naturecreature

a long trip

2011-07-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

This morning my family and I went to ward pound ridge. When we got their we were hoping to find tons of frogs and salamanders. We parked in a parking lot next to a meadow, I went strait to the meadow. After about 30 seconds I found the biggest praying mantis Ive seen this season. It was about as big as a big eraser but wasn't as fat, at least they spread their legs out as far as they could. After that we started our hike. It was really muddy. After about five minutes we found a stream ,it was about ten feet wide. I quickly took of my shoes and ran In the water. As soon as I got in I saw tons of craw fish by the end I would have probably found thousands. I went to the other side of the river where the was sand and you could see better then I saw a few trout . Then my mom spotted a really big fish it looked liked a cat fish. Then it started to thunder so we went back. I was really sad that I couldn't see any frogs and salamanders. But I had a great time.

A Rainy Day

2011-04-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday me and my dad went to lost lake,it was raining.We wanted to find red efts we thought we would find a ton!When we got there I was cold and hungry.Near the bridge where we usually find efts and near a rocky area close to the bridge we did not find any efts. About half way up I saw an eft on some moss and another minute or so I found another one. When we got to the lake part it was flooded and I was really hungry so we whnt down the hill quickly went to a store near by. I got pancakes and my dad got an omelet.

A Cold Walk Home

2011-04-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

Today me and my Dad went to go on a walk to a big river near a house we rented in Vermont. It was about 10 feet wide and we cant even see where it ends. There was tons of rocks in the river some small and some big. When we got to the river we crossed it and it was pretty easy. We were looking for snakes and red efts but we didn't find any. I think we didn't see any because it was pretty cold. I hope on the way back to our real house we can stop by Lost Lake, a hike whare we always find red efts and every time we go we find water snakes. We past a few areas where if I were a snake or newt I would be, but we never found anything. On the way back we crossed again in a different spot and I slipped. My dad tryed to hold my hand so I didn't fall but he slipped and both of our feet got soaked in water.

Mystery Bird

2011-02-23T12:19:00.000-08:00

Today me and my friend went to a nature center in hartsdale. We were looking for owls. When we got to the lake it looked like the path because on top of the ice their was snow. The only reason we knew it was a pond was because it had a stream running through it. When we left the pond to go back I saw a bird that had a white belly and its wingspan was probably from my feet up to my chest! I assumed that it was an owl.

Nature Walk with Pops

2010-12-05T09:54:00.000-08:00

Last week me and my grand father pops went on a hike to the nature center near his house. Our favorite place to go is the lake. We didn't see any thing. We didn't see any thing because the frogs,turtles and sometimes snakes were hibernating under the mud.

soccer tournement

2010-11-21T05:55:00.000-08:00

Today I had a soccer tornement in Somer's .A tornement is 25 minute games it was so much fun. We played 4 games. we actully won the hole thing. The other ardsly team won to but they are in a different leag. Our troffies looked like someone dribbling the ball.

Owl homes and praying mantis egg casings

2010-11-14T13:21:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I went to the Burke Estate with my friend Cecilia and we were looking for praying mantis egg casings and places that owls might live. When we got to the Burke Estate, there were tons of holes in trees for owls to live in. When we got to an area with lots of bushes where we thought we might find a praying mantis egg casing, I started to walk into the bushes and I found four praying mantis egg casings. We brought them home with us by cutting the stick that they were on. When we got home we tied them on bushes so that we can watch them hatch in the spring.

Tortoise enclosure.

2010-11-07T05:40:00.000-08:00

I spent the last few weekends making a tortoise enclosure. We made it out of ply wood. It is really long.We put a liner in so when we need to change his substrate we can take out the substrate with out making many trips. The tortoise prefers a big enclosure. Our enclosure is 9 feet long and will stretch across my hole room.

Soccer

2010-10-17T14:23:00.000-07:00

Today I went to the bercastate to play soccer with my dad. We worked on vollys. Vollys are when you kik the ball strate from the air. We also worked on power kiks and following through with your foot.While we working on volleys sometimes he would kick it a little high on those kicks I headed it. Onetime I headed it with the hard ball by acsadent and it hurt my head .

