Diario de sj_peterson

As I mentioned in last Wednesday's lab, we had bee boxes on the ranch at home in California when I was growing up. They were not technically ours, as they belonged to a local man who tended to them and the bees. Because of this, we were not allowed to get too close or touch them at all, but we would drive past them every day when we went down the driveway. Since then I have always been fascinated by them and how they work. I have picked up a little bit over the years but I still think it would be interesting to learn more. For instance, is there only one type of bee that is attracted? How do they stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer? Do they have a favorite type of plant to get nectar from? Do they have any predators?

On Monday, September 13 I went to Virgil Philip's Farm Park just outside of Moscow. It was around 1 pm and was warm, sunny, and there was a slight breeze. I was there on a general insect collecting trip. I was able to get 8 arthropods yesterday using my aerial net and my aspirator. For this assignment specifically, I will be focusing on the two grasshoppers I caught. I caught them using the aerial net in a field (pictured) that had tall native grasses and some weeds (pictured). As I have never really learned about plants, I was not able to identify them. The grasshoppers were in the open field of tall grass, in full sun, jumping around when I walked past. They were easy to catch but smaller than some of the others I had caught before. Overall though it was a great collecting trip.