Backyard Nature Study - Ants

I'd like to suggest a very close-to-home nature study you can do whether you are in an urban setting with lots of concrete about, or not enough energy or time to give up the afternoon for a road trip to a nature area or trail, or interested in a longer study of live creatures right in your home.

It's the ant farm. Ants are readily available and if you insist that there are none around, empty a bit of sugar onto your counter and you will be rewarded with a slew of them.  A less intrusive idea would be to leave a sticky mess of candy outside and check it in a day or so.

I went to the dollar store and purchased a glass spaghetti jar and a plastic water bottle.  Anything that fits inside one of the other leaving a narrow gap between them will work. Have your children find some dirt and fill up that gap.

We punched holes in the lid with a hammer and nail. The problem was that the holes were large enough for ants to pass through.  Not good.  We closed them again with tape and made smaller holes.  The best idea is to capture large ants!

Go out and find those ants. The easiest idea is to find an ant hill, dig deep around it then have everyone scoop like crazy with soup spoons. Ants scatter quickly! Make sure you get ants and eggs.  The jackpot would be to have found a queen ant. You can also look under rocks and patio stones.

                                   

Once your ant farm has been filled dirt, eggs and ants, make a heavy paper cover to put around the outside of it to give those ants the underground feeling.  Add a sweet snack for them and a cotton ball soaked in water for their drink.

                                   

You can slide off the paper sleeve for a bit every day to see what the ants have been up to.  

In their nature notebooks, have your children mark the progress of the tunnels, where the nests are built and how many eggs are stored or hatched. 

Charlotte Mason wants us to make entries into our nature notebooks including painting and notes about what we observe.  The ant farm gives an opportunity to spend time studying the same creature over a longer time period. This is part of what she called 'special studies'.

"They are expected to do a great deal of out-of-door work in which they are assisted by The Changing Year, admirable month by month studies of what is to be seen out-of-doors. They keep records and drawings in a Nature Note Book and make special studies of their own for the particular season with drawings and notes." (Mason, Volume 6, p. 219)

Older students can include a daily chart recording the increasing lengths of the trails and the number of the eggs and ants.  You can see how nature study is the precursor for science study.  This is what J. H. Fabre was famous for: close observation of small creatures over long periods of time.  Fabre not only recognized the insects he studied but he knew them and their ways.  This is your opportunity to know about ants.

The Best Part

This summer has been relatively dry.  Dry enough that the grass on my front lawn is a disappointing shade of dead but in the back yard, where the lawn is shaded with large trees, it is green. The kind of green that does not come from newly laid sod but from dandelion leaves, creeping charlie and clover.  And since there hasn’t been enough rain the few stubborn blades of grass have not grown high enough to warrant a pass of the mower.  So my backyard has swaths of flowering clover. 

And that clover is host to hundreds of honey bees.

So much good can come from just letting it be. 

Some would call that lazy. But truly, let the lawn go in the spring and it will be covered in dandelions and swarming with bees and the first butterflies and beetles and flies. Then the clover over the summer and voila! Nature happily taking up residence in your very own backyard. No intervention and manipulation required, just restraint from weeding and feeding and mowing and spraying. ‘Cause, really, all that would be left are manicured but barren blades of grass with literally no life in it.

Much like what Charlotte Mason calls Masterly Inactivity.  No need for manicured lesson plans and long lectures but just living books and things in the hands of a child and voila! Ideas and questions will sprout to be examined and narrated. Mason says, “We ought to do so much for our children, and are able to do so much for them, that we begin to think everything rests with us and that we should never intermit for a moment our conscious action on the young minds and hearts about us. Our endeavours become fussy and restless. We are too much with our children, ‘late and soon.’ We try to dominate them too much, even when we fail to govern, and we are unable to perceive that wise and purposeful letting alone is the best part of education.”

Purposeful letting alone allows your yard, your children’s education, an opportunity to be rife with life.

Not fussing nor restless but watching bees pollinate while lying in the grass.

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. 

"Best Looking Corn in Essex County!"

I say this out loud to myself every time I drive by the fields my son-in-law planted. This is a very prejudiced thing to say as I know nothing about corn but I do love the young man who planted it.  I know he planted it with great excitement and trepidation and faith and prayer. And he visits his corn often to have a chat with it and see how it's coming along.

This is his passion.  

So I ask him about it.

A good crop is measured by the number of rows on a cob and how far to the tip the kernels grow.  This one has 16 rows and covers almost all the cob.  These results are determined by the quality of the soil and the fertilizer it's able to take up, the amount of rain and sun, and pest infestations. Corn removes a lot of the nutrients from the soil so it is only planted in the same fields every two years.

He tells me that farmers call the dimples in the kernels dents. And funny enough, it is officially called Dent Corn (Zea mays indenata). Around here we only make two distinctions; it's either sweet corn that we steam and eat in great quantities while the season is on, or field corn that is used for everything else. Dent corn is used for livestock feed, in industrial products, or to make processed foods. These dents signify that the corn is drying out. In order to harvest, they want 15% or less moisture in the corn so they can sell it right away.  If there is too much moisture the corn must be put in the dryer before stored in an elevator or it will rot.

 When it is this dry the kernels are spongy in the cob, like rows of loose teeth.

 

 

 An attentive farmer, like my son-in-law, will often check his crop and pick out one kernel to check for the telling black layer. The corn needs this layer as it is an indication of its starch content and must be at this stage before the first frost. When the time is right the harvester will cut the stalk, the thrasher will remove each kernel, and a conveyer will move them up to be put in a wagon. Then off to market it will go.


You may have remembered my mouse issue. I recently relented and bought the non-catch-and-release type and one mouse was removed from my house. One mouse, I am told, means many more. My gift of Dent Corn was placed on my counter with the bet that a mouse would eat the corn before entering the trap.  Neither of us won. I think my mouse problem has ended. Smart mice.

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.

Wishful Thinking

Snails; I remember them as the lazy man's way to clean the walls of a fish tank.

This one is on my house.

You know where I'm going with this..
I am wondering if there were more of them would they clean the siding.

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.

THUD!

Strange noises are strange in order to attract our attention.  We heard a loud THUD just a few minutes ago and ran to the window. We were not disappointed.  There was a dove lying on the ground blinking its eyes but otherwise not moving.  Even his eyes stopped moving and there was a bird sized pool of blood under it's head.

Carefully looking about there was a Cooper's Hawk just a few feet above it.  It had obviously stopped short of following the dove into the window; those are pretty quick reflexes.  My daughter came through the back door and scared him away.  BUT we were patient, figuring that he wouldn't leave such a fresh tasty morsel go to waste.

He moved from the deck...

to the apple tree...

to within striking distance of his Easter lunch.

Anticipating his next move I put the camera onto the video setting...

It's not Mange!

I am always learning and it's nice to think that I can also remember what I learn.  For my last post I researched the squirrel since they are so abundant in my own back yard. I've been away and was sitting back at the computer that purposely sits right beside the sliding glass doors and noticed a sad looking squirrel.  It took me a few moments and I remember that squirrels molt!  All these years I thought I was seeing some mangy rodent on it's last legs.  Mange is actually a real thing, it is caused by mites which bite the animal and irritate the skin follicle.

bald patches on his neck and waist

Molting is triggered by secretion of the thyroid and pituitary glands. Since it is his spring molt, he will undergo a compete head-to-tail molt. The fall molt is only rump-to-head and maintains his tail fur.

it's a happier picture knowing it's not mange

While on my walk today I saw a squirrel with a mouthful of leaves and bits of string and stuffing. He bounced across the street and then quietly slid around the trunk of a large maple tree and settle in the crotch of the large branches.  I will take care to walk this way again to see the progress. I will also keep an eye out for the trees in my own backyard and see if the squirrels nest there again.

The photos of the squirrels in the last post were taken on February 2nd.  So just six weeks ago they had not yet begun to molt.  I wonder what signals the body to begin the secretions that shed fur? It is still below freezing here and no sign of getting warmer. Maybe they have little calendars in their dens and noticed that spring indeed has arrived.

In The Shadow of His Tail

We can not possibly know about every living thing on this earth. Nor do we need to know. So why are we drawn to the exotics when there are animals in our own back yards that we give no more than a cursory glance? How much do you know about the most common animals in your neighborhood?  I wonder how many delights we miss because we are so used to seeing them.

"I will sit still and let the marvels and the adventures settle on me like flies. There are plenty of them I assure you. The world will never starve for want of wonders, but only for want of wonder." G.K. Chesterton

One of these non-exotics I have decided to spend a little more time examining is the squirrel. The only thing I knew is that they nest and play in my backyard and that there are grey ones and black ones.

Do you know the difference between the two? Apparently there is no difference, they are the same thing.   "Indeed, many people believe that black squirrels are a separate species rather than a colour phase of the grey. In fact, his colouring may be grey, dark brown or black, red-brown, or pure white, but his most common colouring is grey or black.

Grey or Black Squirrel, the scientific name, Sciurus carolinensis, refers both to his plume-like tail, and the locality where he was first identified. Sciurus comes from the Greek and means "creature who sits in the shadow of his tail":, while carolinensis is the Latinized name for the original state of Carolina.

The halo effect of their tail is created by silver-tipped guard hairs.

The grey squirrel moults twice each year; in spring and in autumn.  All his fur is replaced in the spring moult, which commences at his head; the autumn moult moves in the opposite direction, and excludes his tail."

I spent a few hours watching this one squirrel eat seeds and proceed to engage in a lengthy cleaning regiments every ten minutes or so. I was amazed at his flexibility and thoroughness.

