Flowers and Their Parts

I'm studying flowers and their parts in science. Mom and I went on a nature walk to find different types of flowers.

This is a close-up of Queen Anne's Lace that I picked.We studied this flower very closely and guess how many flowers there are? You might guess ten, because there's ten big flowers. But there are actually several hundred. If you look closely in the middle of each flower, you'll see lots of tiny flowers. Each tiny flower has their own parts to make their own seeds.

In this flower the stamen and pistil were in a little hole in the center of the flower and they were not visible. I pulled off all the petals and cut the stem open. I found the pistil and stamen and seeds. The skinnier green part in the picture is the pistil and the thicker one is the stem that I cut open.

This is a moss rose. You can see the stamen. I had a hard time finding the pistil.

When I opened up this snap dragon I found an ant climbing around getting nectar.

Here I pulled the petal back on a morning glory and found the stamen and pistil

Mystery Worm

I noticed a green worm on my shirt when I came inside from checking my robins.

He has a brown head. The stripe down his back was pulsing between dark green and light green as he crawled over my hand. I noticed this happening even when he was sitting still.

I noticed the silk he was leaving on me came out of his mouth.

My mom and I were not able to figure out what kind of a worm (larva) it was. If you know, could you let us know in the commnets?

Robin update

A post from Sue...

Evelyn just came in from outside and informed me that she fed the baby robins worms. She said they have lots of feathers and that they've grown really fast.

It's hard to get a picture now because the mom and dad both dive bomb when Evelyn gets close to the nest. Erin was with her on this visit and kept watch for the parents.

And she also brought in a small green worm. It's crawling on her hand as I type this, leaving a trail of silk behind. We will do a little research to figure out what it is.

Watch for another post!

Mouse Project Over

The last one of the mice died yesterday. I buried them near a little place that I like to play on the river bank by our house.

This is their grave

These are the trees by their grave

Quick Mouse Update

From Sue...

Sadly, three of the mice were dead when we got up this morning. A fourth one died this afternoon. We're down to one little mouse. His eyes still are not open. He continues to eat the formula Evelyn created - milk, cream, and honey. I'm not sure he'll make it but she is diligently trying to keep him alive.

Baby Mice Are Still Alive and More Robins

A quick update from Sue...

The baby mice are still alive. Evelyn and Erin have been feeding them about every four hours

All three robin eggs have hatched. We will try to post pictures of both projects tomorrow.

Baby Mice Rescue

A post by Sue ~

As the sun went down, Evelyn was getting very concerned about the baby mice in their nest out in our lawn. The National Weather Service has issued a frost warning for our area tonight. Evelyn was concerned about them freezing to death overnight, especially because it appears the mother has abandoned them. I told her to find a shoe box and bring them in the house.

When she brought them in, all five baby mice were still alive but very cold and lethargic. I think they were suffering from hypothermia. Erin and Evelyn held them in their hands for quite a while to warm them up. Eventually they became more active and started nuzzling into their fingers looking for something to eat.

After watching several YouTube videos, it was time to try feeding them. First, Evelyn offered them warmed milk from a syringe. That didn't work very well. Next, she tried dipping a cotton string in the milk and letting them suck the milk off the string. This worked better than the syringe. Finally, she dipped a small paint brush in the milk. This worked the best.

Evelyn decided to add cream to the milk. The new formula, along with the new paint brush "bottle" was a success. All five mice have round, full little tummies and are now sound asleep.

They will need to be fed every 3-4 hours in these first days. Our guess is they are only a couple days old. One of them still has a bit of umbilical cord attached, their eyes aren't open, and they don't have much fur yet.

Erin and Evelyn are heading to bed with an alarm set for 2:00 a.m. to get up for the next feeding. Say a little pray that these sweet little rodents will make it through the night and maybe even longer. It's a great project for my little naturalist!