Peponapis!

Peeking in zucchini flowers the other morning, J discovered some visitors.

Awww, bee bums.

Oh, hello there, lovelies! Sorry to disturb your breakfast. Please resume coating yourselves in pollen - the flowers do so appreciate your efforts. Carry on! I shan't bother you much longer.

We have squash bees (Peponapis sp.) visiting our potted zucchini plants here in the back yard! The larger bee in the photos is a Peponapis male, and the smaller one is a sweat bee of some sort (Halictidae, probably Lasioglossum sp.). I was very happy to see these beautiful squash-loving bees zipping into our blossoms. Now if only the zucchini plants would set some female flowers we could get some zucchini out of the deal.

Red-spotted Purple

Doodle found a winged friend yesterday at Shingletown Gap.

It's a Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis astyanax) - such a perfect name for my purple-loving girl.

Anyone home?

Now that it's March (woohoo!) I find myself thinking about warm spring days, with the lovely plants and neat critters who will soon be emerging from their winter slumber.

spider lair?

And so I found myself one sunny afternoon peering into the ends of shrub stems, wondering who had made their home in each stem and when they might emerge.

Come on out, little critters! I've got a whole new insect fauna to learn here, and I am antsy (heh heh) to start!

Unseasonably Warm

The daily weather forecast on the radio has been for "unseasonably warm weather" every day this week. We've made a point to soak up as much of it as possible, knowing that winter is just around the corner.

The insects seem to have the same idea. Ladybugs searching for a good winter hiding spot

while dragonflies squeeze as much living as possible into these last warm days. (Doodle caught this one with my hat, and later it landed on her leg to finish a meal.)

Ahhh, Vitamin D. Good stuff.

Photos from our outing to Penn-Roosevelt State Park.

Woolly Bear

She talks to it, concerned about its destination. Where are you going, Woolly Bear? Can I help you? Winter's coming soon and you need a home for the winter.

Mom, can we find him a home? My entomologist heart goes pitter-patter. Of course we can!

We walk along, me enjoying the sun and fresh air, her talking to the caterpillar about finding a safe warm place to hide, and about its future.

When you come out you'll be a beautiful Woolly Bear Monarch Butterfly!
(or moth, I interject.)
No, Mom. A butterfly.

We find a hole in a tree. This is perfect! she declares. You'll stay nice and safe and warm, and in the spring you'll be a beautiful butterfly and we can come see you and play! Okay? Okay.

Bye Woolly Bear! Have a good hibernating!

Insect song

We went to Shaver's Creek Nature Center today for a kid's activity. Doodle learned all about insects, and was excited about learning this song.



I fear a family band is not in our future. Oh well. At least we like bugs together!

International Rock Flipping Day

September 20th is International Rock Flipping Day. This is a fun way to explore a part of the outdoors that's often overlooked, and to share what we find. Homeschoolers, this would be a fun project for your kiddos to participate in.

If you're joining in for the first time, here's a quick rundown of the procedure:

• On or about September 20th, find your rock and flip it over.
• Record what you find. "Any and all forms of documentation are welcome: still photos, video, sketches, prose, or poetry."
• Replace the rock as you found it; it's someone's home.*
• Post on your blog, or load your photos to the Flickr group.
• Send Wanderin' Weeta a link (she's coordinating IRFD this year). Her e-mail address is in her blog profile, or you can add a comment to any IRFD post.
• She will collect the links, e-mail participants the list, and post it for any and all to copy to your own blogs. (Maybe we can Tweet it, too, this year. Use the hashtag #rockflip.)

There is a handy badge available for your blog, here.

* A reminder to all rock flippers that rocks should be flipped back into place. If there are critters underneath, don't place the rock back on top of them, move the animals to the side, replace the rock and let them scurry back.

Thanks to Bug Girl for alerting me to this fun exercise in nerdery.

Hope to see you flippin' rocks on the 20th!