Robins

Hi!
I have seen a lot of robins lately. So, I decided to write about them.

Food:
Beetle grubs, caterpillars, cultivated and wild berries and fruit, soft-body invertebrates, and robins adore fermented Pyracantha berries. They search for earthworms, not by hearing, but by sight.

Habitat:
Robins live in most of North America. They live in almost all of U.S.A. (They don't live in Hawaii) year round, almost all of Canada (they don't live in the northeastern part of Canada) in summer (including Alaska). They live in a very small part of Mexico for winter.

Predators:
Hawks, large snakes, and cats prey on robins. Flocks of robins tend to stay silent and watch out for predators for the other robins. Some birds, such as common grackles, American crows, blue jays, common ravens prey on young, juvenile, or eggs, along with snakes, and squirrels.

Description:
Robins are gray, with an orange, or red chest. They have yellow beaks, with a black tip. Robins have white circles around their eyes. Males and females look alike, except for the darker-gray head of the male robin, and the darker chest.

Young:
After mating, the female robin builds, and takes care of the eggs and young alone. Their nests are either in the fork of two branches, or in dense brush, 5 to 15 feet off the ground. The nest is made of twigs, paper, grass, feathers on the outside, and is made of mud, grass, feathers, hair, and other soft material in the inside. The female lays 3 to 5 light blue eggs, that hatch after 14 days. Newly-hatched chicks are born with closed eyes, and are featherless. Chicks have a yellow- speckled chest, and look the same when they are juvenile, except for the fact that they are bigger, and look for like their parents.The chicks leave the nest after 2 weeks.

Did you know?
3 states chose the robin to be their state bird:
Wisconsin, Connecticut, and Michigan.

Different kinds of robin:
Scrub-robin, American robin, European robin, White- breasted robin, Tomtit, Red-capped robin, Tit (bird), and Geneva robins.

*Footnotes*
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/american_robin/id

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Robin#Distribution_and_habitat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_birds

Until next time,
Chiara

Cardinals

Hi!
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a bright red male cardinal at our bird feeder. I decided to learn more about them:

Cardinals:

Food:
Adults eat weed seeds, spiders, farm crops, and wild fruits and berries. They also eat insects such as caterpillars, beetles, and grasshoppers. In the winter, they eat mostly seeds, buds and berries. At bird feeders, cardinals like to eat mealworms, nuts, fruit, peanut butter, cracked corn, black oil sunflower seeds, sap, millet, and other grains.

Habitat:
Cardinals live throughout the United States, and even in some parts of Canada. They like warm climates, such as southeast U.S.A.

Mating and nesting:
A male cardinal will give a female cardinal a seed, or anything else he can find. The male flies over to the female. The two touch beaks as the female accepts the seed. At a bird feeder, this process is called mate feeding.

Cardinals stay with each other until one of the two dies. Then the other mate sets off to find another mate. This habit is described as ''mating for life''.

After the couple mates, the two begin to make a nest. The male perches on a branch, and searches for any signs of other males and predators, while the female collects paper, leaves, and dry leaves, twigs, vines, grass, hair, bark strips, and rootlets, for the nest.

Cardinals nest in bushes and branches 1 to 15 feet off the ground. They like to nest in pine trees to protect the eggs and young from predators, and weather.

The females nest from March to August, and lay 2 to 5 eggs at a time. The eggs can be buff or gray colored, or even greenish, with gray or brown speckles. Eggs hatch after 12 to 13 days. Young leave the nest at 9 to 11 days old.

Description:
Males are a bright red, with a red crest on its head. Females are tan with some gray, and they too have a pointed crest.

Height: 8 to 9 inches.

Weight: 1.5 to 1.8 ounces

Facts:
Cardinals are the state bird of seven states:
Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Virginia.

Their tweets sound like ''chew, chew'', ''wheet, wheet'', and ''cheedle, cheedle''. Their most famous song is ''cheer, cheer''.

Another name for cardinals is ''redbirds''.

Cardinals can live to be 15 years old.

*Footnotes*:

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/cardinal/

http://www.wild-bird-watching.com/Cardinal.html

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/wacardinal.asp

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_cardinals_nest

Hope you liked the information, and the sites.

Until next time,
Chiara

Sadly, it's seal season

Hi!
Today, people are starting to hunt seals. It's so sad, thinking about all those seals being killed for their fur. And it's not any kind of seal, it's baby seals, being clubbed to death for their snowy white fur. And just how do they get the fur off? They skin the baby seal.

Seals already have enough predators. Harp seals are already eaten and killed by killer whales and polar bears, and arctic foxes. They definitely don't need people clubbing their pups.

I wonder how those sealers feel, killing baby seals. It's just like killing a kitten or puppy. And believe me, people have done that before.

It's sad thinking about those babies being killed, just so people can wear their fur.

Until next time,
Chiara

Arctic fox

Hi!
Today I'm talking about arctic foxes. I've always liked the arctic fox, I just really didn't know about it. I think arctic foxes are really cute, and one of my favorite animals. I hope you like these facts about the arctic fox.

