Gardening Reveals The Beauty of Creation

This bee was making his rounds in the alyssum on the deck yesterday morning. He was a big time hummer and grabbed my attention right away. Make sure to click to enlarge this one so you can see his fuzzy back. Amazing.


This shot captured two with one blow. I know they are not exactly beautiful but still awesome in their design.


Click to enlarge this photo and you will see an amazing egg sac. I have put this in a container on our science shelf to see what will emerge.


Here at last is my new rose. I posted about the gift of the rose from my husband and now it is blooming. It is a delicate pinkish-orange color and the hummingbirds love it.


I caught this guy in the feeder...we definitely have a group of hummingbirds feeding in our various feeders and flowers. I love to hear them in the yard as I work.


Okay, I know this one is definitely not a "beauty" but I couldn't help including it since it is a one of the biggest of his kind that I have ever seen. We have an abundance of lizards in our backyard this year for some reason. This one was hanging out under the deck to escape the cat's notice.


Last but surely not least, our pink little strawberries. We have already harvested a batch but we ate them so fast that I didn't get a photo. So sweet and delicious and I can hardly wait to eat this next round.

Hope you enjoyed my garden photos for the week. There are so many things to look at right now in our yard. I spend a few minutes early each morning just taking a look to see what is new. Then after lunch I do my hand watering and that gives me another opportunity to see interesting things. Don't forget to investigate your little plot of green today!

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

More Reptiles: Skink and a Snake

How does this happen? I can go along for weeks and not see any reptiles and then today the boys brought two very different reptiles to my attention.

First at my parent's house, the boys found the remnants of a small gopher snake (Pituophos melanoleucus). I will spare you the gory details but there was enough to identify this creature.

Then when we got home and we were out in the yard, they found a Gilbert's skink (Eumeces gilberti). I couldn't bear to even take photos but I am going to record the nature find here on our blog. After we got a good look at the skink, a Scrub jay came and snatched the skink and flew away. This is the same scrub jay that has a nest of babies outside my daughter's window in the oleander bush. We were able to see three baby birds in the nest today. It was a circle of life sort of day around here.

Here is the nest.


Here is the best I could get of the babies in the nest. (Try to click the image to make it larger.)


All in all, a good day for nature study and just the way I like it....just taking it as it comes to us as we go about our day.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

More Reptiles to Identify: Arizona Style

I am still struggling with my disgust of reptiles. Lizards are becoming a bit more palatable but as far as snakes go, I'm still struggling.

Good thing for me that we saw mostly lizards on our trip to Arizona.

On pages 210 to 213 of the Handbook of Nature Study there are many lizards and their descriptions listed. I think on page 213 that number 7 looks surprisingly like the lizards we saw in the photo below.


I did recognize this reptile but only was able to capture his hind end as he scurried under a rock. He was definitely some kind of iguana.


These two photos were taken while we were at the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum. They had an enclosure where they used to have a bear but the bear has since been retired to a more comfortable place on the grounds. The enclosure did have these interesting, if not rather large, reptiles inhabiting it.


Climbing up the rocks


This guy was also at the museum and was making his way across the riparian habitat.


Now for something pretty to look at. I can only take reptiles for so long and then I need something colorful and beautiful to enjoy.


Close up of the spines


Are you proud of me? We are still working on identifying the reptiles for their nature journals but we are learning a lot along the way.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Reptiles for Nature Study: Mustering Up My Enthusiasm

King snake

Unidentified reptile

Edit: Pretty sure this is a Desert spiny lizard

Sometimes I feel very inadequate to teach about something my boys are interested in studying. Reptiles are one subject that I would put in that category. I have a huge aversion to the sight of reptiles, but on closer acquaintance I am not so put off and can see the beauty in their creation and how they fit into the web of life.

The process of going from feeling totally disgusted by these sorts of creatures to admiration is by getting to know them better. Here is what the Handbook of Nature Study says about reptiles and nature study.

