Summer

Dyeing with natural dyes is fun and easy to do. Wool takes dyes more readily than cotton or other fibers, so why not dye some yarn that you (or your mother) can make into something? Knit up a handsome scarf, or some mittens. Stitch a needlepoint pillow or a wallhanging for your room.

You need to boil up some leaves, bark, or nutshells to extract your dye. In general, you need two pounds of fresh materials, and one pound of nutshells, barks, or berries in order to dye a pound of yarn.

Strain the dye and put it into a large kettle filled with enough water to cover the wool. Your wool should be sitting in a mordant bath, made the previous day from 4 ounces of alum mixed with one ounce of cream of tartar in a kettle of water.

Add your wool and bring it to a boil. Cook for one hour, then let sit overnight.

Add the mordanted wool and place this kettle on the store (have your parents help whenever you use the stove). Poke the wool gently with a spoon as the water gets hot, and the wool takes on the color you want (remember it will be lighter when it’s dry).

Let the wool cool in the kettle. Rinse it with cool water until the rinse water runs clear. Gently squeeze the water from the wool and hang the yarn to dry in a shaded spot. Now get out your knitting needles!

Notes on color:  Goldenrod flowers will turn your wool yellow-brown. Bark from a maple tree will yield a rosy-tan dye. Onion skins will dye wool a burnt-orange color.

[Image: Courtesy of Flickr user londonne]

Have you ever noticed how crickets chirp more when it’s warm? They are very sensitive to temperature. A scientist named A.E. Dolbear also noticed this and came up with a way to guess the temperature by counting the number of times a cricket chirps in one minute. He based his figures on Snowy Tree Cricket chirps, but you can count the chirps any crickets make. Other crickets are not as reliable, but it’s still fun to do.

Listen carefully, because it’s sometimes hard to tell when one chirp ends and another begins. Use a watch with a second hand, and count how many chirps there are in one minute. Subtract 40 from this number, and divide the answer by four. Add 50 to this figure. This is what the temperature is in degrees Fahrenheit. Check with a thermometer. Does the formula work?

By the way, only male crickets chirp. They rub their wings together, drawing one across the other almost like a bow across a fiddle. Crickets have two songs – – one to attract females, the other to warn off other males. Can you tell the songs apart? Probably not, but the crickets can!

[Image: Courtesy of Flickr user wildlifephotog]

The study of insects is called entomology. Did you know that there are more insect species than there are bird, fish, reptile, amphibian, and mammal species combined? Almost one million species have already been identified, and some scientists think there may be three times that number! We truly live in an insect’s world!

Insects are small animals that have six jointed legs attached to a three-part body. Many have one or two pairs of wings. Spiders – with eight legs and two body parts — are not insects. They are arachnids, members of a large group of animals that includes scorpions, mites, ticks, and even horseshoe crabs!

Some other tiny creatures mistaken for insects are the centipedes and millipedes. Neither have the number of legs that their names suggest (count them sometime.) They are both in classes of their own. What about slugs and snails? Both are members of the mollusk family which includes oysters and clams and other shelled sea creatures. Woodlice, so common in leaf litter, are crustaceans. Other crustaceans you may be familiar with are crabs, lobsters and shrimp. Yum!

Many insects can be annoying, but all play a part in the scheme of things, and many are very helpful. Mosquitoes can be a nuisance, as can those insects that pester other animals and destroy crops in fields and warehouses. But how would many of these plants reproduce without the help of pollinating insects? Some insects transmit diseases, but many others provide honey, wax, silks, and shellac — all important products. Do you like insects? Can you imagine what the world would be like without them?

Hunt for Insect Homes

With so many insects around, you’ll have no trouble finding where they live! Insects generally don’t live very long (adult mayflies live for less than a day; common houseflies last about 20-30 days) but they do find shelter for themselves in a number of places.

Look for insects under rocks and fallen logs, within the bark of trees, and in water. Spiders stretch their webs in corners, both indoors and out. Ants make anthills; certain wasps, such as paper wasps, construct fabulous homes.

Fallen leaves are home to many creatures that come out only at night. Gather up a handful of leaf litter to take home making sure you get plenty of the damp leaves near the ground. You can get the tiny animals to come out of hiding with a Berlese funnel (also known as a Tulgren funnel). This simple set-up is made with a funnel (make your own from thick cardboard if you don’t have one), wire mesh, a glass jar and a lamp. Cut the wire mesh into a circle to fit into the funnel. Place the funnel in the jar. Put some leaf litter into the funnel and place it under the lamp. Leave the lamp on for several hours. The heat will drive any animals down through the leaves, where they’ll fall through the mesh into the jar.

