We took some time to observe and learn about milkweed seeds as part of this challenge.
“The milkweed pod has been the admiration of nature students from the beginning, and surely there are few plants structures that so interest the child as this house in which the milkweed carries its seeds.”
Milkweed pods opening “No sooner is our treasure open to the air than the shining silk begins to separate into floss of fairy texture.” “…and altogether there are enough of the threads to float the seed, a balloon of the safest sort.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 493
The Handbook of Nature Study has a complete section of information and observation suggestions on pages 491-495.
We are going to plant some milkweed in our butterfly garden this year. I ordered the seeds from this website. We did not gather the milkweed seeds that are in the photos since we were at Yosemite National Park and it is against the law to gather seeds in a national park. 🙂
Now we were ready to go through Anna Comstock’s directions for a more intensified study of the sunflower. If you take the time to go through this study, you are going to learn many fascinating and amazing things about the ordinary sunflower. The design of the Creator is all over this flower…I think we could go through this study again next year and still find loads of things to be amazed by.
“…while at the center lie the buds, arranged in an exquisite pattern of circling radii, cut by radii circling in the opposite direction; and at the very center the buds are covered with the green spear-points of their bracts.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 576
“All this flower has to do is to hold its banner aloft as a sign to the world, especially the insect world, that here is to be found pollen in plenty, and nectar for the probing.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 575
“But the stems are very solid and firm, and the bend is as stiff as the elbow of a stovepipe, and after examining it, we are sure that this bend is made with the connivance of the stem, rather than despite it.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 576
“They finally become loosened, and as the great stem is assaulted by the winds of autumn, the bended heads shake out their seed and scatter them far afield.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 576
We followed the book’s directions and found examples of each of the kinds of florets as described on page 577 in the Observations section. We learned so much just by trying to find each of the different kinds and then really examining them. If you need more help, there is a diagram on page 575. We learned about the “community”of flowers that make up the sunflower heads.
Here is one of my nature journal entries that features my sunflowers. This summer has been filled with lots of sunflower times and I enjoy going back through my journal and seeing their progress.
It is a sad time when the sunflowers are finishing up their life cycle. I am going to be gathering a few handfuls of seeds to save for next year’s garden. The flower heads will be left out in the garden for the birds to feast on and then later this fall, we will do our garden clean up and pull out the remains. This is the first year that we have had finches all summer eating the leaves of our sunflowers. It is amazing that those tiny birds can sit on the leaves and the leaves don’t bend over. The finches must be truly lightweight to accomplish this.
I hope everyone else is enjoying their sunflower study this week. If you didn’t get a chance to do it this year, there is always next year! Plan ahead!
Just a word about nature study with older students.
Honestly, as my children are getting older, they are having to dig deeper to find something they are interested in learning about but the desire is still there. I am feeling the need to spend even more time with them outdoors as they reach their teen and teen+ years, stepping up the observations and learning.
They are becoming more confident in skills like using binoculars, using a field guide, knowing what plants grow in what environments, knowing what berries are edible, identifying birds by their flight patterns, making connections.
Last week we took our regular trip to the pond. Normally they get right to the business of scooping up water and critters and talking in excited voices about what they are finding. But this time I noticed a different atmosphere, a feeling of “we’ve been here and done that” sort of attitude. I had to quickly remind myself that this is their normal reaction anymore to just about everything. I think they are not interested in something because they don’t appear to be too excited on the outside. But later on in the day when they are talking to their dad, they relate a the whole experience in a different light. Apparently the outside of a teenager doesn’t accurately reflect the inside at all times.
So if you have older children and they appear to not be interested at first, don’t give up. It may be that they just aren’t showing it outwardly but inside the experiences are deeply affecting them. Don’t give up. I am not going to stop offering time outdoors with my boys.
Not all of our time will be nature study but just time to spend exploring together and sharing experiences. Our two favorite outdoor activities right now are bike riding and hiking. It sort of evens out the field in my opinion. They can lead me along and find things to show me and I can follow along and see what their eyes see. It is a great way to get to know your teens better.
I know this week we were supposed to be looking for bees but I have a favor to ask.
I decided that I have far too many unidentified insects and I might as well just post the photos here and let anyone who has any idea what they are, please let me know the names or at least a direction.
I am *so happy* that we are finishing up our focus on insects because I get very frustrated with not knowing particular names. I know I should be happy to have had the experience with observing them and also the time to browse through my insect field guide and on the internet. My boys are content with just spotting and observing. I am not content.
Here are the photos:
This one is a shiny blue and there seems to be lots of them crawling in the garden. I find them mostly under the leaves of my green beans and strawberries.
This guy is fairly good size and has a beautiful red splotch on his back.
I know I see these all the time but I don’t have any idea what they are called. They are the biggest of the bunch. EDIT: Bordered Plant Bug or Largus succinctus (Thanks to Dana!)
