As I’m heading home from work I notice this spider eating a walkingstick just outside the nature center. This seems like quite a good size meal for this spider.
As I’m heading home from work I notice this spider eating a walkingstick just outside the nature center. This seems like quite a good size meal for this spider.
On our way back from helping teach the homeschool program at Camp Amigo , my assistant finds a turkey vulture and a bird of prey(immature redtail hawk?) feasting on this road kill rabbit. We turn around to see if we can get a picture and the hawk takes off. But we get a few pictures of the turkey vulture.
Insects in a mud home with 2 caterpillars, originally uploaded by Camp Naturalist.
I find these “gems” in a 1/2 inch wide mud “home” that is attached to a tent that is left outside to dry. The caterpillars are still alive but can’t move very well. I assume that they are stund by a wasp like creature to be food for the small green larva (in the center of the picture). The mud structure looks like a vase. It’s pretty amazing! The small black piles are probably fras(insect waste) from the caterpillars. When I broke this “vase” open I had no idea that I would find this!
Here what the opening of the mud structure looks like. The bottom and right side are broken from me removing the structure from the tent. It reminds me of potter shards that would be found at an archaeological dig.

Presentation 1, originally uploaded by Camp Naturalist.
What a blast! The campers learned so much!
Here’s the audio(mp3) of what the kids liked best about nature camp 2007(the survival game was obviously a big hit). Kid’s Nature Camp 2007 Audio Evaluation (mp3)
Here’s a list of some of the many things that we did:
Get to know you games
Camping out
Fishing
Canoeing
Fire Kites
Bug Suckers
Bird Calls
Bird Adaptations
Water Slide
Archery
Swimming
Swamp Hike
Campfire Songs
Gift of Nature, God, Ourselves, & History