Galls

You may also be familiar with galls — swellings on leaves, stems, and other parts of some plants. Various insects are gall makers, including gall wasps, aphids, and some flies. When these insects lay their eggs on the plant, the plant responds by forming tissue around the eggs or newly-hatched grubs. The mature insects eventually leave the galls by making tiny holes to exit by. Count the holes in a gall. How many insects lived inside of it (each makes its own exit hole)? Tie some fine netting around any whole galls you find. Check the galls daily. What kind of insects lived inside them?

[Image: Courtesy of Flickr user nothing is ever the same]

Wow! Fireworks in August! Well, not quite, but meteor showers are just as exciting.

Around August 10-13, stargazers stay up late to watch the Perseid shower, an eagerly awaited summertime event. An average of 65 meteors light up the sky each hour as they move towards the earth. The best time for viewing is after midnight, but you’ll see plenty earlier.

One hundred million meteors are thought to enter the earth’s atmosphere each day(!), most vaporizing high in the air. Occasionally fragments fall to earth, but this is a rare occurrence. When actual pieces of rock are found, they are known as meteorites.

While shooting stars (as they are popularly known) can be seen on almost any clear night, there are certain times during the year, such as in August, when large numbers of them can be seen.

The Perseid shower is actually the second largest of the annual meteor showers. The most spectacular takes place around January 1-3 and is known as the Quadrantids. An average of 100 meteors can be seen making their descent each
hour at that time.

The Sky is Falling!

The following table lists those annual meteor showers that are eagerly anticipated by stargazers. Pull up a comfortable chair, grab a warm blanket, and watch the show!

January 1-3:   Quadrantids — E Between Bootes and head of Draco

April 20-22:   Lyrids — NE Between Vega and Hercules

May 4-6:   Eta-Aquarids — E SW of the Square of Pegasus

August 10-13:  Perseids — NE From Perseus

October 20-23:   Orionids — E Between Orion and Gemini

November 3-10:  Taurids — NE Between Taurus, Auriga and Perseus

December 10-12:  Geminids — E Near Castor in Gemini

[Image: Courtesy of Flickr user tiggs81972]

You may have heard of glycerin. It’s an old-fashioned ingredient in hand lotions (rosewater and glycerin). You can still buy small bottles of it at drug stores. You can preserve all sorts of foliage with it (from oak leaves to ferns) and even a few flowers, notably hydrangeas. The plants turn color somewhat, but these are usually pleasing shades.

Prepare your foliage by stripping the bark from the thick lower stems (or mashing them slightly). Dilute the glycerin with water — one part glycerin to two parts water. Bring the solution almost to a boil (have your parents help you here) and pour 4-6 inches of it into a container tall enough to support the foliage. Place your greenery in the solution and leave it in a cool, dark place until the leaves being to turn color.

Check the plants regularly to see that there is enough solution in the container and to monitor how the conversion is going. If plants are left too long in glycerin, mildew might set in. The leaves should feel slightly greasy, but there shouldn’t be oil beads on the surface of the leaves. If the tops of your branches droop, hang the plants upside down to let the glycerin soak down to the very tips of the leaves.

Wipe the leaves with a tissue and arrange them in a vase. Lovely!

[Image: Courtesy of Flickr user crystalcolby]

Spider webs aren’t really homes for spiders — they are actually traps for catching small insects that spiders eat. Not all spiders spin webs, and those that do, spin a variety of webs. You are probably most familiar with orb-webs, those made by garden spiders. Look for them on fences, window frames, and spanning garden plants. Have you ever come across one glistening with dew on a summer’s morning?

You can preserve webs by mounting them on black paper that has been sprayed with hairspray. Place the paper in a cardboard box before spraying it to protect the area around you from the spray. Work quickly because the hairspray needs to be slightly tacky. If you want the strands of the web to stand out, sprinkle them first with talcum powder. Spray the paper with a protective coating once you get home.

Many of the webs you come across will no longer have a spider in residence. A gentle tap on the strands will sometimes alert the web’s owner, thinking an insect has been caught in the sticky strands. If the web is occupied, leave it alone and find another.

Native Americans believe that spiders are magical creatures. They associate them with the sun, because many webs with radiating strands look like to the sun.

[Image: Courtesy of Flickr user Randy Baranczyk]

How can you see what’s going on in the water without diving in? Use an underwater viewer!

