Explore Outdoors ~ My, What a Long Tongue You Have!

 Have you ever watched a butterfly (or a moth) up close as it slurps up nectar from a flower? If so, you've noticed that it has a very long ...

 

... tongue! 

Skipper: The better to get into those tubular clover flowers, my dear!

 

Actually, butterflies - and moths - don't have tongues. What they have is a proboscis, a long, straw-like tube that comes in handy when you're trying to drink sweet stuff out of flowers. Imagine having your mouth extended into a long tube! 

And then imagine tasting with your feet. Though, to be fair, moths and butterflies can sense aromas with their antennae - and a good part of "taste" is what we smell. 

This week, check out butterflies and day-flying moths visiting flowers in your neighborhood. 

Try to get close without bothering them, and check out their proboscises (and yes, that is the plural!) Here are a couple of moths I've seen tasting flowers in and around my garden: 

 

Hummingbird moth on teasel

Virginia Ctenucha moth (say "ten-OOCH-ah")

These Books are For the Birds!

Every morning the birds wake me up: robins and mourning doves, jays and crows. Loudest of all is a tiny phoebe, its feathers still ruffled from sleep. So when I discovered these books nesting in my book basket, I knew I had to get them out to sing their “good morning” songs.

themes: birds, animal behavior, family

Finding Family: The Duckling Raised by Loons 

by Laura Purdie Salas; illus. by Alexandria Neonakis

32 pages; ages 5-10

Millbrook Press, 2023 

Perched on the edge of a northern lake, a nest of dried mud and grass cradles two eggs.

If all goes well, those olive-colored, black-splotched eggs will hatch into baby loons. But one stormy day, when the loon parents return to the nest, they find broken shells and only one single chick. The chick grows and changes and soon it’s clear this chick is not a loon chick. It’s a mallard duckling! Now, mallards and loons are not related. They aren’t good friends – more like enemies … and yet these parent loons and duckling create a family. Throughout the book, Laura Purdie Salas contrasts how loons and ducks behave – and how this young duckling learns loon behavior.

What I like about this book: This is an engaging story to begin with, and I love the way Laura shows how the duckling learned loon things – diving for food, eating fish – and still did its own ducky things. I like that she asks questions: what made loons raise a lost duckling? How did the duckling learn loon behaviors? Will the duck ever find a mate? And I like how she emphasizes the importance of family. Plus there is Back Matter! Laura tells about the true story and presents a Venn diagram comparing loons and mallards.

How Birds Sleep

by Sarah Pedry and David Obuchowski

40 pages; ages 4-8

‎minedition (Astra), 2023

It’s dusk. Unless you’re an owl, it’s time to get ready for sleep. 

As the sun sets, birds all over the world are getting ready to snooze. Some settle in bunches, perched in a line on a tree branch. Others hang upside down. Some nest in trees, while others snuggle together at the end of a tunnel in a termite mound. And some never land, sleeping in the air as they glide.

What I like about this book: The illustrations are luscious, done in shades of blue that evoke night. Each bird is identified by common name, scientific name, and a location – which makes it easier for curious naturalists to find out more about a bird that piques their interest. And the language is perfect for a go-to-sleep book, with nests described as cozy and safe, or pillowy-soft, or waves rocking the birds to sleep. Yaawwn! Just don't fall asleep reading!

Swoop and Soar: How Science Rescued Two Osprey Orphans and Found Them A New Family In The Wild 

by Deborah Lee Rose and Jane Veltkamp 

54 pages; ages 5-12

Persnickety Press, 2022

High above the dark blue water, a sharp-beaked osprey hovered in the morning sky.

Father osprey is fishing for his chicks. But when a storm knocks down their tree, the baby birds need help. That help comes in the form of Janie, a raptor biologist who has rescued many ospreys. Her idea: foster the osprey chicks with a pair of osprey that had lost their own. This book follows the story of how Janie Veltkamp helped create a new osprey family, and shows the chicks, Swoop and Soar, growing up in their new nest. 

What I like about this book: In addition to Swoop and Soar’s story, Janie tells what it’s like to rescue ospreys and reintroduce them into habitats. There’s a section all about Ospreys where readers can learn more about osprey adaptations, where they nest, and why they became endangered. There’s even a list of how you can help the ospreys.

Beyond the Books:

What sorts of things would you learn if you were adopted by a different animal (or an alien)? Think about the way you find food, what you eat, the way you might play together. Then check out this video of the loons with their adopted duckling.

How do you sleep? Do you make a nest? Or snuggle in with others? One thing that you can do to help birds sleep is to make sure you turn of outdoor lights at night.

What makes a family? One book shows loons adopting a duckling, and another shows how a wildlife rehabilitator was able to help osprey chicks bond with new parents. Draw a picture or write a poem about what makes the people – and animals you live with – your Family.

We’ll join Perfect Picture Book Friday once they resume. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copies provided by the publishers.

Explore Outdoors ~ Milkweed visitors

 I started growing milkweed in and around my garden for the Monarch caterpillars. It turns out that lots of things love my milkweed. Over the seasons I spy skippers, honey bees, fritillaries, a variety of native bees, ants, the Monarchs (of course) and other butterflies, and even hummingbirds who hover long enough to check out the flowers. There are milkweed bugs and milkweed beetles, ladybugs, and crab spiders that hang out under the leaves waiting to snatch an unsuspecting fly.

 

And then there's this beetle - a daylight firefly that doesn't light up the sky, and who is nibbling milkweed buds.

This week choose a flower that's in bloom and watch the insects that visit it. How many different kinds of insects do you see? And do any birds drop by? Are there spiders lurking on the blossom or hiding in the leaves?