"Insect Hunter!"

    Ephraim has been fascinated lately with bugs.  We've checked out books at the library, dug out our old butterfly net, and watched several great youtube videos.  (In case you are interested, "Insect Hunter" videos can be viewed on line here .)

      From the Insect Hunter videos, we learned the flight habits of dragonflies.  They are often repeating a flight pattern, or "patrolling", or sitting on a grass stem "hawking" for food.  We also learned how to swoop upward from behind to catch a dragonfly in a net.

We went down to the river, and sure enough.. Ephraim caught his first dragonfly.

We also learned in the videos about checking under dead logs, so our next stop was the trail along the river, where Ephraim found a treasure trove of bugs in a dead log.

Next stop, a small creek that feeds into the river to search for water skippers.  He had a good time playing in the sand and cooling off as well.

He hunts for bugs constantly. I have to have a container in my backpack at all times, in case he finds one to bring home.  Here he is at the splash pad, but you don't see the splash pad, do you?  No, you see a child lured away into a grassy field by a bunch of Japanese beetles.

Eventually he got a couple of friends interested in helping him catch the beetles, then bringing them over to the splash pad to be drowned.

Sometimes he finds dead bugs in good shape.  This is the first bumble bee he has collected, out on our patio one morning, dead.

   Another thing we learned in the Insect Hunter videos, was how to pin an insect.  We ordered some insect pins, and Sean built a case with Styrofoam for mounting. Once you have a dead insect, they tend to curl in their legs, so you have to prop the legs in the most lifelike position possible for a few days, while they dry that way.

  I have a whole new level of respect now for insect and butterfly collections I've seen in museums. It is very detailed work!

   You know you have an insect hunger when you freezer is full of jars containing insects,  labeled with dates and locations.  Sometimes I use Tupperware containers.  The danger of that, is that if they don't get in the freezer right away, they just get put back with the other containers. So, when I opened one up to put a sandwich in it, I saw a dead grasshopper Ephraim had collected, that had not quit made it to the freezer.  That was a little shocking!

    Despite the dead bugs everywhere, I'm glad Ephraim has such a curious mind and drive to accomplish goals.  It makes the atmosphere for the whole family more lively. I'm looking forward to seeing if this little guy becomes a scientist.