What does an arctic fox eat?
The arctic fox eats mainly small mammals, including tundra voles, lemmings, arctic hare, carrion, fish, and eggs. If an arctic fox lives near the seacoast, it depends on seabirds like puffins, murres, and auklets. Sometimes they eat ringed seal pups in the spring. Arctic foxes store the food they didn't eat. If they can't find their usual prey, they will steal some scraps from a larger animal, like the polar bear, and they'll eat seaweed, berries, insects, and larvae. They also eat mice, molting and nesting birds, and flightless young.

Where does an arctic fox live?
The arctic fox lives in Greenland, Russia, northern and western Alaska, northern Canada, south and northern Northwest Territories, northern Quebec, northeast Alberta, and northern Manitoba. They also live in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Svalbard. They also live in alpine and subarctic places like Iceland.

What eats the arctic fox?
Polar bears and wolves are the main predators of the arctic fox. Golden eagles and bears are predators to arctic fox young, because they can dig the young out of the den, while their mother is out hunting.

How does an arctic fox take care of its young?
Arctic foxes mate from February to May. Arctic foxes can mate when they're one year old. Female arctic foxes are pregnant for 52 days; that's 7 and a 1/2 weeks. Litters average from 5 to 8 pups, but there has been reports of up to 25 pups. Pups are born blind and helpless, weighing only 2 ounces. Both parents care for the young pups. The mother nurses her young for 6 weeks. After 6 weeks, the pups start to eat solid food. As the mother teaches her young, the father hunts. After 14 to 15 weeks, the pups take their first steps out of their den. The pups stay with their parents from summer to fall.

Characteristics of the arctic fox:
The arctic fox lives for 3 to 4 years in the wild. It can live up to 14 years in captivity. It has the warmest fur of any mammal, and is endangered worldwide. The arctic fox has white fur in the winter, and it can have two-tone brown in the summer or bluish-gray fur in the summer. Its nicknames are polar fox and white fox.

I hope you liked the facts about the arctic fox.

Until next time,
Chiara

(P.S. here are the sites I got my information from: check them out!)
*Footnotes*

http://library.thinkquest.org/3500/arctic_fox.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Fox

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/arctic_fox.htm

http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/snp/Animals/arctic_fox.htm

I really like the blue planet biomes website. Check it out:

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/world_biomes.htm

Hope you like the sites!

The rainy day

Hi!
Today I'm going to talk about a rainy day, and what I did.

March 12, Friday, 2010:
It was pouring outside. My sisters and I went outside to enjoy the rain. Then, I found a single slug. It was a very white slug. My sisters and I found an old handle to a plastic bucket. We put the slug on the handle. Serena and I went on a hunt for more slugs. We found lots of worms. The whole handle was stuffed with two slugs and around ten worms. While Angel looked for more, Serena and I placed the handle in the garage. Then we saw our chalk. We made a boundary line that the worms and slugs couldn't cross. If they did, they would get run over by the van. Angel came back with a soaking wet cement heart-shaped mold. We suggested using the chalk box top instead. Serena and I kept collecting worms and slugs, until Angel eventually left. An hour or so later, Mama and Angel left to go to the store. Serena and I made a hospital for hurt worms. We also used the now dry heart-mold, and collected wet leaves, stones, and grass, for shelter and moisture for the worms and slugs. We even collected two wet sticks. By the time Angel and Mama came back from Walmart, Serena and I had collected 42 worms and slugs! Four slugs, and 38 worms.

Here are facts and names about some of the worms and slugs:
Meet
the Slugs

Ivory:
Ivory was our first slug that we found. She was mostly white.

Bullet:
Bullet had a strange whole on his left side; earning his name.

Mr. Slug:
A very small slug. ( He ran over a few worms.)

Ms. Slug:
Second smallest; very stubborn; Serena could hardly pick her up!

Meet
the Worms

Mr. Squiggles:
This worm kept squiggling, and twirling, and wiggling.

Dead Guy:
He wasn't really dead, but he was good at pretending to be!

Sandy:
Sandy got mostly run over by a car. Only her head wasn't squashed. She was also our first hospital member.

Little guy:
Our first worm, also very little.

Jet pack:
A very fast worm.

Little worm:
Very little.

Tiny worm:
Even littler.

Petite worm:
The littlest.

Long worm:
Very long.

Longer worm:
Even longer.

Longest worm:
The longest.

Big worm:
This guy was the fattest. He also ran over everybody, acting like top worm.

Green Guy:
The greenest worm you will ever see.

Halves:
Halves broke in half, before, he was called pieces.

Albino:
The other half of Halves. We thought he was dead at first. Also the whitest worm you will ever see.

Swimmer:
This worm we found wiggling in a puddle. ALIVE.

I know this isn't 38 worms, but some of the others names I forgot. But no matter what I forget, I'll never forget that rainy day.

***
Until next time,
Chiara

Superheros and books

Hi!
I'm really into books and superheroes. So today, I'm going to write about my favorite superheroes and about my favorite superhero video game. I also will talk about a book I read recently.