"But she(the teacher) was equal to the occasion, and surprised them by declaring that there were many interesting things to be studied about snakes, and forthwith sent to the library for books which discussed these reptiles; and this was the beginning of a nature study club of rare efficiency and enterprise." Handbook of Nature Study, page 193

What better way to follow your child's interest than to learn right alongside them? I can't always start off as excited about things as my children are but I can muster up enthusiasm at learning about it as part of God's creation. Each animal and plant has a place in the intertwined web of life we have all around us. Snakes, lizards, spiders, rodents, and everything else each are dependent on each other and in the long run so are we. Each creature has a job to do and when I think about that in relation to snakes and reptiles, it encourages me to dig a little deeper with my children.

I know my boys always learn more if they are interested in a topic so we are off to the library and internet to study reptiles.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

California Newts and Tree Frogs: Outdoor Hour #3

March 1, 2008
Dear Nature Friends,
Today we took our Outdoor Hour Challenge on the road, or should I say trail? The last Friday of every month we take the day off from our regular schooling to have a Nature Day. This is something I have been doing all year with my 12 and 14 year old sons. We take the day and focus on some aspect of nature that fits in with our science lessons or our interests.

Please remember when you read my post and view my photos (and a short video) that we have been doing nature study in our family since these two boys were able to walk....a long time. We also live in a moderate climate and have limitless access to wilderness. This hike is literally out our door and a few miles away. On a scale of one to ten, this day was a perfect ten. I hope that puts our experience in perspective for you beginners. This is what your nature study can look like in a few years if you keep at it, little by little.

In challenge number 1 I shared our hike on a new trail...the one with the ferns and the unusual bud. We wanted to take the hike all the way to the river this time so after a short stop at our tree in the woods, we headed over to the trailhead. We set off at a quick pace but soon we found wildflowers blooming and of course I had to stop to take a few photos. (click on any photos to make them larger)

Buttercup

I wasn't able to identify this one yet, need to see it flowering.
We saw our first butterflies of the season, big brown ones and little blue ones. The sun was actually hot and we shed a layer of sweaters and sweatshirts...good thing I had my backpack on this hike. :) We had good conversation as we hiked along. Oh, we saw what the "unusual looking bloom" was from our last trip. It is actually just the way the leaves pop out on this particular plant.

It was a long downhill hike to get to the river, I think about a mile and a half but the hard part is that it was a really steep downhill grade. I kept thinking about the hike back up with great dread. Would the hike be worth it we kept asking?


The minute we hit the edge of the river and I was shedding my pack, the boys excitedly called to me to come over and look at something. I could tell it was something good by the tone in their voices. Wow! A whole pool of California newts!

We spent quite a bit of time watching them in their courtship dance in the crystal clear water. Fascinating and we felt so grateful to have seen it. My youngest slipped into the water with one foot and had a soaking shoe, sock, and pant leg for the rest of the hike. After a few photos and a video, we all sat at the edge of the river and rested and listened and just soaked it all in.

Yes, you can train your children to sit quietly and listen.

The boys were soon doing their usual river thing...throwing in rocks. I sat and worked in my nature journal drawing the blackberry leaves and vine next to me. The boys found a little gold flake in the gravel at the edge of the river. We actually live near where the California Gold Rush started on this very river.

I need to make a note to put a little vial for collecting things in my backpack. This flake was dropped into the rocks and was never seen again. He wants to go back and try again some time.

But the highlight of the day happened right when we were packing up to go back up the trail.....yes, you haven't seen the highlight yet. The boys spotted a frog that had just jumped out of the water onto a rock. Back out comes the camera to try to get a photo for their nature journals.

While getting a few good photos, two of the frogs started croaking. Their throats blew up like balloons and the sound of it was awesome. Would you like to hear? [If you are on email subscription you will need to come over the the blog to see the video..I think.]There are actually two frogs croaking in the video and they croak at about 25 seconds and 50 seconds into the video. When we got home we pulled out our field guide and identified this as a Pacific Treefrog.


Popout

Both boys wanted to do their journals on the newt.

I got a new scanner but I have not learned how to operate it very well yet...maybe next scan will be better.
Thanks for sharing our very exciting "day out" with us. Hope it inspired and encouraged you in to have some of your own adventures with nature study. Our family looks forward to each time we have to share time out of doors. The answer to the question earlier about whether the hike would be worth the effort? Yes, totally and completely. I would go again right now....sore muscles and all.

One last photo of my son and I kneeling over the water trying to see the frogs.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom