Nature Picture Quiz

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What can this be? Can you name it? I am still unsure of it. I know there are a lot of these that look almost the same but with few differences. Take a look and see if you can figure this out.

Post a comment with your guess and maybe together we can figure the exact name of this beauty. Don't forget to look back here on Friday for the update.

Don't forget to involve the kiddos. Give them a look. Have them look through the websites with you. Share ideas on what it may be. Look at the eyes. Look at the spots. Maybe have the kids draw a picture of it. Then you also can go out looking for butterflies. If you find some take some pictures and share them on your blog. Don't forget to let me know and I will go take a look at your butterflies. This is a wonderful way to learn a little about this beautiful creature. A very easy and natural way of learning. Have fun with this quiz!

Don't forget to enlarge the pictures to take a closer look.

UPDATE: Ok, I've looked and looked in different guides and online to identify this one. It is a hairstreak. You all know that. There are so many different hairstreaks though. Some differences are just the markings and some may be the color of the eyes. It is sort of like looking at those books that have two pictures of the same thing and you have to look at what is different in them. Well, some differences are obvious at first glance and some you really have to look at. Here is another picture that shows another clue. I think this is a Dusky-blue groundstreak. What do you think?

Outdoor Hour Challenge

This week for our Outdoor Hour Challenge we heard an owl. It was exciting to hear it and my little one just stood there listened and smiled.


His one word description of what he heard was: hoo
His two word description of what he saw was: flying bird
His three word description of what he felt was: falling, hurting knee

We had a fun time outside except for the falling part. He was so excited to see a butterfly that he ran and jumped over a cord but didn't make it. I think this picture shows the adventurous child he is. I'm glad the weather is finally getting a little nicer. We are having fun with our Outdoor Hour challenges.

A tiring day

My boys rode their bikes and rode and rode. They were exhausted by the end of the day. I love it when this happens. It was sooo cute to see them asleep on the sofa all wrapped up together. Hope everyone else had a fun and exhausting day.

Not Bragging, REALLY!!

As we were leaving our Sunday meeting we turned on our van and we are still officially in winter but does this look like winter temperatures to you?

Science Fun

My oldest son is using Apologia's Physical Science. We have always used Apologia and have used it for years. I personally like the experiments that is suggests to do. This year we just started full force on Physical Science. This is an experiment in Module 2 and even the little one loved seeing the balloon fill up. It had hydrogen peroxide and yeast and the balloon on top. The balloon inflated with no problem. The result was oxygen in the balloon.
The candle was still on while the balloon was inflating. Soon, though, it ran out of oxygen and went out.
After it went out we lit it again and covered it with the jar again but this time as it was going out we got the balloon and let some of the oxygen out into the jar and it would go brighter. The little one loved this experiment. He knows now that for fire to keep going it needs oxygen.

We love our science and we love the experiments.

Nature Picture Quiz

This post will remain on top till Friday. Scroll down for newer posts.

Since our internet is out AGAIN, I decided to post this since I am at our new Burger King that has free wireless. Yes, I came out in the middle of the night to post this and check my emails.

So what is your guess on what this might be? It might be a little easy or is it? Leave me a comment with your guess. I'll post an update on this post with the answer by Friday even if I have to come back here to Burger King.

UPDATE: You girls are sooooo smart. Yes, this is an armadillo. I actually saw this one at the zoo. If you click and enlarge this picture you can see that it has hair on its back.

Zoo Trip

We took the day to go to the little zoo we have here in town. It took us all of 30 mins to go thru it. It is really small. My very loving boys sitting for a picture.
I was very close to this one. I was hoping to take a picture of it with its mouth open.
I think we spent most of our time here. My little one asked if we could go again tomorrow. He loves this place but today was the day since tomorrow will probably be raining.
After the zoo we went to the park. He kept telling me that he could go all the way to the end like a 7yr old boy. He gets so proud when he does something he has never done before. Oh, he did go all the way to the end.

