Hiking in Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve

Hiking today in Sierra Azul, I used my dad's camera and got some nice pictures.
P.S. (I saw that there is a caption setting when you click on the pictures so I will use that from now on.)

A bird with an acorn.

Damselfly

Grasshopper

Another Grasshopper

Junco lifting off (I can't believe I got this picture!)

Flying Junco (Another really cool picture!)

A nice fuzzy caterpillar that I ended up letting walk all over
me.

Baby rattlesnake

Common Buckeye Butterfly

UC Santa Cruz wildlife research box. It has a camera and
flash on the front. It probably doesn't take pictures during
the day, but I made a face at it just in case.

Top of UCSC research box.

Photography Around the Apartments

My parents said that I had been inside for way too long and that I should find more outside activities to do, so I decided to take a short walk around my apartment complex. I brought my camera along with me and found a few simple everyday things and took some pictures from different points of view, showing them in a perspective that normally we don't see.

Irrigation Control Box

Storm Drain Cover

Purple Flowers

Dandelion

Pill Bug Update

I know I haven't posted anything in a while, so I took the time to take a picture of the pill bug babies progression. In this picture they are swarming around a tomato.

Pill Bug Babies!

I checked on my pill bugs today, and I saw little white things crawling around. When I looked in, I realized that they were tiny, white pill bugs! Yes, they are babies! I know the quality of this picture sucks, but they are really hard to focus on, even though I used the digital microscope to take the picture. I measured them, and they range from 1 - 1.5 millimeters in length... They're so cute!

Yes, all those little white things are baby pill bugs!

Pill Bugs Unite!

Today, I went in search of more pill bugs (since I only had one) to add to my colony. I went to a nearby school like I had planned and looked in the tanbark. I found nine. Not much of an accomplishment. Oh yeah, and they were all tiny! I put them in and they all burrowed deep into the soil. Saddened, I went back around the apartments in hope that somehow, I would find some more. That's when my luck turned around. I found a long piece of plywood on the dirt behind the dumpster. I picked it up to take a look, and was surprised by the THOUSANDS of pill bugs walking around! Thousands! And they were all huge, not tiny like the ones I found at the school. I grabbed a bunch and brought them home. These guys are much more active. Oh, and there's this really tiny one that I brought from the school. For some reason, he always wants to be at the highest place he can go. They're all awesome.

You can't really see the multitude of all of them in the picture, but at least you can see a few of them...

New Addition: Pill Bug!

I decided to start another colony since my other one wasn't turning out the best, and what's better than a pill bug colony? One unusual thing though, the roly polys that are usually everywhere aren't there anymore! Seriously, I was only able to find one! I searched the whole apartment complex: under bricks, broken branches, everything, and was only able to find one lonely pill bug! I replicated a habitat and put him/her in the plastic shoebox where I'm keeping them (well for now it's not technically "them", but I promise you, there will be more!) I am now hoping to go out somewhere in search for more. I remember in elementary school, we would find tons by the corners of the playground. Or maybe if we go on a hike or walk I can find some under logs or things... I will have a pill bug colony! I am dedicated to finding a family for my little crustacean! (Yes, they breathe through gills... Weird, right???)

Update on the Superworms

Things are not going so well... I had two beetles emerge about two weeks ago and one is dead... He/she was born with a mutation. I actually have another one but it is seriously mutated. It's a pupae with legs. It can't do anything, it's body isn't developed, just it's legs... I won't mind posting pictures of them, it's much too sad...