backyard science

we have been blessed with some beautiful weather lately, so we took advantage of it a few days ago and had our science lesson outside. all my flowers in the back yard are blooming right now, attracting many different butterflies, bugs, and miscellaneous insects! i was just going to post the pictures, but then i though i'd actually educate myself and figure out what they all were!

samantha enjoyed exploring the tinier part of God's creation.

this critter is a type of beetle called a margined leatherwing. he enjoyed sucking something out of the marigolds. a couple of times we could only see the end of him because his "face" was buried down in the flower.

samantha was intrigued by the bees. she had recently watched a documentary on bees, so she was telling me all about them. "some are workers, there's a queen, and there's drones..." stuff i vaugly remember!

honey bee

bumble bee

we got a good view of this plains leopard frog when he jumped about 2 feet in the air!

i couldn't quite put my finger on what this is, but i believe it is a narcissus bulb fly. it appears to be a fly covered with gold hairs.


and now the butterflies! they were so pretty and interesting to watch fly around from one flower to the next. with, of course, a little break inbetween to bask in the sun!

pearl crescent

orange sulfer

buckeye

painted lady

did you know that butterflies and moths have a long tongue called a proboscis? i didn't! it is used like a drinking straw and when not in use it is coiled up as seen on this peck's skipper. you may need to click on the picture to see it close up!

isn't it amazing what you can learn from your backyard in a matter of minutes?!

learn all about bugs here!