My favorite DC superheroes (and villains) are Superman, Ivy, Flash, and Hawkgirl (not very many, I like a lot more Marvel characters). My favorite Marvel superheroes are Ms. Marvel, Deadpool, Venom, Storm, Thor, and Wolverine.

My favorite superhero video game is Ultimate Alliance 2. It has all of my favorite superheroes, and I am really good at beating all the bosses up to the Tinkerer.

Just recently, I read a book called Children of the Wild West. It talks about the journey to the wild west, Native Americans, frontier schools, celebrations, parties, games, and what chores a girl and boy would do. Anyway, I thought it was a really good book.

Until next time,
Chiara

Penguins

Hi!
Today I'm going to write about penguins. In this article, I will talk about what penguins dine on, penguin predators, different species of penguin, and where penguins live.

Types of penguin

Emperor penguin:
The emperor penguin has a purple beak. It has yellow areas on the breast and on the sides of its head. The emperor penguin has a black back, feet, and eyes. It weighs 70 to 90 pounds. The emperor penguin is the largest penguin, and is 4 feet tall.

Chinstrap penguin:
The chinstrap penguin weighs 9 to 14 pounds and is 28 inches tall. The chinstrap penguin is named for the black line on its chin. Chinstrap penguins have black eyes and a black beak. They also have orange feet.

Little blue penguin:
This penguin has a bluish gray back and a dark gray beak. Its feet are pinkish. The little blue penguin is also called the fairy penguin. It is the smallest penguin and is 14 inches tall. It weighs from 2 to 4 pounds.

Rockhopper penguin:
The rockhopper penguin has red eyes and long yellow feathers that look like eyebrows. The feathers stick out from each side of its head. Its feet and beak are orange. It weighs 5 to 10 pounds and is 20 inches tall.

King penguin:
The king penguin is the second largest, and most colorful penguin. The king penguin's beak is long and black with orange on the sides. It has a golden breast and orange collar. Its eyes and feet are black. It weighs 30 to 40 pounds and is 3 feet tall.

Adelie penguin:
The adelie penguin weighs 8 to 14 pounds and is 28 inches tall. It has a white ring over its eye. Black feathers cover a lot of the short orange beak. It also has orange feet. This penguin has a long tail, that drags behind the adelie penguin as it totters.

Gentoo penguin:
The gentoo penguin has a white patch on its head. The feet are orange and the beak is red. It is 32 inches tall and weighs from 10 to 19 pounds. Gentoo penguins are the fastest swimmers and live in large colonies.

What these penguins eat

Emperor penguin:
The emperor penguin dives 900 feet deep, which enables it to catch large fish. It also eats Antarctic silverfish, different species of squid, Antarctic krill, and a variety of other fish.

Chinstrap penguin:
The chinstrap penguin mainly eat krill, but sometimes they eat small fish.

Little blue penguin:
Little blue penguins swim close to the shore. They hunt for squid and small fish during the day.

Rockhopper penguin:
The rockhopper penguin eats krill, small fish, and squid.

King penguin:
King penguins eat squid, krill, and other crustaceans. They also eat small fish, mainly lantern fish.

Adelie penguin:
The adelie penguin eats snow, instead of drinking water! A special gland on their nose takes the salt out of the sea water as they swallow the fish they caught. They eat herbivorous zooplankton, krill, different kinds of fish, and phytoplankton.

Gentoo penguin:
Gentoo penguins eat mainly krill, and they also eat rock cod, lantern fish, and squid.

Predators of these penguins

Emperor penguin:
Leopard seals are a main predator, but any marine carnivore would eat one.

Chinstrap penguin:
The main predator of a chinstrap penguin is the leopard seal, but the main predators of their young, are the sheathbill and the brown skua.

Little blue penguin:
Since this penguin lives where people have settled, and it lives by shallow water, its predators are
foxes, dogs, and rats.

Rockhopper penguin:
The predators of rockhopper penguins are blue sharks, leopard seals, and fur seals.

King penguin:
The predators of king penguins are leopard seals and killer whales.

Adelie penguin:
The main predator of the adelie penguin is the leopard seal, which waits underwater to snatch the first penguin that goes into the water.

Gentoo penguin:
The predators of the gentoo penguin are leopard seals, killer whales, and sea lions.

Where these penguins live

Emperor penguin:
The emperor penguin lives in Antarctica.

Chinstrap penguin: Chinstrap penguins live on icebergs in the Southern ocean.

Little blue penguin:
Little blue penguins live on the southern shores of Australia and New Zealand.

Rockhopper penguin:
The rockhopper penguin lives on the islands north of Antarctica.

King penguin:
The king penguin lives on the islands north of Antarctica.

Adelie penguin:
These penguins live in Antarctica and small, coastal islands surrounding Antarctica.

Gentoo penguin:
The gentoo penguin lives near Antarctica. They breed in sub-antarctic islands.

I hope you liked all the facts about these penguins.

Until next time,
Chiara