So besides math this morning and our reading of our daily scripture we had lunch and headed out for some fun before the rains begin. What fun to be able to decide to take the kids for some fun for school. This is just the pick me up they needed and I needed it too.

Our Outdoor Hour Challenge

We made a turkey dinner for some friends to celebrate their year's worth of full time volunteer work. A fun time was had by all. We had a full house. Since there was enough to feed an army I fixed two plates to take to some friends that are home sick. We did that this afternoon and on the way back we drove along a long country road. That is when our Outdoor Hour started. We saw plenty of birds but what caught our attention was an armadillo walking along the road. There was no information on an armadillo in the Handbook of Nature Study so we looked a little info up in some animal books we have here at home.

We read from two books, The World of Animals published by Parragon and a DK book called Smithsonian Institute Animal The Definitive Visual Guide to the World's Wildlife. We learned it's called a Nine-banded armadillo and they live mostly in South America all the way up to the southern part of Texas, which is where we live.

We knew that their the skin of this animal is like armor but we didn't know that it eats almost anything from ants and birds to fruits and roots. Talk about not a picky eater! Another interesting tidbit we learned is that their offspring is nearly always quadruplets, 4 of the same sex.I printed an armadillo on these pages I had gotten at a teachers supply store. They colored the armadillo and I had a sentence for them to copy. It's interesting to see how the little one saw the colors on the armadillo. It was fun working on our first study in the Handbook of Nature Study. Another thing we are excited about is that our feeder has attracted some newcomers. I guess it's time for our Brown-headed Cowbirds and the Red-winged Blackbirds to make the rounds. We had about 30 birds feasting on our menu of scrumptious seeds. I had just filled the feeders. I wonder how long it will be before I have to refill? These birds are pigs.

Edited to include the following...If you want to read about this go to Barb's site.

A Bird Day

On Sunday on our way to town there was some stinky skunk road kill and there were 5 black vultures and 1 crested caracara also known as the Mexican Eagle. I still don't have my zoom lens so you will have to click on the image to see it closer. As you see the crested caracara was the first to fly away as we drove up. It landed on the field. I will one day take a closerloser picture of this bird. Till then this is all I have.

My time

Have you ever been so tired that you just want some time to recuperate your sanity. I have done this a few times. I rarely leave my children behind and go on some alone time but I did go on a trip to California some years ago with only my little one and that was enough to give me a boost for a while. Not only did it give me a boost but also ignited my forgotten yearning of being out in beautiful places. I wrote about it here.
My last big fun was visiting a friend in Canada. I did truly enjoy our trip to just go get some groceries. Can you tell it was fun?
Seeing different places like these rejuvenates me and makes me appreciate the beauty in just being outdoors.
Besides being outdoors and seeing new things I get the much needed "pick me up" from just being with friends that have the same goals as I do. Even though I need some ME time I get that from being with friends even if we have our trail of kids behind us. Not necessarily talking but just having fun, just sitting under the trees and listening to the wind, just being outdoors.
I am in desperate need of some more ME time. Where, oh, where shall I go?

Nature Picture Quiz

This will be on top till Friday.

This is a picture I took at the aquarium in Corpus Christi and thought I would have you guess at what this might be. We thought this was a neat spider since we saw Steve Irwin talk about it on one of his shows. Is that a good hint?

Have your children try to figure this out. You can enter one or two guesses. This is just for fun. You don't have to know exactly what this is to guess. Just have fun with it and enter what you think it might be.

Be sure to check back on here for an update on what this is.

Just a side note....my internet is not working but am hoping it will get fixed tomorrow. Having to go to the library for internet is no fun especially after a long school day.

UPDATE: This is a bird eating spider from Australia. It's in the tarantula family. These are the oldest of the spider types and generally possess a large, heavy set body with large fangs. They are venomous to varying degrees and include some of the most toxic species in Australia including the Sydney Funnel-web spider. Looks ugly doesn't it? EEWWWWW is right.