Monarch Butterflies

2010-09-19T05:44:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I started to raise monarch butterflies. you can find there eggs on the underside of milkweed plants. the eggs are as small as aphids and white . milkweed has oval shaped leaves its called milkweed because when you brake the stem a milky glue like substance comes poring out. after the monarch baby's are two weeks old they should be two to three inches long then they will start to climb up to make their chrysalis. The chrysalis hatch in two weeks.

A Surprise...

2010-09-12T16:21:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted an entry in a long time and a lot of exciting things have happened .But today I'm only writing about the most exciting thing that happened today. today I got a Russian TORTOISE!!!!! its about four inches long and eats lettuce and other fruits and vegetables. the vendor that I got it from said they were very easy to take care of.

My Tortoise has brown and black rings on each plate of its shell the vendor that I bough it from said I could bring him outside so he can bask in the sun. The way you can tell a male from a female is by the length of its tail. The male's tail is longer than the female. The male tail is about two inches long. The female's tail is stubby and less than one inch long.

My tortoise doesn't have a name yet. If anyone has suggestions about caring for Russian Tortoises or any suggestions for names for the tortoise, it is a male.

bee keeping

2010-07-20T04:43:00.000-07:00

Every Sunday evening me and my dad go to my friends house to feed his bees. We need to fill a container with sugar water. Sometimes we see the queen bee. It is clearly bigger than all the other bees. After the queen bee mates it rips the males head off.

Raccoon Den

2010-06-16T16:00:00.000-07:00

Last week my friend found a racon den in a tree we think their 2 babys in the den. The only time we see them is in the evning and they only peek their heads out. the tree is on the end of my street.

Rockefeller State Park

2010-05-17T04:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday me and my family went to Rockefeller state park. We went on a trail called 13 bridges. Maybe it was called that because their were 13 bridges .The second river we saw my dad said their might be craw fish in it ( Ive notice rivers that have the most craw fish have big boulders in them) In the river their were also small fish they were brown and very fast then I saw the remaining of a craw fish on this craw fish the pincers were bright red and had small bumps.

When we past all the rivers their was a pitcher plant on the side of the path .The pitcher plant has slippery sides so that bugs fall in. Pitcher plants live near ponds and swamps so they can catch more bugs . frogs and spiders use the pitcher plant too. they wait near it and when a bug falls in the water the frog or spider has a easy meal. their is one spider that lowers its web in the water of the pitcher plant and carries a bubble in front of it and waits for a bug to get stuck in it.

2010-05-01T05:22:00.000-07:00

yesterday the praying mantis hatched from their egg casings their were hundreds of them soon we put them in a cage with netting around it. The cage should be bigger then one gallon. you also need to feed them bugs regularly they will eat a wide variety of bugs.I need to go some where so I will edit this post later.

Snake at School

2010-04-23T04:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at school we found a snake it was a garden snake. It was only 5 inchis long and had two yellow stripes down its back. Today I went to my school to try to find more snakes but I didn't find snakes I found hundrids of beetles ,1 inch worm and 2 salamanders!

The Salamander Search

2010-03-31T17:17:00.000-07:00

Today me and my friend Shane and his little sister Maya found 54 red back salamanders!!! I also discovered the way to tell apart males and females (the males are just blueish black and the females are the same except for the reddish line down its back) We found mostly all of them on Shane's properdy but we found a few on his next door nabrs properdy .I think one of the collest things we found were the salamander eggs we found them under some of the rocks we trnd over and some times we found them almost glued too the bottom of rocks.

Night of the Spotted Salamanders

2010-03-23T03:52:00.000-07:00

yesterday night me my mom and my friends family went to see the annual spotted salamander mating event. when we started the hike there were not any. But in a few minits we were finding them everywhar and the best part was the spring peepers. they were as lowed as me and my two brothers screming as lowed as we can at the same time!!!!!!! (and i've got to say were prity lowed)And at the pond there were spring peepers peeping and salamanders mating when we left the pond all we found were wood frogs, spring peepers and salamanders.

building an iglue

2010-03-01T04:07:00.000-08:00

This Sunday me and my family built an iglu. First I dug a hole. Then me Luke and Sabascin helped us build the base. and the last step i did with my mom it was building the top of the iglue. Now the iglue is finished and five people can fit in it.

