Nature Study Focus: Insects, Part I

So, the other day when we were doing nature study using Outdoor Hour Challenge for hints, we chose our Nature Study Focus: Insects.

We chose insects partly because we'd been recently inundated by dragonflies because of a flood in our backyard caused by excess rainwater (they lay their eggs there). The other reason being that there are amazing amounts with unending variety of insects found here in the tropical climate of this part of Peru. And then, we were also inspired by our reading of Jack's Insects on the subject, a great book used by Charlotte Mason. So far we're all really enjoying this focus.

We're starting out with:

Insects of the Brook and Pond -

Dragonflies
and
Mosquitoes

Both are plentiful around here. However, you can't exactly tell them to come around only when you want to study them, so we haven't had a close look at either during actual nature study time. Of course, nature study isn't only accomplished in the hour or so we have allotted for it each week. So, when we do see one, we drop everything for a few minutes and take a closer look.

Today, during our nature study hour (we have this scheduled for Mondays), J found a cool beetle. It looks like a combination between a grasshopper (because of its huge back legs) and a stinkbug or box elder bug. It had wings that when lifted revealed a brilliant red body. Its legs are orangey-red also with little black spines (we call them porkies... hahah, it's an inherited term, meaning pokies). We watched it and photographed it, and tried looking it up, but without using the internet, weren't able to come up with much. Here's a picture though:

The lady who helps us a little around the house called it a "chinche" in Spanish.

Spiders are not insects, but this one was interesting nonetheless. I found it crawling on my kitchen counter while I was washing dishes. Its front 2 legs on either side seemed much too long in proportion to its body and back legs with which it walked. When it was blown or swept, it would fling those long legs straight out to either side, and it made itself look somewhat like a flying insect. It was very tiny. Here it is:

Enjoy!

Amy