Many months ago in the summer weather of August 2017, my family and I were vacationing in the hills of Virginia, just miles away from Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. We found something at the campground: a very large caterpillar. Being the nature lovers we are, we quickly collected our "specimen" in a Starbucks iced-coffee cup and gave this caterpillar some leaves to chew on (although I don't think it needed to grow anymore... This thing was HUGE). Then, the next day, it had built it's cocoon and went to sleep for who knows how long. Months went by. We thought our caterpillar would never awake. But yesterday it did. One of the last things we expected to see crawling around our house, this fat, wrinkled, wet Polyphemus moth was a very startling sight to see. But it hatched! After over half a year, it hatched. Almost like a resurrection. Here are some pictures I took of the moth (click to enlarge) Thanks for reading. Happy Easter everyone!
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This week, something I had never thought about before popped into my mind.
What do seabirds drink? Well, the obvious answer is water. But then I wondered about seabirds that live in the arctic. All the fresh water they could possibly find would most likely be frozen. So what do they drink? The answer is a little surprising. They drink salt water. Seabirds are equipped with salt glands located above their eyes which gather the salt from the blood stream and then releases it from the nostrils. The densely salty fluid then runs down grooves in the beak and fall back into the ocean. This is another fascinating example of the creator's incredible design. He made these seabirds perfectly to fit into their environment. Unfortunately I was forced to miss my Saturday post this weekend because I was away, but here's a post for the first day of spring! Spring is finally here.
Things will start waking up soon - some things already have. Yesterday I saw a flock cedar waxwings and robins. I have also spotted an occasional chipmunk. Read last year's post on the signs of spring. Further reading: Picturing Spring 5 Ways to See Nature The Eastern Chipmunk We spend a lot of time with our eyes upon the ground. If you think about it, we spend most of our time observing the world horizontally. We do, however, look down, but we rarely look up. Why don't we look up? Firstly, our necks aren't super flexible. And secondly, why would we look up? What is there to see? A lot. There is beauty above us that we rarely take the time to see. There is beauty in the trees, the clouds, and the stars. There are even many creatures to be seen above us such as birds, bats, and insects.
Next time you are outside or beside a window, look up. There's no telling what nature will have to offer. Explore the known.
Most people only think to explore the unknown. They go where they have never gone before, and see new things every day. They never think that they might have missed something. Go somewhere you've gone before, and look for new things. You never know what you might have missed. Of course, going new places is incredibly exciting and shouldn't be avoided, but neither should re-exploring be avoided. Next time you have the time, go somewhere you've gone before and look for new things from different angles and perspectives. It might be challenging. Are you up for the challenge? |
Caleb JamesHi! Welcome to my blog. Get my free eBook!Categories
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