Chickens!

We got chickens! We got 4 Araucanas , 2 Cornish and one polish. They are just chicks right now. We are taking care of them. They eat and drink. The polish is named Gustavus after Gustavus Adolphus. They have a heat lamp keeping them warm. 90 - 95 degres. We will get our own eggs from them when they grow up.  

Winnetou

I have recently finished reading the first book of Winnetou. It is by Karl May a German writer. It was about a German Immigrant that became a Experienced westerner and becomes a friend with a Native American.

Story:
The story starts with the German Immigrant ( Charles ) in America. He is a babysitter. But then a gunsmith finds out that he can ride a horse and do other western things very good. So they sent him to a place in Arizona to Survey the land and get it ready for a railroad. Charles went to Arizona with a group of Westerners and Survey men. He was called a greenhorn. ( which means he is new to something ) He worked and Worked while the rest of the Survey team was lazy. Other Survey teams were leaving. Charles got into a fight and knocked out the a Westerner. This gave him the nickname Old Shatterhand. He went on a Buffalo hunt and killed his first buffalo. Then he went and Caught a Mustang -Mule. He Kept working. One day they went to the place where He had shot the Buffalo. They found a Grizzly Bear. Everyone else ran away from it, But Old Shatterhand shot the Grizzly in the Eyes and stabbed it and killed. Then a white man who had lived with the Native Americans , a great Chief of the Apaches and his son came upon the whites camp. The Chief told the leader of the Surveyors to leave this place because he owned it. The white man who lived with the Native Americans told Old Shatterhand to be a friend with Winnetou the chiefs son. Then the Westerner that Old Shatterhand had knocked out shot the white man who lived with the Native Americans. The chief and his son left to get a army to fight the Whites. Old Shatterhand found some Kiowas ( Enemy's of the Apaches ) and told them to bring many soldiers to his camp. They came and waited the Arrival of the Apaches. They came and lost the battle. The chief and Winnetou were taken captive. Old Shatterhand freed them. They went back to there own land to get more warriors. The Apaches came and took the camp over. They made the alive Whites Prisoners to be put to death. Old Shatterhand was to try to swim across a river before the Apache chief hit him with a Tomahawk. Old Shatterhand pretended that he barley knew how to swim and when he hit water he dived under. Then he swam underwater upstream. Then came out at a overhanging. Everyone though he had drowned and they searched down stream for him. He swam to the other side and said he won . The Apache chief was mad and he ran after him. He threw the Tomahawk and missed. Then Old Shatterhand knocked him out. They said Old Shatterhand had won and he and his three friends were free. But the murder of the white man who had lived with the Native Americans was to be killed. They killed him and buried the white man who had lived with the Native Americans. Old Shatterhand became a friend of the Native Americans. They went back to the east. There some thief killed the Chief. Winnetou and Old Shatterhand set out to revenge the death. THE END of Winnetou 1

In desert and wilderness.

I recently finished reading this book called In desert and wilderness.
This book is about two European descent children who live in Egypt while the Suez canal was being built because their fathers were engineers working on it. The children get captured and are taken through east Africa. They endure many hard ships. I will make a summary of the book right now:


These two children called Stas and Nell lived in Egypt with their fathers. But one day they got kidnapped by some Sudanese and Arabs. These people were faithful to this Mahdi or religious leader who wants to take over the world. But he was only in Sudan fighting the Egyptians. The Egyptians had colonized Sudan because the British had ordered it. The Egyptian government was a protectorate of the British. Stas and Nell rode camel back over desert and jungle to Sudan where they met the Mahdi. The Mahdi asked them to follow him. Stas replied no and The Mahdi ordered them on a journey to another city that was ruled by the Mahdi. The journey was harsh like the desert jouney. When they got there they were told to meet with another Sudanese man named Smain. They went into the jungle to searched for him. When they met a lion the Arabs and the Sudanese did not know how to shoot a new rifle that belonged to Stas. They had took it from him. Stas took the Rifle and shot the Lion then he shot the Arabs and Sudanese. Stas and Nell procided with a Mastiff and two slaves that had belonged too Nell and the Sudanese. They went along through the Eastern Congo. Eating antelopes and whatever game they could find. They also ate fruit. They found an Elephant trapped by rock and tamed him. Nell got a fever and Stas found a Swiss man that had Medicine for fever. The Swiss man then died. Stas blew up the rock and freed the elephant. Stas and Nell found a mountain and went into it it had plenty of provisions. They lived there and sent kites made of paper that the Swiss had given  them and made out of fish bladder membranes. Then they went on eastward towards the Indian Ocean. They passed through many Villages with black people and scared them into submission with guns and the elephant. Then they helped the people of one of their friends( the slaves left over from the Sudanese) Then they got hundreds of men from the village and set of for the coast. But they came to a place where no water was and they soon ran out of water. They almost died. But a kite had been found by a European led caravan. They saved the day. When they had been fed and they drunk water they went to sleep. They met their Fathers on a coastal city for a message had been sent that they were still alive.

