One in the same.

Ever since I began observing, I've come to noticed the two birch trees rooted in my front yard. Before we began observations, I became fascinated with the trees. During the summer I've watched as the birch tree became green and lush. As it aged yet another year, it's leaves began to change color.

I took a look at the leaves that had fallen off the birch tree in the front yard. I found 3 leaves demonstrating the process of the change of color in the leaves. It really fascinated me because it's nature, it's something that's overlooked. Lots of people notice the leaves change color in the fall, but how many of those people actually get up close and take a good look at them? I took the time to do so, it's beautiful!   Field Notes 9/23/14


"The process of leaf change."
Field Notes 9/23/14

"The object I focused on the most was the birch trees in my front yard. I noticed something very interesting; certain parts of the long hanging branches had long strands of yellow leaves, others had long strands of bright green and some were long strands of nothing." Field Notes 9/28/14

I found it very fascinating that some parts of the tree were green, some yellow, and some completely naked! All on the same tree. The strands reminded me of an old man, the yellow as his gray hair and the bare strands as his bald spots. The more he aged the more his hair turned yellow and fell out.

"Long Strands of green and Yellow"
Field Notes 9/28/14

"Long Strands."
Field Notes 9/28/14

"Strands of Nothing."
Field Notes 9/28/14

"The yellow leaves from the birch tree look like a big blanket on top of the green grass. The bark on the tree looks ashy, like a woman's legs when she fails to put lotion on them. There is more tree than leaves now, the old man is loosing it!" Field Notes 11/6/14

The few leaves that remain look like tiny beads upon a big necklace. They're holding on for dear life, it's the last group of leaves left in this generation, and they're fighting to keep it alive. Very few strands of hair remains on the bald head, but it won't last forever.

"The Last Leg."
Field Notes 11/6/14

According to "Birch Trees" there are about 15 different types of birch trees: paper birch, gray birch, silver birch, bog birch, downy birch, just to name a few. After researching on "Birch Trees" I've concluded I have a white European birch tree. I figured it was a white European birch tree because it was the most common birch tree found in "urban" areas, as stated by "Birch Trees." Also, the leaf's from the white European birch tree in my front yard matched leaf's I came across on "Birch Trees."

My research done on "Birch Trees" explains that a birch tree has unique features, such as it's bark. The trunk of every type of birch tree (excluding gray birch) peels with age.The birch trees' skin peels and sheds, just like a snakes' skin does. Two entirely different species are in fact the same. Does that mean they're somehow genetically connected? A tree and a reptile to me it sounds insane, but what if it's possible. What is everything we know as humans and the life around us is all somehow connected. A horse can grow hair and cut it just like a human can; a bear hibernates in the winter as does the bulb of a flower, how do you explain the connection? Every single one of these species had to of learn their traits from somewhere. Did a butterfly come across an ant lion and learn the trait of cocooning? The connections are endless, it just goes to show we're all one in the same.

"Peeling Bark"
Field Notes 11/7/14

"Birch Trees." 20-20Site. LoveToKnow Corp. 2012. Web. 8 Nov. 2014.

Social and Solitary

All of the antlion holes are now gone, I'm assuming that they have gone into the cocooning stage. I've began to observe the rest of my front yard finding a wide variety of life that's gone unnoticed, including the yellow and black striped wasp on my previous blog.  On Tuesday October 28 I came across a very strange looking insect attempting to crawl into my house.

I went outside to take the trash out when I noticed creeping in through the bottom of my screen door. It was, another wasp? As I got closer I noticed that it looked nothing like the other wasp I found. It had a slender waist, with a bright yellow behind leading into a black needle stinger. What the hell is that, where did it come from? I grabbed a gray flip-flop that was to the left of me and squished it, not to the point i'd kill it, I just wanted it to stop moving. I quickly grabbed my mom's iPad and recorded him. It's leg was twitching and it's body was throbbing, I figured it was on the verge of dying. I grabbed the wasp by it's left antenna and set it down on the wooden bench in the front yard. I wanted to make sure it was dead before I brought it inside to take more pictures. When my mom came home from work I was excited to show her what I had discovered during my observations. When we went outside, it was gone.
                                                                                                                                -Field Notes 10/28/14

                                                                    "Throbbing Wasp"
                                                                   Field Notes 10/28/14
As I explained in my field notes, the wasp escaped before I could get any better pictures of it.
However, I was given the privilege to capture this stunning creature on video.


