Strings of Elven Pearls

It was so foggy this morning!  Silent dew drops clung to everything--the perfect day to take some pictures.  Click on the photos to enlarge.

I tried to get a shot of this drop as it lenses the oak tree next door in a perfect upside-down image in miniature, but was annoyed to find this bit of string in the image.

Then I took a closer look.  It was covered with smaller drops.

And soon I saw that these fine filaments were everywhere.

Tiny strings of pearls, they seemed...

woven along the yew...

as though a tiny elf had strung them...

on each branch,  for Christmas.

Raven Eats Wasps

Did a quick image search for this sort of behavior but nothing turned up.

(Caveat:  Never birdwatch while driving.)

Way in the back of the long office parking lot, there is a pass-through driveway to the supermarket next door.  The back of the parking lot is a bit overgrown, and in the curbside underbrush grows a tree. And on that tree, there hangs an impressive and unmistakable paper wasp nest.  Big and grey, it waves, heavily on a windy day, on the tip of a delicate branch.

I was taking the shortcut through the supermarket lot on my way to the office when I saw a big black bird fly over the car and land on the nest.  I thought it was a crow at first, as ravens are not as common in these suburbs.  But this was a big glossy bird with a heavy bill, and it was making no sound, unlike the boisterous local crows.

The pass-through is narrow, and I hit the high curb as I was looking at the bird.  Two cars leaving the office lot stopped to stare as I backed off the curb and let them pass.  I drove through when they had gone and pulled into the nearest space, hoping the bird was still there.  It stayed as I stepped out of the car and into the lot.  A guy drove up behind me and honked impatiently until I moved to the side.  A woman drove up behind him and smiled indulgently as I snapped a few shots.

All I had was my Samsung tablet.  It takes photos, but not like the Nikon does.  With no zoom lens, and only a screen which reflects the sky on a bright day in such a way that one cannot tell what one is photographing, I took a few blind shots while the raven picked at the nest, sending shards of the soft gray paper fluttering to the ground. This is the good one:

This one wasn't too bad, either, left uncropped.  It was a gorgeous cold day, and the raven is beautiful black bird.

Since it was a sub-freezing,  I imagine the raven got a few tasty torpid wasps for its trouble.  Ravens are the largest of the perching birds, members of the crow family, and quite stunning up close.  Paper wasps are nasty, stinging insects.  I'm thankful for ravens.

Want to learn more?  Here are some raven books:
Mind of the Raven (Heinrich)
Ravens in Winter (Heinrich)
The Raven (Poe!)
Raven and the Red Ball (picture book)
Raven (Native American tale)
Arabel's Raven (Aiken)
Charlie's Raven (George)
Clem (true story)
The Seven Ravens (Grimm)

Funnels are Tunnels

For those who have not seen enough spider-web shots, here are a few more.  Ah, but who could tire of them, really?

Funnel in the sun--empty and elegant.

A closer look.

A more tangled web...

And an uninviting scene, with scraps from a last meal at the door, and an abdomen sticking out of the funnel.

Pests and Pollinators

Welcome to the garden!  It's 61 degrees, and the mosquitoes have given up trying this morning.  But for those insects who like the brisk weather, the Jerusalem artichokes have bloomed, and are waiting.  Native plants attract native pollinators?  Maybe.  Let's take a closer look.

The humble native Jerusalem artichoke, not an artichoke at all, but a tasty tuber with a tall, yellow flower, is inviting visitors by pretending to be one large bloom.  Click on the photo to admire the multitude of tiny true flowers awaiting visitors.

What is this?  A bee?  No!  It's the transverse flower fly, Eristalis transversa, collecting pollen. 

A fruit fly has landed nearby for perspective.  

A closer look.

Bumble.

Bumble bees are a common visitor to the Jerusalem artichokes.

Crickets?  I guess so.

A smaller pollinator--a hoverfly?

 I actually got a photo of it hovering, but it was too blurry to use to identify the creature.

Another shot.

Rhagoletis completa?  The walnut husk fly.  Probably taking a break from the walnuts on the other side of the yard. That would make it a European invader.  Pretty pest.

