More Nature Study

With all the tweaking and revising of our lesson schedule I forgot to mention that the nature study afternoons have been a favorite of ours. Here are pictures from our last outing.

After our afternoon in the woods we drove back to town and had a Taco John's taco for tea! LOL

More Giant Grasshopper Fun!

A "cattle guard" is a what, not a who.

Little Picnic on the Prairie

After our great grasshopper hunt, we tossed an old quilt in between the cow patties and cactus and had a picnic.

Hunting Grasshoppers

We set out for an evening nature study complete with quilt, picnic supper, fruit jars of cold sweet tea, camera, and a B.B. gun. Don't ask me what the B.B. gun was for, I am just the mom. We headed north of town several miles on the winding dirt roads, up through the big bend in the irrigation canal and ended up on the prairie grassland and found several of these

Plains Lubber Grasshoppers.

Have you ever in your life seen a grasshopper this big? I haven't either. The grassland north of us is just teeming with these humongous hoppers. These are Brachystola magna according to our research. We gathered up about 8 of these guys to watch them for a few days. The wings are very small on this "brand" of grasshopper making it impossible for the creature to fly. (Easier to catch that way!)

"The Robinhood"

My friend Jill was over for a visit this morning and told me she saw a baby robin hopping around our yard. I am assuming it was Mamma Robin making such a rukus...chirping and swooping, flying and lighting on a nearby branch. There were actually two adult robins doing this. An aunt maybe? EDIT: After doing some more reading in Comstock, I find that the 2 robins are actaully the parents of this young bird.

Our Comstock book says, "It is an anxious time for the old robins when the young ones leave the nest, and they flutter about and scold at anyone who comes in sight, so afraid are they that injury will come to their inexperienced young ones..."

This certainly proves true! I know I am causing these two adult robins some stress, and undoubtedly scaring the feathers off the baby, so I'll go in now and let the lessons in the "Robinhood" continue peacefully. Besides, the mosquitos are about to eat me alive this muggy Friday morning.