I did a bit of research on google the insect, but I couldn't find anything on it. All I found was it was a wasp, which isn't very helpful.Then I started to wonder, how wasps mate? According to "How Do Wasps Reproduce," wasps are put into two separate categories: social and solitary. This determines how wasps mate. Social wasps live in "colonies" among other wasps and the queen. Social wasps make their nests "in holes or above ground." Most social male and female wasps mate only once a year, females then hibernate and the male dies. In the spring the queen lays her eggs in the holes of the honey comb, and leaves her babies to be cared for by "workers." Most "female workers are sterile"(not able to reproduce.) Their job is to assist the queen in caring for her young. Almost as if their a maid in a rich household. It must be devastating to not be able to reproduce and have their own family. Sterile female wasps must have some thick skin, knowing their whole life they'll be caring for the queen's babies. I can't imagine how I would feel if I found out I was sterile, it would be heart breaking. My dreams of getting married and having a baby of my own would be crushed. Solitary wasps, however, work a bit different.

After further research on "How Do Wasps Reproduce" I found that all Solitary wasps are fertile and they all live alone; the majority of wasp species are solitary wasps. They commonly lay their eggs and abandon them, but in some cases the mother wasps stay with their babies. Solitary male and female wasps mate in the spring and unlike the social males that immediately die after mating, solitary male wasps usually survive through the summer.

There is one vital difference between social and solitary wasps. When social wasps are in danger, they release a pheromone that alerts the other wasps in the colony. Solitary wasps don't have that advantage, they live alone. Another interesting fact I found was that social wasps use their stingers for "defensive purposes." Solitary wasps use their stingers to "hunt and feed their young." It's almost like society influences the social wasps to do harm, in order to impress the others and seem bad ass. The solitary wasps on the other hand use it for good, they can be their true selves because there is no one there they need to impress.




Gallegos, Alicia. "How Do Wasps Reproduce?" Animals.Pawnation. Demand Media. n.d. Web.28 Oct. 2014.

Along came the wasp.

I went out to observe ant lions, when I felt a buzz go by my left ear. I glanced around to see what it was, a small humble figure caught my eye causing me to look up. There in the top corner of my porch is what appears to be, a nest? Small white pellets resembling tiny cotton balls, filled the holes of the a honeycomb. Wait, what is that flying towards me? I can see it's microscopic veins coursing through it's paper thin wings; a yellow striped body trying to keep up. Black beady eyes, as if you were looking into the soul of death. It had lips of a woman, painted in black. Maybe it didn't like the fact I was spying on it's home. I concentrated on this tiny creature and soon it became clear, it was a wasp. There were several of them flying around my porch. I dialed in on one of them, watching as it went into the nest. The nest was quite active, the wasps moved about with purpose; careful not to invade the other one's space.  I watched as one fell from the nest, as a mother bird would her baby bird.  Seven feet the tiny wasp fell. To my surprise, it was still alive. I quickly grabbed my mom's iPad and documented the last bit of life left in him.

                                                                  "The Fallen Wasp" 
                                                                Field Notes 10/20/14
This is "The Fallen Wasp." I filmed this video, capturing the last little bit of life left in him, watching as he took last breath.

Yellow jacket wasp.

Field Notes 10/20/14

According to "Wasp," yellow jacket wasps are about the size of a small paper clip, from the feet to the tip of their wing. Some yellow jacket wasps can only sting once, then they die. When this happens, the wasp releases a smell called a pheromone. It's a signal to other wasps that it' in trouble and needs help. Wasps are considered to be "omnivorous animals", they graze on sweets such as nectar, fruits, honey, and occasionally caterpillars. Wasps can be found in all parts of the world, except "polar regions." Throughout the world, there are about 75,000 different types of wasps. The typical life span of a wasp is about 12-22 days, that's it.

Humans have life spans that they take for granted. Imagine living for less than a month, knowing that very soon you are going to die. My own thoughts would be overwhelming; how can I die when I haven't even had a chance to live? All of the life I have yet to live will soon be vanished right before my eyes. Would I be too young to remember anything about this life? I can't imagine living 12-22 days, knowing I'm going to die. Wasps must know by their fallen comapnions, that they will soon die, right? Wasps must have thick skin to be able to go about their day with the sound of death ringing in their ears.

                                                                   Field Notes 10/20/14

Field Notes 10/20/14

                     "Wasp." A-Z Animals. Millie Bond. November 2008. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

Yellow Butterfly.

I walked out to my front yard to do my daily observation on antlions, when I noticed something yellow in the grass of my front yard. As I got closer to it I realized it was a butterfly; a monarch butterfly. It had some how fallen from it's flight and died. Field Notes 10/14

All I kept thinking was, how the hell did it end up here? What made it fall? I had never seen anything like it before. It had beautiful yellow wings contrasting with it's black veins. I decided to do some research on the monarch butterfly.