THE END

Favroite contries and raptors

                                     Countries                                   Raptors
                                   1 U.S.A                                      1 Golden Eagle : Aquila chrysaetos
                                   2 Sweden                                   2 Harris's Hawk : Parabuteo unicinctus
                                   3 Spain                                      3 The Black eagle : Ictinaetus malayensis
                                   4 Poland                                    4  Steller's Sea-eagle: Haliaeetus pelagicus
                                   5 Scotland                                  5 Wedge-tailed Eagle: Aquila audax
                                   6 Ghana                                      6 Spanish Imperial Eagle:Aquila adalberti
                                  















Sources:Wiki

Nitrogen Cycle

Nitrogen is a gas . It makes up 71%
of the gases in the atmosphere!
It helps us by keeping living things
 alive so we can eat them ! Here
is how nitrogen dose it. It is called
the nitrogen cycle . First the
nitrogen falls with rain or snow.
Then goes into the dirt and mud.
Bacteria that are on plants make
 this nitrogen edible for the plants.
The nitrogen is turned into compounds.
Then the the plants use it. Animals eat it .
When the animals die the nitrogen goes
 back to the earth . Where it turns into
food for the Plants. Some nitrogen compounds
don't get used because another bacteria takes
them and makes them plain nitrogen. This
nitrogen Then goes back into the atmosphere
to fall down in rain or snow again. This cycle
keeps animals and plants alive so we can eat
them . That is the nitrogen cycle.








Source: Brainpop

Coral and Bacteria

Coral
Coral are round , hollow animals with one opening.
they live are around the oceans. They eat many things from plankton to fish. They are sessile meaning they cant move. they are called polyps. The are in the phylum cnidarian.The same group jellyfish are in. They both have radial symmetry which mean any two half's will be the same if you cut it in half any way. They also both have no head .Both also have tentacles around the mouth and small stinging cells named nematocysts. their tentacles help them to get food close to its mouth. Large polyps live alone while small polyps usually iare colonial which means they live in groups. Most colonial corals live in coral reefs. Coral reefs give food and shelter to tons of marine life. The corals in reefs have a special kind of algae in them.The algae Photosynthesis the sun and give energy to the coral. they also give Oxygen and carbohydrates to the coral.The coral gives carbon dioxide to the algae.Hard coral uses the calcium in ocean water to build a strong outer skeleton. Soft corals build internal fleshy skeletons.       

Bacteria
 Bacteria live everywhere !  They are single celled organisms that make up one of the six kingdoms . They are one of the most plentiful life forms on earth. There are around 5 nonillon 5000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 out there right now. Bacteria can be helpful and harmful . Bacteria are Prokaryotic which means their nuclear material is not surrounded by a membrane. Plants use bacteria to break down nitrogen . Some bacteria can move around with flagella and cilia . Bacteria are ancient .




Source brainpop 

Giant squid

Giant Squid are the second largest mollusks . Colossal squids are bigger. Giant squids can get up to 43 feet ! They have giant eyes as big as a football . They live deep down in the ocean. They eat deep sea fish . The first picture of a giant squid was in 2004! to catch their prey they use their long tentacles that have suction cups on them. They pull it to their beak-like mouth . They can change the color of their skin to hide from predators. Their only predators we know about are sperm whales . Before 2004 the only evidence we had was parts of Giant squid in whales and on the shore. Giant squids are still mysterious .They move with a tube the blow air out of called the siphon. Some people believe that the legend of the Norwegian kraken was based on a giant squid .They don't look much like snails and clams but they are related . They both have the mollusks muscular foot : Clam muscular foot it uses to dig and move. : Snail muscular foot to slide along on. : Giant squid the Muscular foot is divided into eight arms and two tentacles. They both have a mantle . A layer of protective skin. Clam : its shell. Snail: its shell. Giant squid Hard skin but no shell. The Giant squid has a inner Gladius that supports it. They all are Invertebrates. Giant squid are awesome!    




Sources brainpop and wiki 

Raptors

R a p t o r s !

Lately I've been learning a lot about raptors.

