Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Cicada - Tibicen superbus

As we've talked about creating another bird/butterfly garden around our "bird feeding" tree - my DS and I began trying to dig some of the grass up around the tree. The dirt is EXTREMELY hard so we were just sitting there contemplating having my husband build us up a flower bed there when we began digging these brown insects up.



We've been finding the exoskeletons all around the tree
Then when Chance and I were attempting to dig the ground this day - we found several live insects that we believed to be cicada nymphs. We were finding them in tunnels such as this:
I'm not terribly familar with them but as we didn't want to cause them harm by destroying their tunnels (we'd found 4-5 in the ground at this point) we decided to leave them alone and work on doing some type of container garden at that point around this tree until my husband could build us up a flower bed.
Cicada Nymph






Today I was quite surprised to find a molted cicada while planting my hydrangea out by this tree. I couldn't wait to show the kids.







My son went outside and gently lifted him with a stick and put him in his bug jar for us to observe. He was quite still and calm. I looked up what I could find on the internet to try to identify him. I found what we believe to be his species on bugguide.com. You can click on the above link above to see the page with his picture.

It appears that he is a "Tibicen superbus"


We then watched a video on You Tube of a cicada molting. You can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6sYdpYYVPA

The kids were amazed and I have to admit so was I. I think he could easily be compared to the "Incredible Hulk". From what we read, we believe this cicada had very recently molted so we were extra careful. The children viewed him with a magnifying glass. He was suprisingly beautiful. He had so much gold color - dusty gold color as if he had been guilded. My DS commented on just how beautiful his wings were.
















Chance Briana Alyssa


There wasn't anything in the HNS about cicadas but there was some information on molting.
Handbook of Nature Study- pp 295 & 296
information on molting insects-
"All in- sects have their skeletons on the outside of the body; that is, the outer covering of the body is chitinous, and the soft and inner parts are attached to it and sup- ported by it. This skin is so firm that it can- not stretch to accommodate the increas- ing size of the growing insect, so from time to time it is shed. But before this is done, a new skin is formed beneath the old one. After the old skin bursts open and the insect crawls forth, the new skin is sufficiently soft and elastic to allow for 296 ANIMALS the increase in the size of the insect. Soon the new skin becomes hardened like the old one ? and after a time is shed. This shedding of the skin is called molting."

They created some nature journal pages about the cicada before we released him back outside to our tree.
Alyssa's Nature Journal Page


Chance's Nature Journal Page Briana's Nature Journal

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Outdoor Hour Challenge #22 - Chasing Butterflies

Outdoor Hour Challenge #22 - Chasing Butterflies

We'd had some recent encounters with small, brown butterflies feeding from the children's marigolds for a couple of weeks now as you can see from my most recent post.

Barb thought they might be skippers and after checking enature.com I was in 100% agreement with her. I have yet to really narrow them down to a specific skipper. I was leaning towards the Cobweb Skipper but my DS pointed out that our skippers do not have the required prominent white "web" markings. When I type in our zip code (22405) into enature - I'm leaning more towards the Sachem (Atalopedes campestris).

Briana chose this particular skipper to put in her nature journal. She was able to catch several of these in her bug jar and observe them briefly before setting them free again unharmed. There just appears to be so many that are so closely colored/marked.


Briana's Nature Journal Entry


Alyssa has been chasing around a little white butterfly all week. She's also quite petite and white with a flash of yellow on her wings. We've yet to really see her up close because she's quite flighty but Alyssa (who is just turned 5 yo) seems to have more fun skipping around the yard after 'her' butterfly anyway :) She did her nature journal on her and we simple labeled her for now as "white butterfly".

Alyssa's Entry

My DS Chance had not sketched out his nature journal entry for this week yet. He and I spent some time together (see the last post - Outdoor Hour Challenge #1) sitting outside and happen across several of the skippers (the ones Briana sketched) and had an enjoyable conversation about the proboscis and watching these interesting little animals unroll, probe, and then roll back up these proboscis. We were thinking and discussing that he would probably journal about that this week when we had a nice surprise. He and I walked outside to check on the flower gardens and stumbled across this beauty: I was so incredibly excited. She's BEAUTIFUL :). I told him to watch her, to notice what flowers she seemed to be most attracted to, and I ran off into the house for my camera. I was so nervous that I wouldn't get pictures but she hung around. She mostly touched down on flowers- tasted them with her "feet" - and then headed off for another. This was a great time to discuss their tasting habits with my son.