According to "Monarch Butterfly" the wingspan of a monarch butterfly can grow between 3½–4 in. Monarch butterflies have a great sense of direction. When migrating they're guided by an "internal compass" that leads them in the right direction. Monarch butterflies typically travel from northern Canada to Mexico City during their migration, covering thousands of miles along their journey. Male and female monarchs can be distinguished by their veins and spots. Male monarchs typically have wider veins than a female, and also have a black spot on the back of each wing. Identifying a monarch caterpillar is not hard to do either, they have yellow, black and white loops running along their body. Monarch butterflies don't usually live past 5 weeks after entering adulthood. I personally found the diet of the monarch butterfly very interesting. From the time they're caterpillars they feed on milkweed ( a wildflower.) Milkweed consists of glycoside toxins, it's not detrimental to a monarch butterfly but is poisonous to an animal of prey. The toxins from the milkweed builds up in the adult monarch and eventually monarchs become poisonous.

I found this picture interesting because you can see fur-like texture on the bottom right-hand side of the wing. The eye almost looks like it's punctured  in the middle (or is it supposed to be like that?) Almost half of its wing is missing which is probably the reason why it had fallen and died, but what happened? I tried looking for the remainder of the wing but I could not find it.

This was my favorite picture because it look like a yellow bat, its eyes just fascinate the hell out of me. I wonder what it's last thoughts were, if it even had thoughts.

"Monarch Butterfly." National Wildlife Federation. N.p. n.d. Web. 17 Oct.2014.

The True Antlion.

I've found out quite a few things since the last time I blogged, such as this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/Antlion_life_cycle.svg/922px-Antlion_life_cycle.svg.png

The antlion life cycle. The antlion I've been showing underground is only at it's larva stage! It's not even full grown yet! I think that's absolutely crazy I had no idea. After a bit of reaserch I found out a bit more on these antlions:
A full grown antlion can be up to 4 cm long, almost double the size of the antlion at it's larve stage(1.2cm.) At an antlion's larvae stage it eats mainly arthropods (What are Arthropods?) and ants. Adult antlion's eat pollen an nector, sometimes small arthropods as well. The wings on the adult antlion look a lot similar to the one's on a dragonfly, however antlions belong to an entirely different class of winged-insects. How can you tell them apart? By their antennae's; antlion's are about the length of a small insect's head and midsection combined, and the wing pattern; the antlion's being several times as wide and long as a dragonfly's. Antlion larvae stay in that stage for 1-3 years, once they reach adult stage they're only alive for 30-45 days and then die. Crazy right?
Anyways I attempted to do my own home video of the antlion's lurching in my front yard. Unfortunately the ant got away, which can sometimes happen, but it shows a basic idea of how the antlion larvae work

 

Field Video 10/8/14

I went searching for an ant to throw into this hole, red ants seem to work better because they're bigger and the antlion larvae can feel the weight of the ant, in contrast to the black ant that are 

The Hidden Beasts.

Just holes in the ground right? It's not quite that simple. Ant lions; small but deadly creatures living among us, enjoy feasting on the insides of innocent ants. The underground beast, about the size of a human fingernail devours the ant with it's hollow pinchers in seconds. It grabs hold of the ant and pulls him down to the point of no return. This video put on by the National Geographic goes into great depth of the function of an ant lion and how it retrieves it's meal. I strongly encourage you to hit that play button! Don't be afraid to turn the volume up, it goes into fierce detail of what's going on!

 

Ant lion from Africa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWkfAyfBDHE
 



Mind-blowing right? It still amazes me what ant lion's are capable of doing. I find it crazy how disguised ant lion's are, It just makes me think: what else is living underground around my house? Unless you knew there was a bug underneath the unblemished hole, it wouldn't mean much. I wonder how you think of holes in the dirt now. Who knows, YOU might even have one lurching beneath the dirt of your home.

Just Holes?

Antlions, also known as the 'Dooldebug' feast on helpless ants. These deadly, well-hidden creatures build traps in a funnel-like cone shape in soft dirt. It's easy for antlions to go unnoticed because most don't expect a bug underneath the funnel death trap holes in the ground. An antlion will build the trap and wait for an ant to tumble in, where the ant is consumed by it's predator. The antlion beneath the ground literally kicks up dirt onto the ant, grabs hold of it, and pulls it down underground. It's unfortunate for the ant, but a great treat for the hungry antlion.

Taken 9/14. My front yard.

                                                

Example of how the antlion and the funnel death trap works. The top of the hole is where an ant falls to it's doom. The antlion waits patiently for it's meal.

Antlion preparing for a meal.
http://scienceblogs.com/clock/wp-content/blogs.dir/458/files/2012/04/i-d889b237f58e02381e5868ceb41b4f2d-a3%20Ant%20Lion%20Funnel.jpg

 

 

Picture background credits : http://pi.b5z.net/i/u/995619/i/dwightantlion6_ezr.jpg