Raptors are birds that eat meat. All raptors have Talons , Curved beak and incredible eyesight . The word Raptor comes from the Latin word Rapere Meaning to take by force. Raptor sure do take by force. They are Carnivores and eat Small mammals and reptiles . Sea and water Raptors eat fish . The Largest Raptor is the Andean condor with wingspans of up to 10 feet!  there are 5  types of Raptors . They are

Accipitridae

 Hawks, Eagles, Buzzards, Harriers, Kites and vultures

Hawks

Are small raptors that have excellent eyesight.
They hunt small animals like frogs, lizards,fish and mice.
they have long tails and short curved beaks.

Sharp-Shinned Hawk

The Sharp-Shinned Hawk is the smallest Hawk in North america. 
They live in the Americas . They mainly live in forests. They eat mammals and birds like Sparrows .
They are named for a thin ridge on their legs.

Eagles

Are one one of the largest raptors. Everyone thinks different things about who is the Largest eagle. The three Most likely are the Harpy Eagle , the Stellers sea eagle and the Philippines eagle. Eagles have Broad large wings and great Eyesight. After Eagles have made their nest they return to it every year and add to it. Some nest are 6 ft across and 10 ft deep ! Eagles are important figures in native religion and national icons. The bald eagle is america's national bird and the gold eagle is Mexicos national bird . Some native american tribes used to Worship the eagle. Harpy eagles can kill a human ! There are  4 different types of eagles 1 Booted eagles (example Gold eagle) 2 Snake eagles ( example Crested Serpent Eagle ) 3 Giant Rainforest eagles ( example Harpy eagle) and 4 sea Eagles (example Bald eagle 


Gold Eagle

The Gold Eagles are my Favorite birds. They are Booted eagles.With a wingspan of 6-7 feet Gold eagles are big. Their scientific name is Aquila Chrysaetos. their average lifespan is 30 years . Gold eagles live in Eurasia north america and africa .They return to their nest every year and make it giant. Gold eagles can dive 150 miles per hour ! They eat small mammals and turtles .Gold eagles are used in falconry to catch wolves and foxes in Mongolia and Kazakhstan. Gold eagles are the National bird of Mexico. Gold eagles are large powerful birds and are efficient hunters with the help of Talons, Curved beak and Sharp eyesight. Gold eagles are LC least concerned on the conservation status . Gold eagles are also silent birds  

Buzzards

Have  broad wings and are robust . They hunt any small animal close by mostly rodents though.Some may eat dead animals , but most like fresh meat better.

Long-legged Buzzard
The long legged buzzard is a robust buzzard. They can reach Wingspans up to 5 feet. Long-legged buzzards come in many colors but usually they are light brown. Long-legged Buzzards live in dry open plains of africa and asia.They eat small animals

Harriers

Are medium sized birds. They fly low to the ground and eat small animals.
when courting they fly in circles.

Eastern Marsh Harrier
Eastern Marsh Harriers live in Asia . They Are different colors but mainly brown. The female is larger than the male. They meow. They fly low to the ground and hold their wing in a v-shape. They eat small animals . 

Kites

Usually  a kite is light, with a little head ,short beak, and long wings and tail. Kites live in warm places. kites eat small animals .These small raptors get their name from their ability to use the wind to help them.

White-tailed Kite

White tailed kites live in the Americas. They mainly eat rodents. They were endangered in the 1930s and 1940s but have made a comeback. They are colored  white and gray.  THey fly like falcons. Their wingspan is around 3 feet. Their scientific name is Elanus Leucurus. 

Vultures

There are two kinds of Vultures, Old world vultures( example Griffon Vulture ) and new world vultures ( example Andean condor). New world vultures smell the carrion and eat it . Vultures have weak talons and beaks. But have an excellent sense of smell. Vultures live for a long time up to 40 years!  Vultures live all over the world .  Vultures are often depicted as evil ,Ugly or scary creatures. But the truth is Vultures aren't evil . They are often considered so because of their bald heads. But Vultures are scavengers so they eat rotting meat . No other bird could eat that . they would die. Vultures clean up the land. But to do so they need a bald head. If it was covered with feathers . It would get messy when they poked their heads in the carrion. They could not take of the meat and blood. So it would get infected and the vulture would die .

Griffon Vulture
The Griffon Vulture is a big Old world vulture. They can get a wingspan up to 9 feet. Its head is white and has barley any feathers. Its body is brown. They live in eurasia. They are scavengers . It grunts and hisses .

