Friday, July 29, 2011

A Strange Looking Bug

This little critter came in through the front door. Fortunately, they are not usually found in the house. I had no idea what it was. It's a pretty small insect, so I didn't see the strange antennae until after I had downloaded the photo. The antennae made identifcation fairly easly - with the help of Google. It is a type of scarab beetle. The three prongs are but part of many that the beetle can fan out. It was lucky that it was not closed. It may have taken longer to identify. By the way, they use the antennae to "smell" for food.

Another name for the scarab beetle is dung beetle. Yep, they eat dung as well as carrion and dead plants. Gross, but necessary. Here are a couple of interesting couple of facts I came across. Scarab beetles have been around for 150 million years. They ate dinosaur dung! There are 35,000 different species of scarab beetles that have been identified and it is thought that there are another 15,000 yet to be discovered.

Those strange antennae really got me curious. I searched a few websites before finding the interesting information. I'm not an entomologist, so I really wasn't looking for a bunch of technical information. It seems only fitting that the website I found that has the most fascinating and fun information is called - Scarabs for Kids! It's a fun website. I'm glad this little critter led me there. I only have one request of the scarab beetle - please stay outside!
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Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Interesting Facts

I follow Wild Birds Unlimited on Twitter. They have tons of interesting articles about birds and other wildlife. Here is a fun fact from an article that explains how weight activated squirrel proof feeders work:

"But overall it takes over 65 chubby chickadees to equal the weight of one medium squirrel."


Doesn't it just make you smile to think of the sight of 65 chubby chickadees? They are so cute to begin with!

Click on the link above to read the whole article. It's very informative and and interesting. The blog is here on blogger.  It's a great blog!

Thought I would start blogging again. I'm not even sure what I want to blog about here. I guess just the Odds & Ends that come to my mind. I have not known how to get started. Today, I realized - why not just jump in? I decided, a photo would be a good ice breaker. I found this one I took last summer of a Great Blue Heron in the little pond out back.

I love these birds. One time, I happened to be sitting on the deck where I could see a blue heron and my binoculars were in hand. He stayed in the pond hunting frogs for a very long time - two hours and I stayed right there watching. He moved slowly, yet purposefully and patiently. He caught so many frogs I was afraid there would be none left. But of course, there were. I love these bird, and the frogs. Well, that's it for today.
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