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!

I found a mouse nest!

My sister, Anna, was mowing the lawn. Our grass was really long and as she was mowing she chopped off the top of a mouse nest. Wild mice have a nest that looks like a little ball of grass. They have a little hole on the side for door.


 Image source: http://www.foxglovecovert.org.uk/

Inside the nest there were FIVE BABY MICE! They were super cute! They about two inches long with pink belly and a gray back. Their hadn't opened yet. They were squeeking and I could see they didn't have any teeth. My guess is they're only a day or so old.

                                            Photo by Evelyn Mielke

After bringing the nest in the house to look at it, we decided to put it back outside. We put it back where it was and covered the mice with grass. It's really cold here today (46 F with a "feels like" temperature of 37 F.) I hope the mice don't die of coldness.

I really wanted to try and raise them like hamsters, but Mom didn't think that was such a good idea. I will keep checking on them - maybe I can raise at least one like a hamster.

Robin Update

I checked the robin nest again. One of the eggs is now cracked so I think another chick will hatch soon.

I Have a Baby Birdy!!!

I went and checked my robin nest...and I found a baby robin! I was so excited! I ran into and yelled, "I have a baby bird!" I'm going to have to check the nest a couple times today to see if the other two eggs hatch.

The Early Hatcher

I went and checked my robin nest. There are still three eggs in it. The mama robin and the daddy robin are not happy when I go and look at it. They fly around and chirp at me.

I found a robin nest!

Last week I found a robin nest and there were no eggs in it. Then I came back a couple days later and I found two eggs. The next day I found three eggs. In the last couple days I've noticed the mama robin sitting on her eggs. Robin eggs take about 12-14 days to incubate. I predict the eggs are going to hatch about May 21. 

Mama Robin