The Cache

Corner Pocket

"The best feeding time is autumn when, in a good year, the trees are laden with nuts and acorns. Some of this bounty is consumed, but many nuts are cached. Because they are industrious hoarders, they become thoroughly engrossed with their task, and frequently seem oblivious to the hazards of traffic. From the beginning of September, many are killed by cars when they attempt to cross busy streets."

Top Shelf

"Winter is a harsh survival test. By the first week in January, their buried larder is empty and to live, they are forced to eat pine seeds, buds, twigs, and bark. Even squirrels in the city feel the pinch of hunger at this time, and resort to raiding bird feeders...Tests have proved that peanuts, the staple "handout", contain insufficient nourishment to keep squirrels in good health."

Fast Food

 "A high percentage of nuts buried in autumn are never recovered and eventually take root.  Thus the grey squirrel makes an important contribution to the renewal of the trees upon which he feeds."

Yea, squirrels!

 

Could take Root

from: The Squirrels of Canada by S.E.Woods Jr. 

View from my Window

I am sitting here at the computer when something caught my eye; a lumbering, inconsistent flight of something odd shaped.  I stood at my desk and snapped photos through the window with my cell phone so the shots are not as clear as I like.  I ran outside with my camera but could not find them anywhere. I always shoot first in case such thing happens. Insects are not patient subjects.

I give you this very large photo so you can see the wasp holding on tight with two sets of legs.  In all the photos the katydid's legs are hanging so I am supposing that the wasp had already delivered its paralyzing sting.  The wasp will bring this treasure to its nest and lay an egg on it then seal it up in one of the cells.  When the egg hatches, the larvae will feed on the katydid that has been preserved because it is still alive and just not able to move.

It looks very much like a mud dauber wasp which I recognize because of its petiole, the narrow abdominal segment that joins the rest of the abdomen to its thorax. You have seen its nest of mud on walls and fence posts. The holes to the cells of these nests are very narrow and I first thought this wasp was very silly to catch a prey that was too large.

Silly me, insects know what they are doing.  The mud dauber wasp selects a specific kind of spider and can cram from ten to twenty paralyzed ones into a single cell with one egg.
This must be a ground-digger wasp. It has nests in the ground with cells big enough for katydids or the cicadas which they dig up for their young.

Glad I noticed.
What have you noticed today?

A "Wuchack" by Any Other Name

Over the last few years I was enjoying the occasional glimpses of a ground hog in my yard. We knew it was living under our shed and we were okay with that as it was not destroying anything we noticed.  And it was adorable.  I used to have a vegetable garden but now choose to support the local growers instead, so it was not harming us or our property in any way.

Last year a young man rang our door bell and introduced himself as the manager of the community garden.  He asked if we had a ground hog living on our property.  I surprised myself by lying in a protective den mother way.  I ventured to ask him what the problem was and he said that this animal was tunneling under the chain link fence from my backyard into the community garden on the other side. It was not only helping itself to a few vegetables but the entire row of broccoli!  I chucked to myself imagining the looks on their faces when they noticed their depleted harvest.

This young and earnest man then asked permission to set up a live trap on our side of the fence, which I quickly denied.  I wanted to give my yard pet a fair chance of changing its dining location.

A trap was dug in and wired to the tunnel on the other side of my fence.  And in one day it was trapped and carried away with the promise it would be released elsewhere.  I was sad. I missed its little furry self.

This week I was sitting outside by the pond eating my breakfast and what should appear along the path but another groundhog! Equally adorable and delightful.

I think just a change in wind direction or a better view of me and my cell phone made it hurry away with only a few quick stops to look over its shoulder and seek refuge under our shed once more.

And as with most other nature sitings I go to my Peterson's First Guides to identify what I'm looking at then off to the internet for more answers to questions, even answers to questions I didn't know I had:

Groundhog vs Woodchuck

Groundhogs and woodchucks are the same animal. “Woodchuck” is just another name for “groundhog.” Other names that are used for this particular animal include “whistle pig” and “land beaver.”

The groundhog is 1 of the 14 species of marmots. Its species name is Marmota monax and it belongs to the genus Marmota, family (Scuiridae), and order Rodentia. Its higher classification includes kingdom Animalia, Phylum Chordata, and Class Mammalia. The groundhog or woodchuck is the largest member of the squirrel family. It characterized as a ground squirrel that can climb trees and can swim in the water.

They are considered as garden pests since their diet is primarily plants like grass, fruits, agricultural crops, berries, and tree bark. However, they are also known to eat insects, grubs, caterpillars, snails, and grasshoppers.

Groundhogs or woodchucks are common in the North American areas such as the United States, Canada, and Alaska. Unlike their fellow marmots, they are lowland creatures with short but powerful limbs and curved, thick claws for digging. Their spine is curved with two coats of fur. They also have two, large incisors.

Groundhogs are famous because they are one of the few animals who undergo complete hibernation during the winter season. During the summer, the groundhogs eat all the season to accumulate a lot of body fat. When winter comes (usually in October to April), they escape to their burrows, curl into a ball, lower their heartbeats and their body temperature. During hibernation, the stored fat gives it all the necessary nutrients that the groundhog needs. The hibernation ends at the start of spring. Spring during the months of March to April also signifies new life for the groundhog since a litter of six newborns are usually born at this time of the year.

Aside from a place for a hibernation spot, a groundhog’s burrows are also the ideal place for sleeping, raising young groundhogs, and escaping predators like wolves, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, bears, large hawks, owls, and dogs. A groundhog’s burrow has a number of entrances and exits which makes it perfect as an escape route from predators.

Burrows are often found in forest edges near open fields like meadows, roads, and streams. A groundhog would usually serve as a guard to the burrow. A high-pitched whistle from the outside is an indication of an incoming predator and danger. The groundhog can also produce other sounds like low barks and sound from grinding their teeth.

The word “woodchuck” is associated with the groundhog since the Algonquian name for the groundhog is “wuchack.” From there it evolved into “woodchuck.” It has been the subject of a famous tongue twister and a day dedicated to the animal. ( www.differencebetween.net )

So I might have a family there. And as long as I don't plant a garden for our food they will not disrupt our lives.  It is eating the apples that continue to fall down from our ancient apple tree.  It is a good relationship.  I am glad.

Oothecas, Swarms and Keeping

Our last Charlotte Mason gathering at l'HaRMaS saw each guest gifted with their own praying mantis nest in a jar to bring home.  Our instructions were brief and number two warns us to check the ootheca daily from mid-May to June... if you live north of the border.

Praying Mantis egg sack, the ootheca.

Leslie Laurio, our dear Friend of l'HaRMaS and Ambleside Online Advisory member, gives us a heads up on the migration of warm weather as it arrives in Tennessee: "I've kept my jar outside on the back porch all winter and I've been checking them every day. Miranda looked at the jar after church, and it was swarming with little baby mantises! I let them loose in various locations all over my backyard so they will hopefully spread out and not eat each other. I have the pod, and it has little dry egg casings hanging from it. It looks like each mantis had an individual little case that he broke out of. I wish I could have seen them coming out."

I put a call in to Sarah, our ootheca collector,  and asked for further advice: Keep the jar in the garage until it really warms up outside, leave them in a place where the jar will not fill up with rain water, and try to keep them two feet off the ground so the ants don’t get an easy meal.

Here’s a great idea from Laurie: “I'm at my community garden plot digging beds...hurrying home to check mine. They went from one of the worst winters on record on my balcony under a flower pot to the back of a u haul truck to my garage. Maybe it's time to share them at the community garden?”

It's still there in the shed.

Some of us, like Melanie, need the reminder to look at our safely stored jar as it is easy to be distracted with spring bringing more than insects: “Oh!  I almost forgot mine!  I have been watching a little spider egg sac on a boxwood shrub a few houses down on my street almost every day but nothing has hatched yet.”  

I am going to attempt to make it a more prolonged nature study. That cast off aquarium I picked up from the neighbors last year will make a great viewing gallery for my ootheca and will be sure to amuse the nine year old boys in my science club. I just read that you could hang raw hamburger on a string instead of also growing aphids for their food as starving mantises will eat each other not recognizing they are kin.

Swarming is the operative word; from that little Styrofoam-like nest, the size of a walnut, comes around 200 little praying mantises.  They will not hurt you and will not fly out at you as they need a few molts before they will get their wings like the adults.

The Living Page by Laurie Bestvater calls it keeping: take out your Nature Notebook, describe the nest, the hatching and all you see, draw or note what the nest looks like after the swarm has left, take a good look at the baby mantises, use your magnifying glass, make a notation in your Book of Firsts when they do hatch, do something in order to keep this incredible experience as part of what you do know.

Today

A female red winged blackbird is repeatedly yanking yellowed grasses and flying them to the cedar tree.

A common grackle landed right in front of a black squirrel and proceeded to shoo him out of the area.

The frog I saw a week ago in my pond has not been seen since. I've searched often.

Every tree has a soft focus look about them in contrast to their winter starkness. Their flower and leaf buds are swelling.

A male red winged blackbird just chased a morning dove right out of the yard.

The air is warmer and humid. It rained most of last night and today.

The sky is dark grey in the horizon but the sun is out right now where I am.

And the birds are singing. It makes my heart glad.

Something Blue

I noticed that when the mud dauber wasp's wings catch the sun, 

they are shiny blue.

 I did my slow quiet walk around my back yard 

and noticed the dragon fly, also blue. Blue. 

Do we see blue often in nature?

 Yes, I turned in my spot knowing 

the blue spruce stood tall right behind me. 

Stealthily I made my way back to the pond

 and was greeted by this damselfly.

 Blue, not only for summer skies and open waters.

"Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean - roll!"   Lord Byron from Childe Harold

The Ten Step Nature Walk

Literally. Ten steps. 

I did not have to pack my nature notebook. I did not fill my water bottle. 

I did not need to find my keys or the energy for the journey to a place where I can see God's creatures.

great golden digger wasp

I took ten steps out my back door to where my pond, 

overgrown with water lilies and filled with frogs, stands.

 Every year I tear mounds of  the invasive hydrilla out of the water

 and pull up tons of mint that throws runners over everything.

mud dauber wasp

But the mint that does grow back blooms and when it blooms,

everyone wants some.

Yesterday I took ten steps from my house, stood still 

and watched nature come to me.

metallic green bee 'Agapostemon'

cabbage white

carpenter bee

Nine different species that were kind enough to pose for a photo. 

And this was not even looking in the pond or counting what landed on the other plants.    I stood there for a good thirty minutes hardly noticing the heat of the unclouded sun.    I did notice it when my shadow obscured my view and disturbed 

an insect.

Plant something that brings nature to your door step. 

Or at least within ten steps of it.

l'HaRMaS: A Charlotte Mason Retreat

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A Snow Plow and a Spider

I watch an adorable four year old most Wednesday nights while his parents lead our high school youth group.  Last week he and I snuggled in to read a huge pile of books. He excitedly handed me one favorite after another, the same way my children did, never seeming to tire of the same old story.  Every week I sneak in a few new titles and this week, in celebration of a recent snow fall, we read Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton.

I love all her stories as well as the illustrations that fill the page with tiny details and so much to look at. As I was enjoying each simple scene I suddenly was reminded of a previous 'friend' I had studied.

"But Katy was so big and strong

she had to stay at home, 

because there was not enough snow for her to plow."

But Spider was so shy and wary

he had to curl the leaf,

because that was the only way to feel secure.

I gleefully showed my daughter my personal connection.  She whimsically looked at the illustration of Katy in the garage smiling as she remembered the story. I then showed her my photo of the spider and she had to agreed that yes, it was quite like Katy preparing to plow.  Then, in disgust, she said I had ruined the sweet image of Katy diligently plowing out a city from the big snow.  To her the spider is a shudder-inducing creature that  now replaces dear Katy in a once beloved book.

Connections our children make between different stories, ideas and adventures they have are as different as you and me. You may not 'get' my connection between Katy and the spider, but it was mine to make and mine to keep mulling over. I wonder if the spider's big snow is a big insect instead. I wonder how long he waits in that one leaf like the snow plow in a garage. Katy has a purpose proper to her as does the spider. 

The spider laid in wait for days

so he could catch just the right insects for his supper

Then he went home satiated.

Then....and only then did the spider stop.

Is it a Rat or a Mouse?

The bird is an American Kestrel. I was on a lovely New Year's Day drive with my husband along back roads through the county when I spotted it holding on to what I am sure was a delicious treat for its lunch.

The American Kestrel did not like our intrusion even though we had turned off the truck and sat there to watch. He must have been a shy eater. So what did he plan to dine on that day?

I did some research to figure out what type of rodent it dropped and then so quickly swooped down to retrieve.  The American Kestrel is the smallest falcon in North America. It ranges from 5-11 inches with a wingspan of 20-24 inches and weighs about 3 ounces.

Mice reach the length of 3 inches with their tails being as long as their bodies.  Voles grow to 9 inches and resemble mice but with a stouter body and a shorter hairy tail.  A rat can grow to over 11 inches and its tail is also as long as its body.  I knew it couldn't be a mole because the feet didn't match.

On that information go to the top photograph and compare the relative size of the rodent to that of the falcon.  

Is it a Rat, Mouse or Vole? 

The rodent is at least half its size. Adult mice are only 3-4 inches long and both the mouse and rat have tails as long as their bodies.  My guess would be that our falcon has got himself a vole. Do you agree?

Nature Study Idea: Blooms

 WHAT'S BLOOMING

I challenge you to find at least five things blooming in your October yard and garden.  If you live on a very small property, next time you walk to the corner store or library take the challenge.

These are the things I found yesterday:

sedum

hydrangea

lavender

hosta

geraniums

FIND OUT MORE

I have had these wonderful plants in my gardens for years and have enjoyed the colors of the blooms and shapes of leaves. My second challenge for you is to find out some thing more about one of the flowers you have loved for years in your own garden.  I chose the clematis that I recently replanted and was rewarded with some blooms.

clematis

Clematis (KLEM-a-tis) is a member of the Ranunculaceae (buttercup) family. The word is from the Greek and means "vine." This genus includes approximately 250 species and numerous garden hybrids. It is a varied genus, made up of mostly woody, deciduous climbing plants, though a few are evergreen and a few herbaceous. There is great variety in flower form, color, bloom season, foliage effect and plant height. Leaves are opposite on the stem and mostly compound with three to five leaflets. The leaf stalk twines like a tendril and is responsible for giving the plant support. The flowers are showy, having four (sometimes five to eight) petal-like sepals (no true petals) in numerous colors and shades. There are three general flower forms: small white flowers in panicles or loose and irregular spreading clusters; bell or urn-shaped flowers; and flat or open flowers. The fruit is often showy as well, being a ball shaped, "feathered" structure. Clematis are hardy plants (many are hardy to USDA zone 3) and can survive for 25 years or more. The large-flowered hybrids may have blooms ranging from four to ten inches in diameter and as many as 100 blooms per plant in a season. The species types have blooms ranging from one-half to three inches in diameter with diverse shapes and habit; many of the species have fragrant blooms, which is not true of most hybrids. The one fault of clematis is that they are not attractive during winter, when they are a tangle of bare stems. 

I never really thought of a plants life time. There was a large hosta in our garden when we moved in 24 years ago. I have split, separated and replanted and split those and replanted more hosta to the point that I give them away. It could be the everlasting plant.

I would love for you to tell me what is blooming in your garden this month.

Science Lessons Naturally

This past weekend we were packing up ready to leave a family reunion.  I saw my parents and the rest of my family behind a truck talking to someone. When I came out of the cabin again my mother was waving me to come. I always obey my mom, so down the road I went.

The camp professes to have no dangerous wildlife. If there is a situation where a bear fails to read the no trespassing sign, the trapper on staff quickly removes the threat. The government also uses his services and recently requested him to take some pesky beavers out from a cottager's vicinity because they had the nerve to start making a dam in preparation for their young and protection from the winter.

So there they were, two dead beavers lying on the road behind the truck at the back of the camp property.

Jim was talking passionately about the animals; how they are monogamous and how they want and need just the one home. He explained how the fur used in coats is not taken from a whole animal;  the grade of fur around the neck is of the highest quality then the next section below that is of a little lesser grade and the bottom section is much coarser. When you purchase a beaver article it would be made of many strips from the same part of many beavers and the quality would depend on which section of strips made your coat.

Jim sharing his passion about the wildlife in the area


Jim told us that beaver meat, pound for pound was the highest nutrition for bears bulking up for winter and that the secret to the best show dogs was that they were fed beaver meat. If hunters wish to garner the highest profit and least waste from each animal, they can sell the fur on a tanned hide, the castors and the scent glands and even the beaver tails can be tanned and used as a wallet or small satchel.

Jim was going to drop these beavers in the woods for the bears.  He looked at me incredulously as I asked him if I could have the beaver tails but he obliged and hacked both off and I took them home in my suitcase. Right now they are in the fridge but will go in the freezer until a family friend comes over to help me clean and tan the tails.

Science lessons do not always happen in scheduled blocks of time.  Take advantage of a passionate hunter who willingly and eagerly shares his knowledge.
 

Science, Fabre and Charlotte Mason

(Science's) textbook usually presents a devitalized science - only a genius can write a scientific book that throbs with life and is still scientific. Read Fabre's descriptions of insect life, those fascinating stories from which one has to tear one's self away, and compare that description of the same insect in a textbook of biology - the one is a living story of living creatures, the other a lifeless account of dead, dissected things.

  D. Avery, The Cultural Value of Science, Parents Review, volume 31, no. 9.  edited by Charlotte Mason.

This sums up my intention for this blog.  How can we learn science in a way that is throbbing with life?  Jean Henri Fabre wrote living stories.  Charlotte Mason, a 20th century British educator, stated that 'all thought we offer to our children shall be living thought; no mere dry summaries of facts will do; given the vitalizing idea, children will readily hang the mere facts upon the idea as upon a peg capable of sustaining all that it is needful to retain.' (2/227) Those ideas are introduced first through living books.

be-like-Fabre:  books that throb with life, persons that observe keenly and learn.