A day at the NY Aquarium

2010-02-20T05:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went to the NY aquarium at Coney Island.When I walked in side thar was a giant tank filed with fish and the bigest eel I've ever seen.It must have been about 4 feet long!!! It was yellow with big eyes staring at me. Then we went into a exsibit that was cald alean stingers that exsibit mostley had jellyfish. my favorit jellyfish looked like it had orange peses of sea weed hanging from its orange body. My favorit animal of all was the sea erchents some were blue and purpul with tenticals hanging from thar bodys

rock monster base

2010-02-16T17:37:00.000-08:00

Today I made a hole lego rock monster base. With trucks, planes, a look out tower, bomb dropers and a building. A rock monster base is like a lego star wars base but it is with rock monsters. A rock monster is a yelow, green , blue or orange creature that lives under ground and mines crystals. Next i want to put on tunels and mines.

Bullfrog Tadpoles

2010-01-31T15:15:00.000-08:00

Last summer i got two bull frog tadpols at suger pond. Thay were light green with brown spots. The tadpoles would hide in a cave and come out at night to eat. At scool I lrnd that the tadpols will remain tadpols for about three years. Then they will grow front legs and back legs. The last year they will shrink thar tail and become bull frogs.

My Frogs

2010-01-26T04:23:00.000-08:00

Two days ago I got two tree frogs at the reptil expo. Thay were green with blue and yellow stripes on the sides . ushaly thay crall themselvs up in a corner and sleep thar all day.
I see My frogs jump from branch to branch in the evning when im reading a book at night and sometimes i even see them jump and land in the water bowl.when I get a new climbing scher she alwas jumps on it...

I LOVE MY FROGS

my 8th birthday

2010-01-17T06:13:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago my mom and dad took me to the natural history museum for my birthday.When we walked in side ther was a skeleton of a triceratops its neck was about 30 feet long and its body and tail put together was about 50 feet long.

My favoit exsibit was the geolagy exsibit. Most of the rocks were cristals. Most of the ones I liked and took photos of were prpul.

Having a Day With Mom

2009-11-16T16:09:00.000-08:00

today I got takon out of school rley because my mom wantid spend the day with me. first we went to buy candy at Amjo's. I got a long pack of starbrsts, a totse role and my mom got twizlrs. After that we went on a hike at Hillside Woods. Its next to my school so I had to be careful my teachers didn't see me. on our hike we found 2 trtls, 5 ducks, 1 spotid salamander egg, 1 snake and i think i saw a salamander. After that I went down to play catch at the tenis cort. and then we went to the water front park and played tag. we took a picture of the sunset. next time my mom taks me out of school rley I want to go to the zoo.

Frogsicles

2009-11-14T04:42:00.001-08:00

Yesterday my frend called me she was wondring if i wontid to go to the vrnlpond to find wood frogs. I said shor because i knew that in the fall wood frogs drop from the trees and feez for the winter. I read in a book once that you can put them in your rifijrator so i was thinking that i could put one in a tupuwar with ice in it and so i can obsrv it outsid.

Our Science Project

2009-11-13T16:22:00.000-08:00

Last week my class started a projeked on mealworms. When we got them they were in the larva stag. They were keped in a jar whith a top. The last time my class chekt on our mealworms sum of them were in the pupa stag. Next time I hope that our mealworms trne in to adalts.

