In this issue are hidden a rabbit and a

clover. You can see here what they look

like; however, where they are hidden they

may be any size and any color. So get your

binoculars (or magnifying glass) and start

searching. See if you can help the rabbit

find the clover.

Scavenger Hunt

I See It! from April

Front Cover: You Can Draw a Dogwood. See page 17.

BACk Cover: “Hey, who turned the lights out?” Joel Kuiper

Invisibles .................................................. 3

Killdeer in the Asparagus ....................... 4

Pictures and Poems ................................. 6

Butterfly Search ....................................... 7

What’s the Other Name? ......................... 7

Wondernose ............................................ 8

Nature Trails .......................................... 10

The Mailbox........................................... 11

In the Beginning God Created Mosquitoes ..................... 12

Creation Close-ups ............................... 14

A Toucan—from January You Can Draw ....................................15

You Can DrawA Dogwood ........................................... 16

In Our Skies ..........................................18

The Story Behind the Photo ................. 19

God’s Majesty in the Heavens ............... 20

The Diet of Our Lungs .......................... 22

Caption This .......................................... 23

Page 9 tadpole

he wind is howling outside on this warm, sunny

day in March. Bethany hopes cold weather does

not return for awhile. two days ago Marlin boiled

down the last batch of maple syrup for this season.

It was our first year of trying what we occasionally

publish a story about—making maple syrup. This

has been an interesting project for us, especially

Marlin, who has been doing most of the work. one

highlight came the evening of the first day of boiling.

Shortly after finishing the batch, snow began, and we

soon had several inches. The maple syrup candy we

made in the snow was a very special treat, and a nice

way to begin this project.

And now for another beginning, as you saw in the

April issue, we are offering a Study Guide edition of

Nature Friend—a suggestion from a reader. Besides

exercises that reinforce what can be learned from

this issue of Nature Friend, the Study Guide also

has several bonus features. Learn to write creatively

as you also learn about nature. Learn photo tips

and submit your best photos for possible use in the

“Photo Critique” feature.

to order the Study Guide, you may mail the

postcard in this issue, call 877-434-0765, or order at

www.naturefriendmagazine.com.

Why don’t we all take a break from our work and

slip out along a favorite stream or through a park,

forest, or meadow, and enjoy the wildflowers that

are beginning to bloom? Listen to the singing birds

and watch for dancing butterflies. The simple things

of Creation can add a lot of enjoyment to our busy

lives. Let’s take a walk.

Page 23 frog

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j a n u a r y 2 0 0 9 n a t u r e f r i e n d 3

m a y 2 0 0 9 n a t u r e f r i e n d4

by Anita Burkholder

ere in southeastern Pennsylvania, killdeer nesting season is also asparagus picking season. And thanks to Mrs. Killdeer, who builds her nest in

the asparagus patch, asparagus picking is no longer quite as tiring or monotonous.

Eagerly we look to see who can first spot her shallow, pebbly nest.

Since we kneel on a picking rig to harvest our acre of asparagus, we always pick in the same rows each time. Dad is in the middle to direct eight-year-old Julia, who

steers the rig. Mom picks on his right, and ten-year-old Cletus on the left. Five-year-old Thelma watches from her seat on the garden cart at the end of the row.

About the middle of the first week of picking, Dad spots the small pebbly depression amidst the asparagus stems in his row.

Somehow Mrs. Killdeer always puts her nest directly

on the row of asparagus spears where it is safe from feet and wheels.

The next day there is one egg in it, nicely speckled, with its pointed end turned toward the center of the nest. Each day another egg appears,

until there are four. How can Mrs. Killdeer keep four large eggs warm?

We count the rows. She’s in row five, and the nest lies almost due east from the corner post of Grandpa’s meadow fence. Even so, the nest isn’t very easy to find when we want

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Elaine Shirk from Myerstown, PA sent this photo of a killdeer nest in their field. Note how the pointed ends of the eggs are all turned toward the center.

P l e a s e t e l l a f r i e n d a b o u t N a t u r e F r i e n d . 5

to show it to Thelma.At first Mrs. Killdeer scuttles quietly from her nest as

our picking rig approaches. Her mate leads us down the row, dragging his wing as though it were broken, exposing his orange-colored tail feathers. Satisfied that her mate has lured us away, Mrs. Killdeer returns to her nest.

But as the days pass, Mrs. Killdeer begins to scold and fuss as we approach. The eggs should be hatching any day, now—just see how she stands her ground until we are nearly upon her.

Now we are rather glad her nest is in Dad’s row. Anyone who thinks killdeer are mild-mannered should face Mrs. Killdeer just before her eggs hatch. Leaning down to pick asparagus, your face is quite close to that wide-open beak. You can see her slender red tongue as she shrieks at you before fluttering away at the last moment.

Then one morning we head down the rows, intent on snapping any spears over eight inches high. Suddenly our driver starts veering off course. Dad motions Julia to get on the row again, but instead we lurch to a stop.

“They’ve hatched! They’ve hatched!” Julia shouts, pointing. Sure enough, four little brown-tinted cotton balls on toothpick legs are skittering after Mrs. Killdeer. One of them hits a clod of earth and tumbles headfirst. In a moment he’s on his feet and moving on.