I picked up this wonderful book because I was beginning to realize I was missing out on the wonders right outside my own door: The Squirrels of Canada by S.E. Woods, Jr. where the 1980 edition has a wonderful drawing on the cover by Jan Sharkey Thomas.

Nature Study Idea: Winter

It is wonderful that we have different seasons.  There may not be new species to see in winter but we certainly can see things in a new way.  Winter also reveals things previously hidden. 

What have you discovered?

Squirrel nests, three of them!

There were hundreds of blooms on the tulip tree,

but we just couldn't see them because of the leaves.

Nature Study Idea: Colors

My property is not huge. When we moved in 21 years ago there was the one apple tree that we kept for the beautiful leaf shade it still provides for our patio. Since then we have spent the time planting other trees, flowers and shrubs mostly from cuttings and transplants given to us by neighbors. It takes patience and vision to build a nature sanctuary of beauty and function.  The function being the habitat and food for animals; nectar from the flowers for bees and butterflies, yummy hosta leaves for slugs and earwigs, berries for birds, trees for squirrel nests and all those sights and sounds for us humans. This is only to say there could be plenty of things to see in your own backyard for nature study. 

Join your children, go out your own backdoor and look for things that are red:

cherries left for birds and critters

maple leaves

Japanese maple

English buttercups

rose hip

burning bush berries

Of course going down the sidewalk or through a park or nature trail is great too. Don't make nature study a chore by thinking it has to be a complicated outing. If you have something specific to look for chances are you will see something else along the way. Stop, look, really look and describe what you see, sketch it, use the perfect shade of red for painting then label it. 

Nature Study Idea: Listen

I was enjoying another afternoon on my front porch. It was wonderfully warm last week even though it is the end of October, we reached a high of 22 Celsius (that's 'add 32....' and do the hokey-pokey to make it Fahrenheit). Well, it was sunny and warm enough to be in a t-shirt and bare feet.  I was doing the Ken Ken and Sudoku puzzles in the newspaper when I thought I could hear leaves falling. They were.

Upon investigation I saw at least a dozen robins in my mountain ash tree.  They were pecking off and eating the orange berries that are left on it this time of year. The sound was the birds movement disturbing the fragile grip the yellowed leaves had on their branches. I could also hear some of the berries that got knocked off fall through the leaves and hit the roof and rain gutters.

Lucky shot of one of the robins with the berry in his beak,
they swallow them whole as far as I could tell.

I also could hear crickets.  It is a nice sound when hearing them on the outside. When even one gets trapped, or I think some come purposefully, in my house it is quite loud and annoying.  I am quite an expert on catching them and releasing them out my door.

I was still enough hear a rustle then see the black and white cat that lives under the mountain ash dart away probably because falling berries were disturbing his nap. I am sure he sleeps on my cushioned chairs on the front porch when I'm not looking.

The Canada geese are hard to miss, their constant honking announces that you will see their V in the sky as they pass over. Follow their path long enough to see them switch places and catch up with each other.

So listen.  In order to listen you must remain still for longer than 10 seconds. To help restless children settle down try reading a poem or tell a story to them first, the constant sound of one voice will give courage to the wild creatures to come back round. If they are truly a rambunctious lot, let them run through the trail first and near the end they might be more willing to settle down.  Or have lunch outside to keep their hands and mouths busy enough to let their ears hear. And don't forget your own front porch, there is no need to travel too far to hear new things.

Listen. It will draw your attention further than your eyes can immediately see.
Listen. It will change the sense of space you feel around you.
Listen. You might see a flock of robins eating berries in a mountain ash tree.
Listen. Sit quietly you may observe something extraordinary and unexpected.
Listen. Creation is speaking.

Nature Study Idea: Seeds

It's that time of year where the seed pods are revealed after the leaves have fallen: 

1. go on a quest for what has produced seeds.  

2. collect some seeds and mark them carefully for planting in your own garden or

3. share with someone who is willing to send you their seeds. I would be willing to send you some of mine.

4. sketch some of the different shapes of pods and seeds noting what plants they they are from.

5. if your students find something else more fascinating while searching for seeds, then explore and sketch what has attracted their attention instead.  The point is to get them noticing.

Here are some of my plants that have produced seeds:

Red bud seed pods looking like laundry on the line.

The silver dollar, money plant or "Lunaria annua",

if you gently rub the outer shells,
the parts with the seeds slip off,

the 'silver dollar' is revealed
and you have a beautiful dried plant for your home.

Seeds fall and drift everywhere producing many plants,
 if you don't like them they pull  up easily.

Purple flag iris pods reflect the number 3 in their flowers,

the shells are hard and three sided.

Columbines gather their seeds as in a miniature rattle,

shake them gently to hear the tiny sound
 then dump them upside down to spread the seeds.

Plantaginea hosta, the one with the lovely white flowers,

their seeds almost look like tiny maple tree keys.