Pool Bug Collection

each morning, jack and i fish insects out of the pool. and as it gets warmer, the little buggies are getting cooler =) so, this morning, we brought them home to start a running collection throughout the summer. the pins are huge and very unentomological but also less easily puncturable into little boy's fingers =) today we pinned a male katydid, a irridescent tiger beetle and a mottled brown camoflauged grasshopper....we tried pinning a little scarab but discovered he wasn't quite deceased when we arrived home....so he was let loose outside to fulfill his little beetle life.

i am wondering if the pool might like to keep the collection when it is finished...we'll have to work on a nice wooden collection box and see.

update on the bird...sadly, it died. kelley kept it alive for quite a long time and it was growing well....the folks called who found the bird in the ashes of their fireplace and told her there were more....they tried to put them all together and thought they were being fed....but either the cup tipped over trapping the little birds underneath or the family wasn't feeding them....they aren't sure. i learned that it is the whole family which feeds chimney swifts, not just the mom. the brothers and sisters from the previous year return to feed the newest babies....how wonderful!