In a few weeks they will be fully feathered, looking like miniatures of their parents. Now they range farther afield, and we rarely see them in the asparagus patch.

Editor’s note: Both killdeer parents incubate the eggs and lure predators away with the “broken” wing display. They also have the same outward appearance.

s

Isaiah Callarman, 7 Cisco, TX

Want to have your picture or poem published in Nature Friend? Use black ink, dark pencil, colored pencils, or paints on clean, unlined paper, and do not fold drawing. Send to Pictures and Poems, 4253 Woodcock Lane, Dayton, VA 22821, or e-mail to picturesandpoems@naturefriendmagazine.com. Include your name and address. If you want your work returned (whether we use it or not), please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Space is limited, so it is not possible to publish every submission.

M a y 2 0 0 9 n a t u r e f r i e n d6

Audrey Brubacker, 8 Mohnton, PA

SpringtimeSpringtime breezes,

Soft and light.It brings fruits all

Fresh and ripe.

Spring brings birdies’ Twittering songs.

The geese come backWith some “honks.”

Spring brings nice, warmBarefoot days.It brings manySunshine rays.

Spring brings flowers,Nice and green.

It brings showers,Fresh and clean.

SO--Let’s thank GodFor spring!

And everything!Annie Shirk, 12

Holland, KY

Esther Kheen, 8 East Earl, PA

Grace Holman, 13 Wheaton, IL

Jacob Mast, 10 Applecreek, OH

Jerusha G. McGlothin, 10 St. Thomas, PA

Kara B. Weaver, 8 Womelsdorf, PA

Lily Miller, 10 Kalona, IA

Stephen Sensenig, 11 Stevens, PA

7“ P a c k e d f u l l o f i n f o r m a t i v e f a c t s i n a f u n w a y . ” — P a

1. ___ Hippopotamus A. Ship of the desert

2. ___ Camel B. Camelopard

3. ___ Lion C. Butcher bird

4. ___ Giraffe D. River horse

5. ___ Vulture E. Doodlebug

6. ___ Ant lion F. King of beasts

7. ___ Cardinal G. Turkey buzzard

8. ___ American bittern H. Camel bird

9. ___ Ostrich I. Thunder pumper

10. ___ Shrike J. Virginia nightingale

Some birds and animals which God created are called by

more than one name. See if you can match each one on

the left side with one of its other names on the right side.

by Guy Belleranti

The Four Stages of Metamorphosis: __ __ __, __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __, __ __ __ __, __ __ __ __ __

E B L U E M O R P H O G S K I P P E R G

L A F R I T I L L A R Y R P A I N T E D

L A D Y V A M O N A R C H O

R C A M O U R N I N G C L O A K T E

R P I L B U C K E Y E L A R

P B I R D W I N G U P A A

D U S W A L L O W T A I L L T

pring is the time to start

watching for one of God’s most

interesting creatures—the butterfly.

Did you know that a butterfly’s life

is made up of four major stages? To

find these four stages, cross out the

following nine kinds of butterflies in

the puzzle: Blue Morpho, Skipper,

Fritillary, Painted Lady, Monarch,

Mourning Cloak, Buckeye,

Birdwing, Swallowtail. After you

have found these butterflies, write

the remaining letters in order in the

spaces below the puzzle to spell out

the four stages of a butterfly’s life.

by Naomi R. Myers

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by Rebecca Martin

A.Q.Wildlife Wondernose Question #81

What animal is sometimes called a cat, a bear, a fox, or a raccoon?

Believe it or not, Wondernose, in

mentioning all those names, I still haven’t

revealed the name that’s used for this

animal in your encyclopedia. While I

describe this mysterious creature, you can decide

whether it most resembles a bear, a cat, a raccoon,

or a fox.

First let me tell you about its cat-like traits. Its

shape is much like a cat, except for that bushy tail.

This creature curls up on its side like a cat to sleep.

Also, it has long claws that are semi-retractile. You

don’t know what that means? But I think you know

that a cat can pull in its claws; such claws are called

retractile.

Here’s another cat-like trait of our mystery ani-

mal. What does a cat do when it is threatened by a

m a y 2 0 0 9 n a t u r e f r i e n d8

dog, Wondernose? Well, our mystery animal

does the same—it hisses and spits.

Next, in what way does this mammal resemble a

bear? About the only thing I can think of is that the

snout and face resemble a bear’s. Oh, and I mustn’t

forget the way it walks. Bears—and men—walk

with the soles of their feet flat on the ground. That’s

called plantigrade walking. Our mystery animal

walks awkwardly because its hind feet are planti-

grade, while its front feet go pigeon-toed. Did you

know that dogs and cats walk on their toes? That’s

called digigrade.

You think I am straying away from my subject

by mentioning all these “graded” ways of walking.

Well, then, let’s look at how the animal resembles

a fox. Its reddish fur certainly is fox-like. This

In Pennsylvania dutch (a language spoken by many

of our readers) the term “gvunanaws” (wondernose)

is used to describe someone who is curious about

everything around him. Wondernose asks lots

of questions to satisfy his or her curiosity. After all,

that’s a good way to learn, isn’t it?

by Rebecca Martin

9

mammal is one of the most richly colored on

earth, