chrysalis what does it do? It hangs itself by its rear feet and forms the "hanging 'J'"  Then it sort of "shrugs" itself out of the skin.  You can tell when it starts to happen because the antennae become very limp looking.  The skin splits at the head and it works its way out of it. 

• How is it attatched to the object to which it made its chrysalis? It attaches by its back feet.  When the skin has finally fallen off there is a black stem-like part that is firmly attached to the object the caterpillar decides to make its home

• Can you see, in the chrysalis, those parts which voer the wings of the future buttery?  When I asked Cameron this question he audiably gasped when he found what it was talking about.  He had never noticed it before. If you look at the picture above, you can really see the outline of the wings that are forming.
• Where does the chrysalis skin open when the butterfly emerges? It breaks towards the bottom and kind of splits open at the bottom. It opens opposite from the side the wings are on.

• How does the empty chrysalis skin look? The skin is papery thin and see through.  The gold spots, and black and gold ridge are still there.

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Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - Studying Monarchs

Cameron seems to have become a Monarch expert.  I heard him telling someone the other day all about the Monarch: its features, its life cycle, interesting facts and figures.  I was personally very impressed. 

Yesterday we released our fourth Monarch this season.  We took this opportunity to answer some of the questions from Handbook of Nature Study. There wasn't really anything new that we observed but it was good to review.

Some observation questions

• How can you tell the monarch butterfly from all others?  The Monarch has the brilliant orange color in the wings accented with black and white.  It's body is black with white polka dots.
• Why is it not afraid of birds? They are poisonous to birds and its coloring warns birds of this.  We saw two birds fly right past it when we let her go.
• If there is a spot near one of the veins on each of the hind wings do you know what it is? A black spot indicates a male butterfly.  The viens on a female are thicker as well.  The spot is a scent glad and it is how the male attracts the female for mating.  As Cameron told someone, "It smells real good to the girls."

• Describe the antenna and how does it differ from a moth? They are longer and skinny but a moth's are sor of feathery looking and not as long.
• How many legs has this butterfly? We can only find 4!  We think we see some very small beginnings of two front legs but these are very, very short and kept very close to the body

• How does it hold its wings when it is landed? The wings are held upright, in a closed position.  This is one of the distinguishing differences between a butterfly and a moth.  Moths ' wings lay flat and open when they are landed

Cameron "narrated" what makes a Monarch special and what makes it an insect.  He is really fascinated by the Monarch's tongue.  We saw quite a bit of it on the one that we caught on video emerging for her chrysallis.  I think she was cleaning herself off.

Tomorrow, I think we will use the observation questions for our last two chrysalli.

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Thursday, September 4, 2008 - Caterpillars and Butterflies

We had a very busy week with caterpillars and butterflies.

First we found this specimen while gather Monarchs.  He was dead.  His wings were not fully developed. 

I found this guy at a friends house.  I still haven't looked him to find out what he is.

We were given some imperial moth caterpillars.

This will turn into a very pretty yellow moth.

And then, Dana emerged!  What a beautiful girl.

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Monday, August 25, 2008 - Monarch Butterfly

Outdoor Challenge #22 is Focus on Insects-Butterflies.  This fit in very well with what we are studying. 

Our very first butterfly emerged yesterday while we were away.  I saw the opaque chrysallis and new that I should make prepreations for it but then forgot about it in the rush of getting ready for church.

When we arrived home, the chrysallis was EMPTY!  And the butterfly was nowhere to be seen.

Finally I spotted her on a picture hanging on the wall and we caught her with our net and put her in our butterfly cage with some fresh fruit to feed from for the night. (They cannot drink water because they will drown.)

We named her Boo.  It fits her.  "Boo" there she was as a caterpillar.  BOO there she goes making her chrysallis.  BOO there she is hanging on the wall.

Today, we took her outside to observe and sketch and then we let her go.  We put her in the fridge for about 10 minutes.  The butterfly can only fly when their thorax (middle segmant of their body) is a certain temperature.  This cools them down so that they do not fly away right away.

There is no black dot on the wing.  This tells us that this butterfly is a female.

Isn't she pretty?!

This is an insect but for the life of us, we could not find the last two legs.  Maybe on our next one.

Before we released Boo, we both took some time to sketch her into our nature journal.

Dana made a chrysallis early this morning.

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Friday, August 22, 2008 - Surprising Monarchs

Caterpillars grow so fast.  Last night, I went to get some more milkweed to feed Dana.  I was keeping the milkweed my mother had given me, outside in a bucket of water. 

Well, there must have been eggs on the milkweed because I found another very small caterpillar on the leaves I was bringing in.  Surprise, surprise!

This morning, when I showed Cameron our newest arrival, he found an every smaller caterpillar!  Surprise, surprise, surprise! LOL

We had to go out and find more milkweed to feed these new little ones.  But we accidently brought home one more small one. 

The biggest one is Dana!  The smallest is the one that Cameron found.

Here is the smallest one close up.

Barely a fourth of an inch!

This is about how much they grow in a week's time.

Check out my Monarch videos.

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Friday, August 22, 2008 - Dana the Monarch

My Mother has supplied me with several Monarch caterpillars.  He favorite was a wee little tiny one.  We have given some of them away to others to observe, learn from and enjoy but we kept the little guy.  I asked Mom if she wanted to name it.  She came up with a great name: Dana. 

First, you cannot tell if the caterpillar is male or female until it becomes a butterfly and Dana is one of those names that can be either male or female (I know one of each LOL)

Second, the scientific name for the Monarch caterpillar is Danaus plexippus.

We were given charge of Dana last Friday, Aug 16.  Dana was still very small.

Here is a size comparison with one of our other ones that was only a few days away from making its chrysallis.

Dana looks very small in comparison!

Monday, just three days later, Dana had already grown quite a bit.

Here is Dana one week after the first picture.

They grow VERY fast.

Dana is still eating, molting and growing.  We do expect it to make its chrysallis in a few days.

Check out my Monarch Vidoes.

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Thursday, August 21, 2008 - Monarch Videos

We are really enjoying studying and learning from the Monarch caterpillars that we have.  I captured a few great moments on video.

This first one shows the caterpillar chomping away at the milkweed.

Next we see the caterpillar in the hanging "J" getting ready to make its chrysallis.   The antenea is limp and you can actually see it heaving inside itself.

And the piece de la resistance the making of the chrysallis.

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Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - Caterpillar House

In the past, I have housed my caterpillars in old mason jars.  I stretched a paper towel across the top and the put one of the canning lids to hold it in place.

But now I have two great observation units made for Cameron by my step-father.

He took wire mesh and pulled it into a cylinder.  It is held together with heavy duty wire.  All you do is set it on a paper plate. (Do not use Styrofoam) Put a paper plate on the top, and you are ready to go!

Isn't that great?!  It makes it a since to get them out for up close observation and to clean out their living area, as well as putting in fresh milk weed.

I've put our Monarchs in one and the milkweed tiger moths in the other.

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Monday, August 11, 2008 - Caterpillars

Two years ago, Cameron and I successfully watched three Monarch caterpillars grow, make a chrysalis, and emerge into a beautiful Monarch butterfly.  It was such a wonderful experience that we both remember very fondly. 

Last year, we did not have much success.  I think I started looking too late in the season and I wanted to share the experience with others and gave away a few of the ones we did find. 

This year, I am determined that we will again experience the joy and wonder of watching this change occur.  I constantly am on the look out for milkweed.  I've checked a few patches several times with no luck.

Today, while my car was being inspected, we spent time at my mother's house.  We were checking the milkweeds on her property and it didn't look like we were going to find anything.  But, Mom finally found one fat worm!  We were all estatic. 

We didn't find any more but we find some other cater pillars also on the milkweed. 

Milkweed Moth Caterpillars, Euchaetias egle.  We found one of these last year but I couldn't identify last year so I was excited to figure out what these were. 

We will have to wait and see how these one's turn out.

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Saturday, August 9, 2008 - Toads

"Whoever has not had a pet toad has missed a most entertaining experience.  Toad actions are surprisingly interesting..." Handbook of Nature Study

Last year, I found some great finds at a yard sale.  I found two large fish tanks.  Someone asked if I had thoughts of getting fish.  My response was, "No, not really, but I homeschool and I have a boy so I'm sure we will be able to fill it with something."

Cameron and I turned one of those tanks into a terrarium.  Right now it is housing two toads, a salamander or two, worms, and various other invertebrates, AKA food.

We just took dirt and rocks that we found outside.  Some plants, sticks, pine cones and moss help to make it feel a little more like home and a terra cotta pot split in two provides great hiding places.  A butter dish level with the dirt rounds out our terrarium

Not a great picture but you can almost see the toad at home.

The other day, we took one of the toads and put it our mason critter jar.  We took the toad outside, stretched out in the grass with the jar in front of us and just observed, using the Handbook of Nature Study to help us.  It was great in leading us to different points of observation.

The first thing we found out was that our toad is a girl.  According to the book, the males have black throats.  We had been calling both of our toads "he" but they are both "she."

Toads do not give you warts.  They will pee on you, but it is a defense and does not produce warts.  The large bumps behind the eyes are their glands that secrete toxins that discourage enemies from eating them.

"The toad is colored so that it resembles the soil and thus often escapes the observation of its enemies...If a toad is removed from an earth or moss garden, and put into a white wash-bowl, in a few hours it will change to a lighter hue, and vice versa.  This is part of its protective color, making it inconspicuous to the eyes of its enemy." Handbook of Nature Study

She was a little camera shy but still has her eye on me.  Here, she is a darker hue, one that matches the dirt in her home.  Towards the end of our observation, she had started to lighten up and her spots were more pronounced. One of the differences between toads and frogs is their skin.  Toads have warts all over while frogs are smooth.  She is not slimy or even wet feeling but is very bumpy.

"The toad is ajumper, as may be seen from its long, strong hind legs, the feet of which are also long and strong and are armed with five toes that are somewhat webbed.  The 'arms' are shorter and there are four 'fingers' to each 'hand'; when the toad is resting, its front feet toe-in in a comical fashion." Handbook of Nature Study

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