I'm reading Waiting for Aphrodite right now, and the author has some interesting things to say about native pollinators.

For the younger crowd, try these:

The Bee Tree
The Life and Times of the Honeybee

And a family project:  Attracting Native Pollinators
Or why not install a mason bee lodge?

Swamp Day

 I know I have spoken many times about revisiting the same wild area again and again, in different seasons, and over years to see the remarkable changes wrought by nature. We revisited an area we have been to several times, though the group had never been there together as a group in the same season.  My autumn page has photos from our first visit, in 2005.  Since then, many of us have ventured into the murky mire.  We also had a fruitful bacteria hunt one fall in this very swamp.

View Larger Map


 Our hike took place in Shu Swamp (Paul lost a shoe in Shu Swamp once...), a small patch of freshwater wetland on the north shore of Long Island.  It's only about 65 acres, and has a fine flat 2.5 miles of trails.  This is a very easy hike for all ages, but is not stroller-friendly due to muddy patches and the occasional narrow trail lined with poison ivy.  But we intrepid homeschool moms who readily bring babies on our backs will have no problem...just watch their little faces for fear of catbriar and branches, and all is well.

The swamp is a favorite place for children of all ages, and despite the very swampiness of the preserve, it is not a terribly mosquito-ridden hike.  I saw two mosquitoes trying to bite my students, but a gentle swat on the intelligent pate of each child removed the threat efficiently.  Beyond mosquitoes, the patch of land is very much alive with critters more benign.  Moths and dragon flies--red ones and blue ones--caught our eye immediately.  We heard the call of the catbird, and saw a swan gliding over the glassy water of the open pond.  We smelled a fox...or perhaps an otter, as there are otter here...or so we are told.  (You see, in the woods, talking to strangers sometimes pays off--with information.) We saw the resident HUGE carp, and plenty of water-striders and more.  When one young man called out, "Trout!" an osprey appeared and circled as if waiting for a cue.  There were spider webs to rival Mirkwood, but the spiders were small.

I gave each naturalist-in-training a very basic data sheet (email me if you want a copy), and after a brief overview, off we went.

Some highlights:

Denizens of the (12 inches) deep--large mouthed bass?

Young naturalists compare notes.

Getting a closer look.

Taking the swampy temperature, which requires crossing a fallen tree.

Crossing the tree-bridge.

Another bridge-crosser.

We call him "Kneel" today.

Remnants of an old tree--most of the class would fit in its hollow trunk.

Many trees fell last fall.  The base of this one was about 13 feet.

The "class" poses next to a sign noting the tallest tree in NY State, at 167 ft.

That's what we did in the middle of August.  What have you done?  Did you get out?

Damsels and Dragons

What we saw today!

Need help telling which is which?

Dragonflies Through Binoculars
Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East

And for the youngsters,  Beginner's Guide to Dragonflies

American Spiders

There were two girls in the attic of the German House at Sewanee.  One was from Leipzig, and the other from Budapest.  Neither was happy.  In the corner of the attic where they would be storing things for the next year, there were spiders.  These were not the nice, gentle Eurospiders of their homelands, but nasty, vicious American spiders--spiders that could bite and maim.  American spiders have nasty venom, and nasty ways of delivering that venom into your body.  Annika and I giggled as we listened at the bottom of the stairs.

Well, yes.  There are American spiders worth fearing.  The Brown Recluse and Black Widow are two notorious arachnids.  They are distinctively colored and patterned and so easily identified, but they do lurk in dark places.  

Europe is not without its own spidery pests.  There are widow spiders and comb-footed spiders throughout Europe.  They are not really a big threat, though.  I guess the girls were right.

If you want really venomous things, though, we often think the best place to find them is Australia.  The venom of the Northern Funnel Web spider is quite potent.  Then again, it is not the worst.

The most venomous spiders are in South America. Consider the Brazilian Wandering Spider.  And tremble.  Then remember that you don't live in Brazil and rejoice.

Anti-venom is a help, in most cases.

So there you go, girls.  Don't worry.  Much.

