Bugs? We know about bugs!

Summer has brought plenty of bugs our way, especially ants. So why not study them? We checked some ant books out at the library and learned some amazing things. Did you know that Queen ants use their wings to mate high in the air and after they mate they discard their wings?

Neither did I.

Did you know that some birds catch ants and tuck them under their wings because they secrete a certain acid that kills ticks?

Neither did I. But now I do.

Maddie has gained a compassion for ants that I don't care to cultivate. The other day she found an ant in our house and wanted to give it a cracker. I told her "don't feed it!" and I got a tissue to squish it. She started crying "But it's HUNGRY!"

Here are a few other interesting facts that Hannah wrote on our back porch amidst all of the ants today. A bit of reading material for our little friends.

(another interesting fact: Ants love aphids, they gently stroke them until they secrete a sweet substance which they eat...weird.)

Hannah also knows about dragonflies and has spent hours catching them this summer. After looking it up in her insect book and researching wikipedia, she has decided that this dragonfly is a twelve-spotted skimmer. She has also caught at least 30 tiny dragonflies and put them in zip lock bags with plenty of air and vegetation to give to the neighbor kids. I don't know whether to be proud of her or mourn the deaths of so many dragonflies.