A day at the Aquarium

2009-11-12T16:17:00.000-08:00

yestrday i went to norwalk aquarium with my 2 bruthrs namd sam owen and my grandmothr and grrandfothr. i went because i hade a day off. win i got there i was exited because the frst thing i saw was 6 sealions.after that i saw 2 ghint sea trtls.after that i saw about 50 jele fish.we came in to a dark room we looked in to a largh glass caje,and i saw 2 sting rays and abut 20 sharks.and then we saw the flauindrs my grandmother said thay wher as flat as a pancake.and then we came back to the sealions.i saw a frog exhibit so we went in to the exhibit.in the frog exhibit ther wher posondart frogs. andthen i saw 6 tigr salamandrs. thay wher abut 6 inchis long. then i hrde a big commotion at the sea lions. we wakd to the sea lions and it was feading time! i saw one do a flip in the air!

Greenburgh's Pond

2009-11-07T16:36:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I went to Greenburgh Nature Center with my friend Oliver, his brother Jed, and Jed's friend. We went to the pond. When we got to the pond, we were looking for turtles. I found the first two turtles sitting on a log. At Sugar Pond I caught a turtle by throwing rocks near to me so when I was at Greenburgh's pond I tried the same technique. But it didn't work. So I took a stick and tried to move the water toward me hoping for the turtle to come closer, but it didn't. Jed thought that he saw a crocodile, and his friend believed him. When it was time to go, Oliver's dad said we could go to Burger King. Oliver and Jed were so excited. I got a hamburger and fries.

Crab Hunting

2009-10-11T14:18:00.000-07:00

today i went to a state park. it was near the ochon . after i went on a woke we went to the oshon . my dad fouind a crab on the bech . i pikt it up and shod my frends . as we wakt down the bech i fouind alot more crabs . i even fouind 66 crabs . but after we nedid to go . next time i go i hope to cech even more crabs.

Garter snakes

2009-10-04T06:31:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I went to my aunt and uncle's house. When I got there they told me that they have seen a lot of snakes. When we went in their backyard, I found a snake slithering across the grass and into a hole. The snake was black with a yellow stripe down the middle of its body and it was about 2 feet long. It was a garter snake. We looked some more and I found a dead snake that was about 1 foot long. We threw it into the woods with a stick. After that it was time to eat lunch and my aunt made spaghetti. After lunch we went back outside and I found another snake in a big bush. I tried to catch it but it was really fast and there were lots of branches in the way. It came out of the bush and I caught it. But then it slithered back out of my net and into a hole in the ground. After that we all went into the woods and tried to find more snakes but we couldn't. I peeked in a bush and found a white thing that looked like a snake. I came closer up and it turned out that it was a snake skin, about 2 feet long. I brought home the snake skin and now when I look at it, it reminds me of that day.

My House in Los Angeles

2009-09-15T17:12:00.000-07:00

When I lived in California I had 2 canyons, 1 in my front yard and 1 in my back yard. We also had a hummingbird nest next to our window. The hummingbird laid two eggs. One of the eggs fell from the nest and broke on the ground.

Me and my mom once went on a hike in the back canyon. We found a big alligator lizard and I caught it. It was about a foot long. Then we walked over a bridge and we saw a lizard on it and I caught that too. We went up a little bit more and I found a turtle on the ground. We raced back down to my house with the turtle in my hands and looked on the computer to see if there was a pond nearby. The audobon society near our house had a pond and we brought the turtle there. There weren't any turtles at the pond except the one I brought. A month later I came back and there were about 10 turtles at the pond and it might have been because the turtle I brought had laid eggs.

Turtle Hunting

2009-09-13T05:14:00.000-07:00

yestrday i went to sugr pond with my frand oiavr. win i got thar i cote 7 tadpols and 1 frog. i went arond the pond and i found a turtle. it was in the middl of the pond. i threw pabls behid it to skar it ner me. It didn't work so I threw pebbles closer to me and he came closer. Maybe he thought it was food. When he was swimming towards me with his head underwater, I put my feet in the pond and scooped him up with my net. The pond water was up to my kneecaps and the bottom of the pond felt a lot colder than the top. It was squishy at the bottom. I think the turtle was a yellow eared slider because it had a yellow stripe near its ears. The shell was black on the top and yellow on the bottom.

A Hike at Bear Mountain

2009-09-06T11:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went with my family to Bear Mountain. When we started the hike I found a grey garter snake. It went into the bushes before I could look at it so we kept going. After a while we came to a wooded area and right on the trail was a 6-foot black rat snake stretched out! The snake was resting on the path and it looked like it was warming itself in the sun. I touched it's tail and it picked its head up and looked at me and began to coil. But instead it slithered into a hollow tree. A black rat snake is black on the top and almost white on the bottom. As you can tell by it's name, it likes to eat rats and mice and other rodents.

Frogging at Sugar Pond

2009-09-06T11:02:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I went to Sugar Pond with my dad. When I got there I found two frogs two frogs next to a big rock under a tree. I tried to catch one, but it jumped away too quickly, but my dad caught one on his first try. I went around the pond once and on my way around I found a turtle but it was in the middle so I could catch that. I looked around the pond and I found another frog which I caught. I came around the pond and it jumped out of my net. I was feeling like I wasn't going to catch one but on my next try, I caught one and put it in my bucket with the one my dad caught. I opened the net and it jumped out of the bucket and back into the pond. At the end of the day, I ended up with one frog, one fish and a few tadpoles.

chinese praying mantis

2009-08-29T06:33:00.001-07:00

A few days ago I found a giant praying mantis that was about 5 inches long. It was brown with a green stripe on its side. I looked it up and I found that it was a Chinese praying mantis.

Fort Ticonderoga & Snake Hunting

2009-08-22T08:49:00.000-07:00

8/18/2009
Today I went to Fort Ticonderoga and we saw somebody demonstrate shooting a musket gun and someone else shoot a canon, but with no cannonball. You could see most of Lake George from the top of the fort. When we looked down from one of the cannons we saw about four wild turkeys. My dad took a picture of me sitting in a cannon, just like a ball.

After Fort Ticonderoga, we drove to a trailhead with a lake and a quarry next to it. In the lake we found frogs about the size of a fingernail. They looked like really tiny toads. We saw somebody trying to catch minnows with a net like I did before, and he was catching them with bread which I usually don’t do when I catch them. He was catching them for bait. Originally we were going to a trail when we got to the trail we started walking down the hill and then we turned on the pathway and then there was a sign saying “Warning, Rattlesnakes!” I felt kind of good that I might see a rattlesnake.

A Trip to Lake George

2009-08-22T08:40:00.001-07:00

8/15/2009
This morning I went to my friend’s house and looked in a purple bush and found a really big preying mantis. It was brown and had stripes that were black. I could clearly see it when I found it. It had green eyes and we knew it was a male because it had eight segments and females have six segments on their abdomens.

We were going to Lake George by car and we packed fishing rods, nets and hooks for catching fish, frogs, crayfish, spiders and salamanders. When we arrived, I ran right down the hill to the lake and jumped in to go swimming. I found a frog and I realized I forgot my nets in the car and I went to go get them. I caught small frogs and big frogs and crayfish and fish and salamanders and spiders. When I caught one of the frogs I let it go and it came right back into my net. When I came out to catch some fish I found a small leech about an inch long on my ankle and I learned from my mom that they have a substance that makes the blood continue to flow. There were two teeth stuck into my ankle which felt pretty weird. I held it and ripped it off of my ankle. It took about an hour to stop bleeding.

I came outside with my Aunt Jen and we sat down at the pier and saw about two bats. One of them swooped down at the water and were probably drinking some water. I told Jen about the frogs that I saw earlier and we were looking for some when I found one and put it in her hand.

Nighttime Backyard Creatures

2009-08-08T08:39:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago me and my friend were out catching fireflies. We caught about fifty in a net. After that we were looking for some bats and we sat down in chairs and watched bats fly overhead. It looked like they were black and they flittered their wings really fast. They didn't fly straight, they flew zig-zaged because there are usually mosquitos everywhere. They come out right as the sun goes down.

We decided to turn on our black light which attracts lots of bugs. We spread out a white sheet on our clothes line and hung the light on top of it. A few minutes later, we came back out. There were lots of bugs on the white sheet next to the light and we took a bug sucker and sucked up the bugs to get better look. (I will describe what a bug sucker is at a different post.) We saw different kinds of bugs such as mosquitos, red and blue hopper bugs and moths.