Female butterflies often have important chemoreceptors on their legs to help
them find appropriate host plants for their eggs. These chemoreceptors are at
the base of spines on the back of the legs, and they run up along the spine to
its tip. Females drum their legs against the plant, which releases plant juices.
The chemoreceptors along the spines tell the butterfly whether they are standing
on the correct host plant. Monarch females test host plants with all six legs
before laying eggs. They also probably have chemoreceptors on their ovipositor.
Monarchs invest a lot of time into finding the correct host plant for their eggs
because it is essential for the eggs' survival. - from http://www.monarchwatch.org/biology/sense1.htm

I believe we have identified her as a female spicebush swallowtail HOWEVER - she also closely resembles the black swallowtail but with more blue than the black swallowtails seem to have. Any opinions or ideas on this? Chance, of course, decided to journal about our little swallowtail adventure

Chance's Nature Journal Entry
Here's his nature journal page for the challenge. We had a really fun time with this one. One of my 5 yo DD's is now saying that she is, "Studying Butterflies" to learn more about them so this is great :)!! I love when their interest is peaked and I can just run with it :). I'm looking at ordering some eggs and raising butterflies again. We did this when Chance was quite young but the girls were too little to remember. I'm going to have to find out when a good time to do this is in Virginia. I had planned on waiting until closer to next Spring and planning our curriculum/nature study accordingly but we'll be starting school in the next 2 weeks so I may take advantage of it while I have such a big interest from them :). Have to "catch it while I can" - that's the whole point of "natural learning"!!!

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Outdoor Hour Challenge #1 - yep #1

After reading Barb's email a few days ago about going back and working the first few Outdoor Hour Challenges before 'jumping in' - I realized that was something we did not do. Since we've been working on the new flower gardens and :) my DH has been working on my bird feeder 'station' I thought we'd start back a bit.

We were on the way home from gymnastics and tae kwon do classes yesterday afternoon and I mentioned to the children that with all of the outdoor time we'd had as a family in the past couple of weeks - we hadn't taken time to work on our nature notebooks(journals). I asked each of them to tell me (narrate) their favorite nature 'memory' from the past couple of days. They AMAZED me -I am always surprised by the knowledge these little ones hold in and after giving all glory to God for creating such amazing children - I just have yet another confirmation of the educational road we are travelling. The time spent out of doors and the Charlotte Mason style education we've been using has always surpassed my expectations and constantly wipes out my doubts and fears. With Barb's Outdoor Hour Challenges planned out for us - it is just one more step to making things easier and giving us more time to be out of doors together versus sitting inside while I create these nature excursions on my own.

"Be anxious about nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6, 7

As I pray on these things - the Lord undoubtedly answers my prayers. First - with Barb's recent emails of old posts about not becoming overwhelmed and then my discussion in the car with my DC.
As I asked them to narrate their favorite experiences to me - they all had something different that had appealed to them.

Chance (my 6 yo DS) - described his close encounter with our friendly, little Black & White Warbler. This little bird is quite brave in his interactions with us. He appears to be just as interested in us as we are in him.

Chance described (orally) the black & white warbler in surprising detail. I asked him questions about where he saw him and what he was doing and I was quite delighted at the accuracy of his answers.

He then went on to tell him he also LOVED seeing one of the male robins that frequent our feeders.
Tenderly named "Mr. & Mrs. Robin" by dear mom :) these joyful birds visit us daily with such an accurate schedule!! We can ALWAYS anticipate them as SOON as the heat wave breaks in the evening. They begin with a cooling bath/drink in our bird bath and then some hopping all around the feeders' overflowed and spilled seed on the ground. He again described the Robins in detail and went on to tell me about the differences between the male and females. He then couldn't WAIT to sketch both of the birds out for me.

Here are two OLD entries he made in his nature journal from May when we first began studying the Robins...


HNS - We've been studying Robins since the spring when we found the robin's nest in our front tree. They are a common visitor and we've reviewed most of the HNS information on them but it was nice to work on p 62- series g -Summer reading and observations - this was a nice lead in to the summer observations. I LOVE how Ms. Comstock did this section with the robins as we can follow them thier entire season here.
Warblers were not in the HNS but I did manage to find some information on them in All the Birds of North America page 133-

Mniotilta varia 5 1/4" - Numerous in deciduous and mixed woods. Migrates early when trees bare; gleans insects from tree trunks, large limbs. Striped head and body. Male has black cheek patch, female gray. Spring male has black throat. Song: Weesy, weesy, weesy, high-pitched song.

Alyssa chose to tell me about a bird she saw. Unfortunately - I missed the bird so I can only go by her description. She is one of my 5 year old twins and probably
has the least descriptive narrations of the three but she was rather excited
about her bird and rambled on about it
:).
She described it as black and white on its head, wings, and back and a yellow breast. She is looking through the All of the Birds of North America book now to try to identify him. This is one I have NOT seen myself outside. :) It is difficult to find anything in the HNS since I'm not quite sure which type of bird she observed. We'll spend some more time together outside trying to look for this bird and pray we observe him again together so I may help her in identifying him.