Spider books (because you knew there would be some):

Fabre's The Life of the Spider
The Tarantula in my Purse
Spiders by Seymour Simon
NG Readers: Spiders
Spiders and their Kin


One of our favorite pets is the jumping spider.  Catch one if you can, and watch it for a while.  Watch an orb weaver in your garden, and feed it!  And if you find one in the house, put it outside, don't kill it!  You can do it from a distance with this handy tool.

Water the Birds

Silly robins. They love my yard in winter, and now I understand why. I left the outside faucet dripping, and fresh water is as important as food when it comes to attracting birds, especially when the weather is freezing.

Deeper Nature Study: Stalking Bacteria in the Wild Part 1

Nature study is the core of many a homeschooler's science studies.  Nature study for the younger set is often simple and un-directed; the children find what they can find and bring it to Mother for examination, or home to observe and preserve.  The child and parent try to identify specimens, and often learn how to use a field guide together.  It's fun and informative for the younger children, but what about older kids?  Just as highschoolers can benefit from intensive copywork using great books and technical articles, so a high school student can get laboratory credit for nature study that is specific and directed towards a more quantitative goal.

This year, I chose a few victims (I mean students, of course) to try out an addition to our biology curriculum using more advanced living books.  This is the first in a short series of blogs on "Deeper Nature Study."

A few years ago, I came across a terrific book called A Field Guide to the Bacteria by Betsey Dexter Dyer.   Dyer is a biology professor at Wheaton College in Massachusetts, and has recorded a Modern
Scholars lecture series on this same topic called Unseen Diversity, which is top-notch and available from Audible.  Both are fine alone, but combined they make a formidable mini-course in bacteriology that is easily used by homeschoolers.  You will be relieved to hear that Prof. Dyer suggests that we not grow things in petrie dishes in our kitchens, so we won't; instead, we take our search outside.  In the wild, we have been able to discover evidence of bacteria everywhere.  And we are only 1/3 the way through the outdoor portion of the course.

The best thing about this short series of hikes is that it can be done anywhere, almost any time, with little modification.  Since bacteria are plentiful everywhere, and very few are pathogens, it's a safe and nearly fail-proof study.  You can study bacteria where you are, because they are there, too.

We began with a brief lecture on different kinds of bacteria, and the environments in which each thrives.  A quick version--cold, temperate, and hot are three measurable but wide temperature ranges for bacterial growth (one can get way more specific, and we did, but I don't really want to write out the entire lecture, and Prof. Dyer does it in more depth).   pH is another variable for determining the types of bacteria we are likely to discover.  The third environment we are exploring varies in oxygen content.  We could also add salt, and more, but these are the basics.  After my brief lecture we went outside and found some regular every-day common clover to examine.  We dug up the roots to find nodules of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the root system.  These are terribly EASY to find!  We found some lichen, that combination of fungus and bacteria that grows so well on rocks and tree trunks.  And we found some cyanobacteria growing in patches large enough to identify by color alone.  Then we hopped into the car and took a quick field trip to the local Quaker cemetery, where the old tombstones yielded more evidence of bacteria at work.  And that was day 1!  NB:  It is very difficult to pry teens out of graveyards...go figure.

Day 2 brought us to a local swamp, where quick running water, deep muck, and hard trails all had perfectly detectable bacteria for our viewing--and sometimes smelling--pleasure:

The light leaf litter smells fresh even though it is full of bacteria.

Miss A. is encouraged to take a deeper sample...it will have a different odor.

Right along the trail are worm castings, full of bacteria fresh from  the gut of  worms.  Slugs approve.

Intrepid Miss B. strives for the best sampling spots, mid swamp!

OK.  Crossing the swamp by log is just fun for Miss B., Miss C.,  and A.

Slow, clear water reveals a nice bacterial mat, with large air bubbles!

Miss C. discovered that the faster running water was cold.

Yet, who could resist? Neither P nor Miss B.

Bubbly beer-like bacteria!!

Ha-ha!  Miss M. captures millions of bacteria.

Tempting...but no, she didn't.  ;)

Next stop?  The salt marsh...