This one is sort of like the blue one but still different.
This one has a round body and is really black and blue iridescent.
This one I thought at first was a spider but it only has six legs. The legs and the antennae are striped and he was carrying that black thing as he climbed around on the butterfly bush. He was very fast. (You may need to click the photo to enlarge it.) EDIT: Some sort of Assassin Bug (Thanks to Dana!)
Okay, that is my collection of photos that I have yet to identify. As you can tell, I see a lot of insects when I am out watering in the garden.
We didn’t see a single bee today when we went outside but the boys knew where to go look so I know they have been observing them in the garden. One son says that he always sees bees in the lavender and the other said he thinks they are always on the butterfly bush. I think just knowing where to look for the bees is valuable. I am not worried….the bees will be back later I am sure.
Lest you think that all I took photos of on my Yosemite trip were wildflowers, here are some bird photos. You will also note that these are not my typical “pretty” photos….birds are hard to photograph and they just don’t come close enough for my little camera.
I love to watch for birds in the early morning. The meadow near our campsite was a perfect birding site and I was up early each morning to see what I could find. The first photo is of a white-headed woodpecker and the second photo is a brown creeper.
These are both new birds to add to my life list of birds seen and identified. That is always exciting.
There is a section in the Handbook of Nature Study on different woodpeckers on pages 70-77. You might enjoy reading about the woodpecker in preparation of your next encounter.
Something else interesting is that I found a feather from a Steller’s jayand when I compared it to my Scrub jay feather that is already in my collection, I found out how different the feathers are colored. Both birds are very similar in color and shape but the patterns of color are very different. Here you can see it clearly. The Scrub Jay is on the left and the Steller’s Jay is on the right. There is a section in the Handbook of Nature Study specifically on bird feathers starting on page 29. We found it very interesting to read about the various purposes of feathers and the various kinds of feathers.
Here is a scan of one of my bird nature journal pages that I made during our trip. Nothing fancy but still a really good reminder in my nature journal of the day we saw this woodpecker. You can find the notebook page on my Freebies page.
Hope you enjoyed a little bird stuff today. I still have insects to share and a really big entry with wildflowers. I am trying to decide whether to make a slideshow of the flowers or just share a few of the over forty flowers I took photos of.
This week’s challenge was to focus on insects and moths in particular. We were able to see lots of moths close-up this week when we were camping. Once you turn on the lantern and set it on the table, watch out! Moths come a flying!
Here are some of the many moths we observed during the week. We were able to get good photos by turning on two lanterns and using one to attract the moths and one to light the moth for the photo. I did not use the flash on the camera.
I don’t think this one is a moth but some other sort of insect that is attracted to the light.
The next set of photos is from the back porch. I turned on the porch light and a little while later, we had plenty of insects that were sitting on the wall near the light. We were able to get good photos by shining a flashlight on the insect and then turning the flash off on the camera to take each one close-up.
Edit: Roberta says this is an adult cabbage looper. I think it looks right to me. 🙂 Thanks Roberta.
This looks more like a green lacewing than a moth but it was sure attracted to the light.
I have not taken the time to try to identify all these insects. I have a really hard time with that part of insect nature study. I spend hours and hours pouring through the field guides and rarely do I find what I am looking for. Insects are really hard to identify but we will persevere and try to update this entry as we find the names for these critters.
My son is going to help me identify the insects and make his journal entry on one of the moths we identify. He prefers to use a spiral bound sketchbook for his nature journal instead of notebooking pages.
We were on the lookout for butterflies on our recent camping trip to Yosemite. Many were too fast or would not sit still long enough for a photo but here are a few that I can share. All these were butterflies that I saw as we went on various hikes in a variety of terrain and habitat. My daughter decided that she would rather take photos of flowers than insects because flowers stay in one place.
We did see some Monarchs fluttering and flying around the milkweed but there was never a chance to photograph one, maybe next time. 🙂
Showy Milkweed in Stoneman’s Meadow, Yosemite Valley.
We know this is some sort of Fritillary but which exact one, we are not so confident. If I had to make a best guess, I think it is a Pacific Fritillary or a Western Meadow Fritillary.
Okay, there are two butterflies in this photo. It was taken in a marshy meadow area near Lukens Lake. There is one distinctly blue and one distinctly brown butterfly but I have no idea what particular ones they are even after examining the field guide for a long time. I’m not very good at identifying butterflies….yet.
Here is another blue butterfly sitting on some bird droppings. My best guess on this one is a Lupine Blue.
Now this one I think is a Woodland Skipper. I know it is a skipper for sure and it looks just like the one in my field guide.
You can see why I was able to take some good photos of these beauties, they were otherwise occupied with more important activities at that particular moment. I still haven’t been able to identify this particular butterfly. Any ideas???