Briana chose to narrate to me about a butterfly she found and caught. She described a small, yellow butterfly to us that she managed to catch in her bug jar. She then caught a moth and looked at both of them very closely before letting them both go. She found the both of them on the children's marigold flowers.


We have not yet studied butterflies or moths so it brought a new interest into our nature study. She seems very interested in learning more about them.

Here you will find one of the children's marigolds that she found her butterfly on.

I looked up the butterflies in the HNS and did not identify her butterfly to be any located in the book. We pulled out our Usborne Spotter's Guides - Butterflies. We discussed the butterflies' proboscis and its importance.

Amazingly enough- later on in the day - my son and I were outside sitting and we looked at the marigolds to see four of these butterflies on the flowers. As we sat there - we were able to observe the butterflies' 'unroll' thier proboscis and begin probing into the marigold flowers with them. I've known what a proboscis was since I was a child but never really took the time or had the opportunity to sit and watch it in 'action'! It was quite the delight of the afternoon. I am posting some pictures below.

Here's another that really shows his proboscis






Now we need to try to identify these guys! :) It looks like we've got a lot to work on!! :)



Monday, July 14, 2008

Baby Bird...Pine Siskin, House Finch, Sparrow?

While my husband and son were working on the new flower bed yesterday - they noticed this little guy on the ground. One of our pomeranians was walking dangerously close to him and the bird made no effort to ecscape. We became concerned that our female pom might see the bird and harm him. She enjoys (at the ripe old age of 11 years old!) "playing" with the squirrels and other birds that we feed. I walked close to him, hoping to get him to fly off of the ground and to a safer spot but he didn't move.


I picked him up - afraid he'd get hurt on the ground by my dogs. I wanted to put him somewhere safe. We debated calling a friend of ours that handles wild bird rescues but other than not wanting (or being able to fly on his own) to fly away- he seemed fine. No aparent injuries or malnourishment.


I hand-fed and raised exotic birds for years before having our children but I was quite reluctant to take this baby out of his environment without any significant injury or other reason. We decided to put him somewhere comfortable but safer than on the ground and pray that his parents would find him and assist him naturally.

Since they were digging out a flower garden, they had soft tufts of grass they were hauling away. I picked up one and gently placed the little bird on it and set it on top of a outside cabinet we have behind our shed. The "cabinet" (more like a rubbermaid outdoor storage cabinet) is close to our privacy fence AND a line of trees that run along behind it. I hoped that it would provide some coverage and shelter for the bird and his parents. We found him not too far from this fence line so I also hoped his nest was in one of the taller trees.

I was hoping to identify him - for our nature study- but also to discover a better idea of if his nest was, indeed, in the trees along the back fence.

I THINK he is a juvenile pine siskin but it's difficult for me to tell. We have A LOT of these birds in and around our bird baths and feeders daily - one night last week I counted almost 40 birds around our "bird tree" where we have bird baths and SEVERAL different types of feeders.

Here are two others - they all look quite similar and I'm up in the air as to which species of bird they are. I'm between:

pine siskin

House finch

Sparrow

but it could be others - I've looked at wrens also. Does anyone have any ideas? It appears that so many of them look this way and I'd really love to be able to tell the children what species of bird they are (with some certainty). :) Thanks for any and all help!!!!

On my blog http://www.homeschoolnaturestudy.blogspot.com/

I have a photo show of the different birds we are seeing - we have others such as the blue jay and cardinal that I haven't gotten close enough snapshots of yet but I'm working on it :)

My dear, dear husband is building me a huge post to hang our bird feeders and housese :) and I'm so excited ;) I'll post a photo soon :).

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Garden Walk - Teaching nature study the natural way

It's been a bit since I've posted. We've been outside every morning and evening planting away. Our latest little project was a flower bed on the side of my husband's shed. As a landscaper - he's always been "in charge" of our landscaping but since we moved in January - I've convinced him to let me have a bit of creative garden freedom of my own :). It's so peaceful and relaxing.

The joyous feeling I have after the children and I complete a new flower bed is such a blessing. I have found myself thanking the Lord for his blessings each evening as I sit - buried in topsoil and mulch, sweat dripping, sunburned shoulders, and watching my children chase each other around the yard. I've never enjoyed being dirty so much or felt so incredibly overwhelmed with the Lord's love and amazing creation. Nothing but intelligent design here!

- Luke 12:27
"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these."