Pandionidae Osprey

The Osprey is a Sea Raptor that mainly eats fish. Ospreys skim the water and with their talons grab fish. There Wingspan is around 5.9 feet. Ospreys are on every continent except Antarctica. They live near bodies of water where fish are to be found. They are blackish-brown in the wings and on a streak through the head. while the rest is white. Their eyes are yellow. Ospreys played significant roles in culture in the past

Sagittariidae
Secretary bird

Secretary Birds are large mainly flightless birds that live in africa. They eat snakes, Rodents and reptiles on the ground. They use their long strong legs covered in scales that end in Talons to stomp snakes, rodents and reptiles. Their wingspan can be up to 7 feet ! their body length can be 5 feet ! They look more like cranes from far away . But their talons and curved beak make it a Raptor. Its mostly gray with black . They have orange or red around their eyes though. it is on the coats of arms of Sudan and South Africa.

Falconidae

Falcons and Caracaras

Falcons
Falcons are also called Kestrels . They are medium sized birds. That prey on small animals including Rodents, Rabbits ,Reptiles ,Fish, Frogs and small birds. They live all over the world. The most famous, widespread and fastest  Falcon is the Peregrine Falcon. It is also the fastest animal in the world reaching speed of up to 200 miles per hour !

Brown Falcon
the Brown falcon lives in Australia . They are slower than other Falcons and perch on tree tops to hunt. They wait for prey and when it comes they snatch it with their talons. They are usually light brown and have black and white in them .They eat small mammals, Reptiles and insects.

Caracaras
Live in the Americas . They are slow and most are scavengers.

Mountain Caracara

The Mountain Caracara lives in South america. They are white and black with a red beak. Kids are brown. They mainly hunt on the ground. They are Mostly scavengers but will eat any small mammal.

Strigiformes

Owls

Owls live on every continent except Antarctica . Owls are mostly nocturnal . They usually have circle like heads and large eyes. They need large eyes to let in as much light as possible. Owls eat any small animal. They use surprise , their curved beak and talons to get their prey. Most people thought owls were bad luck back in the past.

Spotted Eagle-Owl

The Spotted Eagle-Owl is a small eagle owl. It has tufts of feathers on the sides of its head . Making it look like it has they are ears. But they are not . They have a wingspan of about 4 feet. They are spotted like the name said with black, white and gray spots. They have large yellow eyes. they live in Africa and asia. they eat small animals.

That's what I have learned about the most awesome birds, R a p t o r s !



Source wiki

Animal Facts

The Caracal

The Caracal is a medium sized african cat. It is famous for its leaps into the air to catch its prey. Mainly Ginny fowls and other low flying birds that live in africa.

An adult Caracal is as fast as a cheetah cub. The Caracal has large ears so it can hear predators and prey. It is extremely hard to find because it is a tan color and the tall grass it lives in is tan also. Caracal cubs have many Predators on the savannah so the usually hide in an aardvark hole or somewhere else safe. The Caracal is cat which hisses most in the world.  It can even hiss away a Croc !!

Yeti Crab
The yeti Crab is a crab that lives at the bottom of the sea close to underwater trenches and volcanos . the tube worm and clams also live there . the Yeti crab looks like a large tick with larger hairy arms. It eats bacteria that gets its food from the heat of the volcano, carbon dioxide and Oxygen. Its mixes them all together to make sugar or glucose for their food. Unlike the phytoplankton that live at the sunlight zone . They get their food from the sun like plants through a process called photosynthesis. the Yeti crab uses his hairy arms to catch bacteria floating through the vents. He then eats the bacteria. Tube worms also eat the bacteria     

Pollinators 
Pollinators are insects and animals that pollinate flowers. Most Pollinators go to the flowers for the sweet delicious nectar . But some like the fig wasp go from flower to flower for another reason . The fig wasp lays its eggs in a fig gourd and when the babies hatch they are covered with pollen . When they go to another gourd to lay their own eggs the Pollen is delivered. One of the most famous Pollinators is the honey bee . It goes from flower to flower gathering nectar and pollen . we have some in our backyard.  there are other Pollinators to like the Butterfly ,the fly and wasp . there are also animal Pollinators like the hummingbird , some other birds, monkeys, lemurs, bats and lizards . the kinkajou Pollinates flowers also . Flowers use all sorts of way to lure Pollinators to them . First of all the promise of sweet nectar .  Flowers also look like other insects too make bees to attack it and gather Pollen . Some flowers smell like rotting meat so flies can land on them and gather Pollen . Hummingbirds like long tube like red flowers.  Without pollinators we wouldn't be alive. for fruit and veggies wouldn't grow if they were not Pollinated

The Wolf 
The top predators of the woods.Wolves can run up to 100 miles a day without stopping , they are the marathoners of the woods. ravens follow them and eat some of the food they catch . Wolves can only catch a Moose as a pack . For a moose can use their antlers as a protection against one wolf. but as a pack they can surround the moose. the Cougar or Mountain lion is the only predator that can take on 2 or 3 wolves but as a pack they can surround the cougar .   