Nature Picture Quiz

This will be on top till Saturday so scroll down to see what's new with us.

I know I showed this picture before a few weeks ago but no one ever said anything about it. So now it's on a picture quiz. What do you think it is? Take a guess and leave your guess in a comment. I will give the answer by this weekend, so be sure to check back to find out.

I think this may be harder to figure out. At least it took me a long while and lots of surfing to find what this was. Don't forget to involve the kids. Make it a game. Something fun for Wednesdays.

Well, have fun searching for the answer. Don't forget to leave a comment with your guess.

UPDATE: Yes, you're right it's a White Tipped Black Moth. It took me a long time to find this one as it did you. Watch again next week for another picture quiz.

Sunset

I had to leave you with this for tonight. Our sunset was outstanding. The orangey pink in the sky was incredible. Is orangey a word? hehe Just had to share.

New "Pet"

Hubby was cleaning the pool. Yes, it will almost be pool season here in South Texas. Maybe another month or so but we are starting to work on it and he found our next "pet" in the filter. So being a fun homeschooling dad he got our big pickle glass jar we were saving for science and put him there till we got home. Only a homeschool family has all these kinds of animals in the house.
This is the first time I have seen one of these. It's a bull snake. The only information that The Handbook of Nature Study gives specifically on this snake is that it chiefly eats rodents and can grow to more than 4 feet.
I've looked online to see what it says about it. It said its got a mean streak. Like I couldn't figure that out already. Everytime we got close to the glass it is in it would come up and hiss and strike. It also shakes its tail like a rattlesnake. This is one mean little guy. We have to feed it what is called "pinkies" and that is baby mice. So is anyone already saying eeewwwww, yet.

So off we go tomorrow to buy some pinkies. Anyone wanna come over to watch?

First visitor to our feeder

I was so excited today when I looked out the windows of our family/school room and there he was on our feeder. Our first visitor to our feeder in almost 3 weeks. Still no takers on our fruit birdfeeders we made out of pummelo and cranberries. I just know they will come now. The excitement is building. This little guy is a Chipping Sparrow. The pictures are not that great because I am taking them from indoors and using the cameras digital zoom lens. Soon I will get my zoom lens for my new camera. Soon, can't wait.
We were watching a movie this afternoon and I just happened to look out at the feeders and saw something in the tree that caught my eye. I've never seen one of these guys either. This is an American Kestrel. The boys looked out the window and we were all in awe at the amazing colors on this one. This is the one and only picture I took before he got suspicious of us moving around in the house and took off. I guess he was looking for some delicious little mammels to gobble up and we are too big to pick up.

What are we doing?

It's February and we are already getting our garden started. We will have a little chilly weather tomorrow night but I guess for some of you its tee-shirt weather.

A friend and I were talking about starting a garden. I've always wanted to but our dirt is so bad and I don't like and don't have much time to work on a garden like that. Then she told me of something she wanted to do and thought it was a perfect idea for our garden. This is what we are going to do for our garden. What a great container garden idea, don't you think? Thanks Nancy for this idea.

We started with seeds and they look like they want to go outside already.
Do you see our green beans? They are the tallest.
We have to turn our little plants around, don't you think? I'll keep you up to date on how our gardening is going. Hope we can get it all set up and planted soon.

The Contest Winner is.....

The winner of the set of 5 books is lotsuvgordons, Stace. So you can email me by clicking on the link on the side where it says Email Me and you will get your books soon.

Now I had several enter the contest and I couldn't just do one so instead of doing more contests for now, I picked out 4 more names from the pile. If the following winners email me, we can talk about books for you. Please contact me by Feb 11. So come on email me before then to claim your books.

Dana at school for us
Netty from OK
Kathleen
Carolyn

Thanks to all those that played along.

Quote for the day

Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts. Charles Dickens (1812-1870)