Insect Photos

Yesterday I posted a worksheet that I use during a presentation on Michigan's Insects.  Today I am going to share the Powerpoint slides that I use during the same presentation.  I use these photos to show Third Grade students the diversity of insect species that can be found in the local habitats and to illustrate the various adaptations that insects have developed including warning coloration, mimicry, false eyespots, etc.. 

As before, if you can use these images for an academic purpose please feel free to borrow them.  Many of these photos appear elsewhere on this blog.

 There are 57 more slides below the break...

Free Insect Worksheets

I do a lot of different programs with students.  I always try to have something that they take home after the program.  This often takes the form of a worksheet that they complete as part of a hands-on activity.  I try to not have this be a worksheet for the sake of doing a worksheet, but rather as part of a learning experience that they can take home and share with their parents.  Because my programs are specific to the Mid-Michigan area, I find that pre-made worksheets rarely work for what I want to talk about.  So I end up creating my own.  This worksheet is one that I created this morning to go along with a presentation on insects to Third Grade students.   If these are something that you can use, please feel free to take them.

Gifts and Giving

Last December I wrote a post titled "Ten Things Kids Should Ask for This Christmas (or Their Parents Should Get for Them Anyway)".  The list included items to help kids get outside(rubber boots and a waterproof jacket/raincoat); things useful to help kids find things (aquatic dip net, insect net, and magnifying glass); and tools for identifying and recording their finds (guide books, a notebook/sketchbook, colored pencils, a pencil sharpener, and a cheap digital camera).  I still think this list is appropriate for kids of ages (including adults).

This year, instead of suggesting gifts for kids.  I would like to suggest giving money to groups that support the environment.  I used to gift money to national groups, but now I prefer to give my support to groups that support conservations and education efforts locally.

Chippewa Valley Audubon Club

My wife and I are members of our local Audubon chapter - I am currently the vice president.  Every year we pay our annual membership dues, but we also typically give a small donation to the club.  I know that our money goes to support educational nature programs in our local area.

Chippewa Watershed Conservancy

We also give an annual donation to the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy.  The CWC  currently protects over four thousand acres in the local community through conservation easements and a series of preserves.  This year for our donation, we did something a little bit different.  

I own a lot of plaid shirts - more than twenty in all.  I wore a different one every week day during the month of November.  My wife posted a photo of my shirt each day on her Facebook account - at the end of the first three weeks we challenged all of her friends and family to wear a plaid shirt on the same day.  We said we would donate $5 to the CWC for each person who joined me in wearing plaid that day.  Fifteen people took up the challenge - meaning that we would donate $75 dollars in response.  We made a further (previously planned) donation at the same time.  It was fun  including other people in our gift giving and I plann on doing something similar in 2015.

Wings of Wonder

The third organization that I plan to make a gift to before the end of the year is Wings of Wonder.  Wings of Wonder is a non-profit raptor sanctuary located in Empire, MI - that's in the northwest corner of the Lower Peninsula.   In addition to providing a sanctuary for injured raptors, Wings of Wonder provides rehabilitation services for injured raptors that can be released to the wild, and provides numerous raptor education programs throughout the northern Lower Peninsula with their ambassador birds.  

Rebecca Lessard is the founder and director of Wings of Wonder.  In May, Rebecca brought several of the WoW ambassador birds to Mt. Pleasant for our International Migratory Bird Day Celebration at the Ziibiwing Center.  The presentation was absolutely wonderful.  In October, Rebecca lost her husband Don.  After Don's passing, the WoW board of directors cleared Rebecca's schedule for the remainder of the year.  Because Wings of Wonder gets approximately 30% of its revenues from presentation fees, this meant a significant part of WoW's income suddenly disappeared.  If you have any extra funds and can make a donation, I am sure it will be greatly appreciated.

Fuzzy Squirrels for Your Enjoyment

My presentation schedule since the start of the school year has left me less time to write substantial posts than I would like.  I plan to get back to a more regular schedule after the 1st of the year, but for now... Hey look a squirrel!

Oh look!  A bunch of squirrels!

Large numbers of squirrels actually make me a little nervous.  It's like they're plotting something...

Probably planning to dig up all of the tulip bulbs in my yard.

Owls, owls, everywhere!

Keeping with the recent theme of owls... I have seen two in the past twenty-four hours.  A Barred Owl crossed the road in front of me at dusk last night and then today I saw this beauty along the road in northwest Isabella County.

Snowy Owl near Weidman, MI (09 DEC 2014)

This Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) has been hanging around the same general location since Thanksgiving Day.  I found it along Weidman Road., between Littlefield Road and Gilmore Road.  At one point a flock of Snow Buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis) swooped around over the owl's head - two arctic tundra species meeting in Mid-Michigan.  It makes you wonder if these individuals migrated from the same location only meet up again here.

Snowy Owl and Snow Buntings near Weidman, MI (09 DEC 2014)

In the Company of Owls

Saturday night was a great night to walk through the woods at the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy's Sylvan Solace Preserve.  CWC Director Stan Lilley and I led this walk for a total of twenty-one interested people.  Most of those attending had never taken a moonlit walk through the woods before and a few people had never visited Sylvan Solace.  We gave everyone a glowstick so people would not get lost.  The weather cooperated with a crisp clear night with a full moon and lots of stars (until the moonlight blotted most of them out).  We took a little over an hour to walk one for the preserve's trails.

The moon through the trees

At several points along the trail we stopped to call for owls - Eastern Screech, Barred, and Great Horned.  We were successful at calling in a pair of Barred Owls along the Chippewa River.  The first owl just swooped around overhead, but the second landed in a tree nearly overhead.  When we shined a light on it there were several cries of amazement.  Unfortunately I was unable to get a good photograph of it while shining a flashlight at the same time.
 

Stan Lilley calls for owls with an app on his phone.

The blurry thing in the very center of this photo is one of the Barred Owls

After the walk, a small group stayed around to drink hot chocolate and talk.  There is already talk of schedule a spring moonlit walk to listen for frogs and we have a moth outing scheduled for July.

Textures

I take many close-up photos of things that I find in nature without being entirely sure of what I am going to use the pictures for.  One thing the images have in common is that they often show something that has an interesting texture or combination of textures.

Along the banks of Mission Creek

 

Paper Birch

Feathers and beach rocks

 

Ripple Marks

 

Lichen

Beach rocks

Bark and lichen

Melting snow

Frosty spruce needles

Snow-covered rocks

Entangling vines and ash bark

Ice crystals

Shells along Lake Michigan