Lightning Bugs

Dear Lilliputians ,

The first day of Summer is just days away and this is just the time of year that something wonderful happens . It is time for Lightning Bugs to appear . Just the sound of their name is thrilling .

Once it is dark outside tonight take a peak out your window and see if you see Lightning Bugs . They are such a special Summer treat to see . The Lightning Bugs are those bugs that make their own little light . . . they are like tiny little Christmas lights floating in the air on a Summer night . If you see a flash of light in the air that is usually the male or boy Lightning Bug  . And if you see a flash of light in the grass that is usually the female or girl Lightning Bug . You should see the baby Lightning Bugs . When they are babies they are actually like little short worms , and they live in the dirt . But, these wormy creatures are like no other . . . They glow ! You may have heard of glow worms . . . 

Sometimes even the eggs of the Lightning Bugs glow . Wouldn't you just love to find little glowing eggs .

Some people call these magical bugs Fireflies . . . But did you know that they are not flies at all . They are beetles . 

If you hear your Parents or Grandparents mention that there doesn't seem to be as many Lightning Bugs as when they were young . . . it is because there aren't . They are slowly disappearing .

So don't forget to take a peak out your window tonight to see if you can see any because someday there may not be Lightning Bugs to light up the Summer nights with their magical little light . 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnBhUjMPOwI

If you miss the Lightning Bug show outside watch a minute or two of the video above .

Ummmm a good book to read . . . 

I hope your library still has it . 

Until next time ,

Wildbee

Ravens and Crows

Dear Lilliputian ,

The photo above is of a Raven and a Crow .  Both are friends of mine . I first met the Raven . . .  when he would fly over me while I was working in my garden and he would circle over head and talk Raven talk to me . I would talk back to him , but of course I would talk people talk . I started leaving a tasty treat for him especially in the Winter when food is hard to find . It was then that he started coming everyday and he also started to bring his mate . They would eat the snack together and then they would be all lovey dovey with each other . 

In this photo one Raven is sort of caring for the other Ravens feathers . It is what they do when they care for each other . They will also offer each other food and place it in the others beak . I think of it as a Raven kiss .

The Crow started visiting when he discovered that the Raven was finding tasty morsels left by me in my yard . The Crow and the Raven are like cousins in the bird world . Do you see how much bigger the one near the eggs is . . . He is the Raven and his beak is fatter than the Crows skinny beak . Click on photo at the beginning and you will see better . They both are very , very intelligent birds . They can even count . They can also make and use tools to obtain food in hard to get places . In the video link below there is a little basket with food in it in a glass , and the Crow wants the food but can't reach it . He thinks a little bit about how to solve this problem when he notices a piece of wire left near by . . .  He tries to use the wire to get the little basket of food but it doesn't work . So the Crow thinks some more and then decides to bend the wire to lift the basket out of the glass . There are not many animals that are smart enough to know how to make tools . . . we are one of the creatures of this world that can make tools and the Raven and Crow are also tool makers . Click on the link below and you will see the Crow making the wire into a tool to use it to get food .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtmLVP0HvDg

Like you , the Crow and Raven also like to play . Below is another video of a Raven playing in the snow . This video is from PBS .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjgpenWavO8

The Crow couple that have been coming to my yard for over a year now really feel that it is there home . Mr. and Mrs. Crow have recently had three baby Crows and they have been trying to show them that my yard is sort of a Crow Restaurant . They have brought them here to taste some of the snacks I leave for Crows . . . and this morning I got a photo of one of the parents bringing food to the Crow babies in my yard . When you see a group of Crows together . . . do you know what you call them ? NO . . . it is not called a group of Crows it is called a Murder of Crows . This is a photo of my Murder of Crows . 

A fun Summer read is Blacky the Crow by Thornton Burgess . Remember there is a Thornton Burgess Activity Center in Sandwich .

http://www.thorntonburgess.org/GreenBriarNatureCenter.htm

Until next time ,

Wildbee

Spittle Bug

Dear Lilliputian ,

When I was a little girl we thought this white foamy stuff was snake spit . Click on the photo and you will see how bubbly it is . . . but why we thought a snake would spit on plants I don't know .
If you live near grass that is allowed to grow tall . . . you might see this on the stems of plants growing in that grass . It is a rather funny sort of bubble bath home for the very young Spittle Bug . Wouldn't it be fun to have a bubble bath home ? Did you notice that the word spit is in this insects name ? That is because the scientists who named this insect thought the bubbles looked like spit .

Most , if not all insects grow in stages . Sort of like you . First . . . you were an egg , and later you were a child ,  and of course some day you will be an adult . Like an insect you look a little different in each time in your life . Insects have three stages also , and they are egg , nymph , adult . We don't call young insects children , we call them nymphs .

I am writing to you about the Spittle Bug because if you think like I did . . . you think a bug is just a bug and it is born that way . But they are very much like us in that they have to grow up before they become the grown-up bug , and their bodies change like ours change as they grow . Below are some photos of what I looked like at each time in my life and what the insect looks like as it grows up also. Remember you can click on the photos to get a better look .
Baby



Big Kid

Teenager

 
             Adult              
                 

 

Lets see . . . what is another fun book to read ? James Howe wrote a fun book to  read aloud or to yourself titled Bunnicula . It is about a mysterious bunny who was found in a movie theater and eats fruits and vegetables that turn white .

Until next time ,
Wildbee

Turkeys

Dear Lilliputian ,

I just heard that my nephew has seen Turkeys out one of his windows . I wonder if the Turkeys he saw were girl or boy Turkeys ? I think you all know that the boy Turkey , called a Tom , has a colorful head . . . like the one in the photo above . And depending on whether he is excited , or mad his head will change color . Blue is the color his head would be if he was excited , and red if he was mad . . . and sometimes it is pink and others times white . How do you think the Turkey up above is feeling . . . happy , excited , or mad ? The Tom Turkey also has a beard , but not like my nephew's father's beard . The Tom Turkey's beard is that long feather looking thing hanging out of the middle of his chest . The girl Turkey is not as dark as the boy Turkey . . . she is more of a brown and soft grey color . Like in the photo below .

She is called a Hen . 

When a Turkey is a baby Turkey it is called a Poult . When Turkeys are no longer considered to be a baby Turkey (a Poult) , but they aren't an adult Turkey either . . . the young boy Turkey is called Jake and the girl Turkey is called Jennie . Did you know they had so many names ?

There is one more way you can tell if the Turkey is a girl or a boy Turkey . . . but it is kind of gross .
When the Tom Turkey poops on the ground it is in the shape of a "J" and when the Hen Turkey poops it is shaped more like a swirl like soft serve ice-cream . So if you see the Turkeys go through your yard , go out after they have left and see if they pooped in your yard and if they did see if it is a "J" or a swirl .

June is National Turkey Lovers Month . That is why I am writing these few things about Turkeys . At the end of June and through July you may see very young Turkeys out your window . . . they are very cute . 

Here is a video of what you might see this Summer . It is of some Turkey Hens going through my yard with a posse of Poults . 

The book I am going to recommend this time is called  The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto by Natalie Standiford .

Until next time ,
Wildbee

Sand

Dear Lilliputian , 

If we had super duper eyes we could see what the tiny grains of sand really look like. To us sand looks like each little speck is the same shape as the next speck of sand . . . but if we could really see what those tiny specks look like they would be all different shapes , sizes , and most of the time even different colors . Most of what sand is, is rock that has been crushed as it traveled to the beach , but sand is not just crushed rock . The photo up above was taken with a very powerful machine that can see what our eyes can not . This machine can see that the pieces of sand are all very different . Some grains of sand are not pieces of rock but a very tiny shell , or a piece of lava , or even a piece of  coral.  When we look at sand with our eyes it looks like the sand below .

Those of you who know me know that I collect sand from all over the world . . .

These are four samples of sand collected from Maui , Florida , and Bermuda . If you click on the photo to get a closer look you will see that the first test tube of sand has pink grains of sand in it and it is from Bermuda . The next test tube has sand from an island called Maui that has a volcano on it and the sands from there can be black . The fourth sand sample is also from Maui and it has black and red grains of sand in it with white and orange also . . . 

The white sand is from Florida . 

Sand is not only colorful it can be quite noisy . On the North Shore of Massachusetts there is a beach called The Singing Beach because when you walk on it the sand squeaks and if you walk fast I guess it could sound musical . There are beaches that are known to sing , and some whistle , some even boom and others bark , and there is a beach that is suppose to sound like a frog . Scientists have not been able to solve this mystery of why a beach might boom and another might bark . But I think it makes sand all the more wonderful , don't you ?

Oh ! . . . One more interesting thing about sand . It isn't just rock , or coral , or lava from a volcano . . . it can some times be gems or jewels . There is a beach in Massachusetts on Plum Island that has a sort of purple colored beach sand because there is a purplish gem called Garnet in the sand . I have also read that some beaches have Gold in its sand and in Africa sometimes Diamonds . 

Plum Island sand

So this Summer when you go to the beach I want you to lay on your tummy and look very closely at the sand . Who knows what you might see . And it makes me wonder what your sand castles are really made of ? ? ? 

I think you may have fun reading a picture titled Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig .

Until next time ,

Wildbee