After that we went inside for some dessert. We got some ice cream, it was my favorite kind, fudge chocolate with chocolate chips.

Buying a Female Leopard Gecko

2009-08-06T04:34:00.000-07:00

One day at the end of June, we went to the Reptile Expo with my friend Delia and my brother Sam. When we got inside, one of the first things we saw was big monitor lizard that was 10 years old and was about 4 feet long. After that we saw some geckos that were about 1 inch long and full grown. Some were blue, some were green and some were purple. I'm not sure what their species is. We passed a few poison dart frogs that were in a big terrarium tank. Most animals at the expo are in tupperware with holes cut in the top.

We found Frank's table where it always is on the right side. We were looking for a 1-yr old female leopard gecko. We have a female and a male gecko that don't want to mate. We also got them at Frank's. There were lots of Leopard Geckos. The one we wanted was an Enigma breed which was a little bit orange and grey and white with red spots. I think it was the best one there because it didn't have any extra skin on it's fingers, it didn't have milky eyes, it wasn't sleeping and it was very active and healthy looking. My brother Sam bought a toy lizard at Frank's. It cost a lot of money. Frank told us that if we wanted to breed this gecko we would have to wait about nine months until she is ready to mate. That will be at the end of March.

After that we saw some praying mantises and all their body parts looked like leaves to camouflage. They were about an inch and a half long. Then we saw an egg casing in the same terrarium. We also saw an egg case that hatched with a lot of little babies. We saw some Stick Bugs that were about five inches long and looked like sticks. They were brown and hard to see.

Next to the Stick Bugs, we saw a Leaf-Tailed Chameleon that was brown. We also saw Jackson's Chameleons which change color, but this day they were green because their surroundings were green leaves.

After we bought some crickets and a new shelter for the gecko, we decided to leave. On the way to the car, we saw a whole family of people looking for a lizard that dropped out of a bag. We asked them what they were looking for. They said they were looking for a Tagu Lizard and I helped catch it in a bush. It had climed the branch and I had to climb the tree to get it. I finally got my hands around it but it slipped away again and climbed up even higher. I finally got it and brought it down and put it in the bag. The lizard was scared and hissed at me with it's mough wide open.

A Day at the Vernal Pond

2009-08-02T05:33:00.000-07:00

In May I went to the Vernal Pond and I saw some bullfrog egg clutches and spring peepers. I took a clutch home to see if they would turn into frogs. One of the eggs hatched and then another and then lots. My whole aquarium was full with tadpoles. Soon some of them grew back legs and then front legs and then they shrunk their tails. Soon they became frogs and could breath air.

When I was at the Vernal Pond, I saw a snake eating an egg clutch. It opened it's jaws and swallowed the egg clutch and pushed it down in one gulp. After that we saw some salamander eggs in the pond. I knew they were salamander eggs because they in pairs of two and frog eggs are in a big round clutch.

We looked up in the trees and saw two nests. I climbed the tree and noticed that there was two eggs in the nest. The eggs were blue and I think they were robin's eggs.

On the ground we saw footprints that looked like a fox's footprints. And my friend looked it up in a track book and that's how we knew it belonged to a fox.

A Hawk Sighting

2009-07-31T17:43:00.000-07:00

Today I was at camp and me and my friends were playing soccer. We looked up at the sky and saw a hawk flying towards us. It was soaring over us and we saw its red tail. That's how we knew it was a red tailed hawk. It swooped down and landed on the goal. It was about 2 feet in length, and its wing span was about 3 feet. It had really big talons to grab onto its prey.

Baby deer born in our back yard

2009-07-31T17:30:00.000-07:00

In June I was looking at some tadpoles in my backyard that hatched out of some eggs, and I put them in a bucket. Next to the bucket, I found a newborn baby deer and I was about 2 feet away from it. I fed it some blueberries. I also saw it eat them. I saw it stand up for its first time. It was wobbly. Then we went to my uncle Kevin's soccer game, and when we came back it was gone. Since then we have seen it around the neighborhood with its mom. Its getting bigger and bigger. Its losing its spots, and its fur is thicker. I was in my friend's yard when it came out of the bushes with its mom, about 10 feet away from me. I saw it eating plants and berries. It looked right at me.