Here is one of my nature journal pages that I used to record one of my experiences with butterflies. I was testing outthe free notebooking pages for an upcoming Outdoor Hour Challenge E-book that we are putting together to share with everyone. This page shows my attempt to record a bit about our butterfly study this past week.
Someone was asking recently about how I keep a running list in my nature journal. This is so easy to do and it doesn’t need to be fancy. Tina has created an easy to use version of a running list that will also be in the upcoming E-book.
As you can see, I really just list the butterfly name if I know it and the date and place that I observed it. If I am not sure, I make a note and then use my photographs to identify it later when I have time to use the field guide and the internet.
So those are some of the butterflies that I was able to capture with my camera. We saw many, many Tiger swallowtails and a particular yellow butterfly that we have yet to identify. I look at this project as a life-long endeavor and if I don’t catch the butterfly this time, maybe I will the next time.
Edit to add: Heather asked about my nature journal and how I plan on using the notebooking pages if I am using a spiral bound sketch diary as my nature journal. I made a decision to change to a bigger size nature journal, still spiral bound since I find that easiest to work in. I only have three pages left in my smaller spiral bound nature journal so I will be starting over in a 9″ by 12″ spiral bound artist’s sketchbook that I purchased from Miller Pads and Paper. I will be attaching the pages into the sketchbook with double-backed tape; running lists will be in the back and the other sheets will go in order starting in the front. This will give me the flexibility to use the notebooking pages or to just freehand my entries in as I feel the need. I love to have options. This sketchbooks use heavy enough paper that I feel comfortable using watercolors in them as well as pencils and markers. Hope that explains it!
Today we went out to look for butterflies as part of Outdoor Hour Challenge #22. We were optimistic. We persevered. We were rewarded.
I can’t tell you how much it helps to focus on a particular aspect of nature as outlined in the Outdoor Hour Challenges. If you had asked me if there were butterflies in our backyard, I would have said a definite maybe. We see them from time to time fluttering in the garden but they move pretty fast and we don’t get to spend a lot of time observing any one particular butterfly…..usually.
Today we sat out and watched and right away I saw a cabbage white skipping across the clover in the grass, not really sitting but flitting from blade to blade and then off he went. Next we saw what I think was a swallowtail of some sort. I am totally guessing and I say swallowtail because that is one type of butterfly we frequently have in our backyard. He was there and then he was gone way too fast. Then, after much sitting and focusing our eyes on the garden, we saw the best subject of the day. It was a fiery skipper. He sat on a bloom of the butterfly bush and we got to look at him closely. I went to get the camera. A few minutes later, he was back again and this time I was able to take the photo at the top of this entry. Fantastic!!!
The lesson of this blog entry. Pick your focus and be patient. I am ready and anxious to take some more time to go out with the boys and wait for butterflies.
“Children should also become familiar with trees at an early age. They should pick about six in the winter when the leaves are gone, perhaps an elm, a maple, a beech, etc, and watch them during the year.” Charlotte Mason in Modern English, volume 1, page 52
Way back last August of 2007 we started our first tree study out in the woods. We took a piece of yarn and staked out a big square around the tree and did observations within that square and then also about the tree. The oak is really big and has lots of interesting things about it.
Here is our yarned off square. You can barely see the purple yarn unless you click and enlarge the photo.
Not much there except a few new little baby oak trees.
And near-by there was this poison oak turning red…..watch out for that stuff.
Then we noticed that as we walked we were being stuck by this plant….star thistle. I would consider this a WEED! Our backyard had this plant growing all over the backside when we moved in twenty years ago and my husband has very lovingly removed it all one plant at a time. We found you have to pull it up roots and all in order to get rid of it. It is an invasive weed in our area.
After we got back to the car, we realized our shoelaces and socks were covered with stickers of all kinds. They stick like velcro.
Well that wraps up our year-long tree study for now. We will probably keep our yarn up and continue through another year to see if we see any more changes.
We have had hot smoky weather for the past two weeks with all the fires burning in our area. It is very unusual for the wildfires to start so early but my husband says that the fuel in the forests is so dry that it doesn’t take much to get it going. We had several dry lightning storms and two weeks ago we had extremely high winds. All these factors together make for extreme fire danger.
We have been enjoying our outdoor time both in the garden and out on hikes in our local area. First of all though, here is my son’s summer tree study.His tree doesn’t look that much different from our last study. There are lots of green leaves which my son thinks are darker than they were in the spring but it is hard to tell.
Here is a close up of the leaves.This time he measured around the trunk and found it to be 28 inches in circumference.
This is what he noticed had changed the most about the tree. It had these sprouts coming up from the bottom of the trunk. We usually snap these off as they sprout but my son wants to leave them just to see how they grow.
We are anxious to compare our summer tree with our autumn tree!