You can make a very simple underwater viewer with materials you already have at home. All you need is a half-gallon milk carton, some clear plastic wrap and a rubber band or some tape.

1. Cut both the bottom and the top off the milk carton.
2. Stretch the plastic wrap over the bottom, securing it in place with a snug-fitting rubber band or some tape.
3. Lower the viewer into the water, and place your face into the open end of the milk carton.

The underwater area you are viewing will be slightly magnified. It’s very much like a diving mask, only you don’t have to get your face wet to use it.

[Image: Courtesy of Flickr user Madison Guy]

Birds are the only animals that have fathers. Birds have 940 to 25,000 feathers, depending on the species. They serve as insulation and aid in flight. As the feathers wear, they are periodically replaced. During a partial molt, only some of the feathers are replaced (such as when males don colorful plumage during mating season). A more complete molt takes place after breeding, and before migration. Feathers are lost a few at a time from both sides of the body, so that a bird is still evenly balanced. Look on the ground for the fallen feathers.

Feathers are of two basic types, contour and down. Contour feathers are those found on the body, wings and tail. Notice how the individual strands (called barbs) lock together. Separate one of the barbs from the rest. Itâs like unlocking a zip-lock bag, isn’t it? Birds spend a lot of time getting the barbs realigned. Tail feathers have the shaft running exactly down the middle; the shafts of wing and body feathers are slightly off-center.

Down feathers are the fluffy feathers you may know from down coats, comforters and pillows.

It’s harder to tell what bird a feather has come from, unless it’s an obvious one like a blue jay feather. What can you tell about the feathers you have found? Can you identify various northern Wisconsin birds ? The US Fish & Wildlife Service has a Feather Atlas with a growing database of feather scans which could help you identify the treasures you find.

There are laws that prohibit collecting bird feathers. But it’s okay to keep those that have naturally molted, or that you have plucked from road-side kills.

[Image: Courtesy of Flickr user Si1very]

The night comes alive with the sounds of nocturnal animals starting their “day.” You don’t need to live near a wild area to hear a number of different animals that have adapted to foraging and hunting for food once the sun has gone down.

Raccoons, skunks, and mice are among the mammals that live near people. They benefit, in fact, from our habit of storing trash outdoors and from planting food gardens in our backyards. Why do these animals come out at night? Many are sensitive to the sun’s drying effects (these are mostly insects and amphibians); others hope to avoid competing for the same food with daytime feeding animals. Many welcome the protection that the dark provides.

Notice how many of these nocturnal animals have large eyes (to be able to see in low light); their hearing and sense of smell are particularly acute. Some animals such as bats, have a specially developed way of getting around in the dark called echolocation.

Nearly 700 of the 1,000 bat species worldwide use this method of emitting high-pitched sounds which bounce off nearby objects, returning to the bats’ ears as echoes. Bats dart out of the way of stationary objects (and hone in on the flying insects that they eat) by judging the distance between themselves and whatever blocks the sound waves.

[Image: Courtesy of Mike Crowley; available for sale at his website Life in the Northwoods]

What exactly is a wetland? It’s a name given to any area that is covered much of the time with shallow water, that has visible plants growing in it, and an abundance of animal life. You may know wetlands as marshes, bogs, and swamps and you should be able to find either a freshwater or saltwater wetland near you.

Conservationists are trying hard to convince communities to leave wetlands untouched whenever possible. They support a tremendous amount of life as they are both nurseries for animals that move on to other habitats, as well as home to many permanent residents; they are also natural buffers that contain flood waters and trap silt.

Wisconsin has more than a dozen different types of wetlands and they range in size from tiny seasonal wetlands to vast marshes like those found along the Mississippi River. The types of wetlands found in northern Wisconsin include marshes (these have aquatic plants such as cattails, reeds and rushes that grow in shallow water), northern sedge meadows (wet, “grassy” meadows), alder thickets (made up of speckled alder and occur along streams), conifer and hardwood swamps and peatlands (peat is a soil made up of partially decomposed plants; it forms under water-soaked conditions, and has very few nutrients or minerals)

Remember to dress for wet conditions when you go exploring. Wear boots or old sneakers, and dress in old clothes. Don’t forget insect repellent. Wetlands are breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other biting insects. Bring an underwater viewer with you, a net, and something to bring home water samples, frogs’ eggs and animals in. In the heat of the day, many creatures are still, so stake out the area in daylight, and return at dusk or early the next morning. Be careful wading through the water — the depth can be deceiving.

[Image: Courtesy of North Central Research Station]