Hybrid Lilly - lirio bibrido

We are playing catch up on our outdoor hour challenges because of the flower beds. I was stressing myself about not keeping up when I realized all of this time outdoors with my children - as a family- is just what 'natural' nature study is and should be. Instead of being hurried to finish up so I could 'catch up' on our outdoor challenges - I realized I should be slowing down. Taking our time and enjoying the entire process of creating our new flower gardens. The Outdoor Hour Challenges are something that we love but they will still be there next week - and often times, we completed some of the challenges without realizing it. Isn't this somewhat of how the studies are intended to be? Teaching the children about God's world around them by ACTUALLY being outside with them? Deep in nature together?


Part of our newest flower garden. Not fully completed but on it's way.





As we continued through building this little area of flower garden, so much was learned. Since it is my first year handling my own flower beds - its been a learning experience for me as well. The children are quickly learning the names of our plants and flowers. We've talked about the needs of flowers - which need sun, which need shade, which are drought tolerant, and most important to me lately- which will attract wildlife to our yard.



(one of MY favorites - Purple Coneflower)


http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/Wildseed/33/33.1.html



This, of course, led right into discussions of conservation and our family's LOVE of nature. I am proud to be able to say that my children are TRUE nature lovers. We took a trip to a local nursery trying to glean some good information on the plants and flowers we wanted to use. The sales lady was so delighted when my 5 year old twins and 6 year old son correctly identified birds that were flitting around the nursery.



One of our backyard feathered friends - a black and white warbler- hanging around and eating suet DIRECTLY over me as I garden.



These are the moments that are only obtained by actually being out of doors and just enjoying.
Briana - having WAY too much fun with seed sprout weeds! :)

The sprouts (who had taken over my containers under our 'bird tree' - were making me crazy until my Briana came out and made me laugh acting silly like this :)






Sometimes enjoying too much ha ha! The "boys" Kilroy (our male pomeranian) and Chance (my 6 yo ds) are taking a "break" :)


As we are walking around the nursery - trying to "mesh" my husband's more "formal" garden ideas with my wildlife friendly DREAM cottage garden style - we (along with our children) have spent time just discussing what we love about certain plants and thier characteristics. I am delighted when my children come in early in the morning to tell me that "Chance's lilly has a new bloom."



(Cleome 'Sparkler Blush' - Cleome hassleriana Sparkler Blush Hybrid )

So - on a whim- (keeping in mind I live with a landscaper lol who is 'giving' me, "my way" with the flower beds lol - HUGE for him ha ha! As I'm picking up our plants from the nursery - I tell each of my kids to pick out their favorite and we'll get them for the flower bed. This is a small flower bed - and although tentative - I decided that allowing my children to be a larger part of our project was more important than a "perfect" flower bed. It worked out GREAT :). They chose wonderful plants - gleaning from the natural conversations we'd had and they'd listened to between my husband and I.


Alyssa chose pink guara-
http://www.nativesoftexas.com/flowersgroundcover/pinkguara.html

Briana chose a
Daylilly 'Paper Butterfly' - Hemerocallis 'Paper Butterfly'









Chance chose a
Daylilly 'America's Most Wanted'









The remainder of plants and flowers we put into this particular bed are:
Echinacea "Sundown" - the picture here doesn't do it justice - as a natural ecinacea lover I was hooked already but the colors are much more vibrant. Ours truly looks like a sunset! (at least according to my kiddos ) :)

Ground cover - I used
Goldilocks Creeping Jenny - lysimachia nummuldria

Fragrant Blue Hostas - not the most attractive to my bird friends but I LOVE hostas :) so easy and hardy!

Variegated Liriope - Liriope muscari variegata - a middle of the road decision with my husband - a little green for the fall for him ;)

Butterfly Weed - Asclepias tuberosa (Asclepiadaceae)- The flowers produce a large quantity of nectar which attracts butterflies throughout the growing season.

Hydrangea - Cityline Vienna- Hydrangea macrophylla Cityline™ Vienna - A 'must have' for me - this is my very first hydrangea (of my own care) and I'm so excited about it. The beauty that I bring inside with me every morning is amazing :). And they last SO long in a vase on my dining room table. It brings God's wonder in with me!








Dwarf Pampas Grass- Cortaderia selloana ‘Pumila’








Lavender -
Lavandula angustifolia - a website for anyone who loves lavender - I have not read through the entire website so check it out before putting children on it. ttp://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/lavendercareandtips.htm

Briana - my hard little worker - doing her BEST to help daddy clean up at the end of the day :).
Aaahh - what a wonderfully blessed life we lead!
I must say for a little flower garden it is beautiful to me. When I go outside to weed it; water it; or just sit and look at it - I can't help but smile at our little bit of God's beauty...... I wonder what we'll start on next ?????? :) :)