The Great White Shark
The Great White Shark is the least known about Ocean predator.
Recently Scientists have learned that Great whites Travel Long distances up to 100,000 Miles! you might think Great whites don’t have any predators in the Ocean but Packs of Orca’s can Take down a full grown Shark . The only other predator they have are us . we kill more sharks every year then shark have killed us all together ! so shark should be scared of us ( They are Believe me!) Remoras (a kind of fish that can stick to a lot of things) stick onto the Great white with their mouths . They get a free ride and free snacks . the way the get free snacks is : when A great with tears a fish,seal or sea turtle with its jaws some scraps float away and the Remora eats them . The Great white rarely eats a Remora , Because the Remora is too small . Another fish a Great white Rarely eats is the Cleaner fish. Great whites ,Other sharks, Manta Rays and other fish go to cleaning stations . In these cleaning stations small cleaning fish swim into sharks and other fishes mouths and eat the parasites on them . It saves the shark and fish teeth and gives the cleaning fish food .Great whites have a special ability to roll their eyes into the back of their head when they attack so their eyes don't get hurt. Great white eggs Hatch inside the mother body  


The African Crested Porcupine
The African Crested Porcupine is a species of Porcupine that lives in Africa and hides underground . No Porcupine shoots its quills . Its Quills are loosely attached and when a predator jumps on it it gets covered in quills. The African Crested doesn't have barbs on its Quills like the North american. A quill in the right spot like the chest or the face could kill a lion.
African Crested Porcupines are great diggers . They burrow holes to have their young in and to escape storms . Their quills are really hard hairs . They have a muscle attached to them . So when they get nervous their quills are raised . 


That's what i have been learning about animals .

otters

 there are otters that live in ponds, rivers,lakes and in the Pacific ocean .river otters are not as big as sea otters .sea otters eat a lot of sea urchins  in fact if there were no sea otters in the ocean the urchins population would grow and grow they and other sea animals would eat all the plants and then there would not be anymore plants  then the sea animals would all die . so sea otters are important . river otters eat fish and live in kelp forest. here is a fun fact i know about otters i know that group of otters is called a ( raft ) otters are very fast swimmers     they have predators but humans are there greatest threat so pleas try too help otters  they are one of my favorite animals.

Animal Drawings

I made all these drawings of some of my favorite animals from a book about How to Draw animals. But I made up the backgrounds myself.


a Komodo Dragon and a adrarck in the distence the adrarck and the Komodo Dragon are on a island.

a Crocodile in a marsh.

a Giraffe in the savana

a cheetah without a background.

a Lion signed by me and without a background.

a Dolphin in the great pacific ocean.

a River Otter in the Mississippi river

a Toucan in the amazon rain forest.

a Wildebeest in the same savana that the Giraffe is in .

a Emu in Australian desert.
A Elephant on a dusty road in Africa.


a Sword Fish in the Atlantic ocean.

Animal Classification

Today we learned about the animal kingdom and ordered my toy animals.

There are different ways to order animals -

At the top is the PHYLUM.

Most of my animals are CHORDATA or animals with backbones

There were two that weren't though

One was my octopus. He was a Mollusc



Another was my scorpion. He is an arthopod - that means his skeleton is on the outside.


After that we ordered by CLASS - I have

Birds



Reptiles



Fish (Mostly sharks)



and a lot of MAMMALS

After Class is ORDER

I have Mammals with one toe hoof



Mammals with two toe hoofs



Poroboscidea - the only animal here is the Elephant



Primates (I think Chewbaca should be a Primate)



Cetaceans (whales and dolphins)



Pinnipedia (fin-feet)




And lots of Carnivores



The dragon was in the mammals by accident. But he might be warm-blooded since he breathes fire.

The Summer of 2009

This is Buffy down the street from us at Tender Crop farm.
We go and feed him almost every day. Him and the Lama.
I love to go there with my Mom and Family


These nature things I found on the HellCat Trail and made art
with them.


crab claw..

Lion Leaf

Zebra with wood stick

the snake

my room at 7 milk street. our old house. I am studying the animals.



this is Jesus and God.

More animals

animals in my room

Noah and the animals



Noah and the animals and me

Moses crossing the Red Sea. I like this story

more of Noah and the animals

I drew 12 different wolves. I am feeling better about drawing them now
it was hard at first but now it is easier after all the practise.