A Day at the Pond

2009-07-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Sugar Pond with my friend Cecilia. We brought some pretty long nets to catch frogs and tadpoles. I caught three bullfrogs and one painted turtle. The painted turtle was very heavy and I couldn't pick it up so I dropped it back in the water. I also saw a giant snapping turtle which had a very sharp beak and a worm-like tongue. I caught some tadpoles and one of them was injured because a frog had been biting on it's tail for food.

Through the binoculars, we saw a very big blue heron in the tree. We saw a Kingfisher dive down and catch a fish and fly up into a tree. It had black and blue wings and a white body and a long grey beak.

I fell in and got soaked in pond scum. I walked around the pond into some large reeds where I couldn't see over them and I got stuck in the middle. Finally I found my way out and caught a frog.

When I was there I saw my other friends Layla and Jordan.

Making an eagle's nest

2009-07-23T17:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we were planning on making an eagle's nest out of large sticks. When we picked up a large stick, we found a few hornets burrowing in the ground. My friend got stung by a hornet. We had to make our eagle's nest some place else because there were hornets in that area. The next day we built a very large eagle's nest and the whole camp could fit into it.

We also found the old cub scout fort with dream catchers inside of it.

A Day at Nature Camp

2009-07-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

Today I went to camp at Lenoir Nature Preserve and we brought out the hose but we had to open a well to get inside. We found a snake, a large Spotted Salamander and a lot of slugs. Some of the slugs were Tiger Slugs and some looked like small banana slugs. The snake was a baby Common Garter Snake. It was very small. The salamander had yellow spots and it was black and was about four inches long.

When we took out the hose, we played a game called Animal Tag. The game is played with one person in the middle holding the hose on shower. Each kid has an animal in mind. Let's say you have a bird as your animal and the person with the hose calls "does your animal have wings?" you try to run to the other side without getting sprayed. My animal was a tick. I got sprayed twice.

Neighborhood praying mantises

2009-07-21T06:23:00.000-07:00

Last summer me and my friend found a praying mantis. We saw it eat giant bees and butterflies. The last time that we saw it was in the late fall. A few days later we found an egg casing in a bush. We waited all winter for the egg casing to hatch. I checked on the praying mantis egg casing in the early summer and I found that it hatched. I saw lots of little praying mantises coming out of the egg case. They were very aggressive to one another. They had their tails up and their front claws were striking.

We kept two in a butterfly container and watched them grow. I made a bug sucker out of a straw, a plastic bottle and gauze. I caught flies and other insects, and fed them to the praying mantis. When they came out of their shedding skin they were brown, and then they turned light green, then darker green.

Hike to Lost Lake

2009-07-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Lost Lake with my friends. On the way, we crossed a stream and found two frogs. We think they were Green Frogs. When we came to Lost Lake, I found two snakes sunning themselves on a rock. I picked one up with my bare hands for the fist time. It was about two feet long, black with dull red stripes. I looked in my encyclopedia and found that it was a Northern Water Snake. I put it in my net and showed it to my friends. I let the snake go. Me and my friends watched it slither across the water to the other side.

While we were at the Lake, we also caught five frogs, ten salamanders (Sawyer caught 2, Max caught 1, Oliver caught 2 and I caught 5) and four tadpoles. We heard many frogs croaking. They sounded like bullfrogs. We also found a few dead salamanders and water bugs. When I caught a frog, one of them jumped out of my net and I had to catch it with my bare hands. When I put it in the net, it got its head stuck in a piece of netting. We had to use my mom's keys to break the netting to save the frog.

When we came back down to the parking lot, we drove to an ice cream store. I got a chocolate ice cream, Sawyer got a vanilla and chocolate ice cream, Oliver got a milkshake, Max got an orange soda, Sam got a vanilla cone, and Mom got a chocolate ice cream and shared it with Owen.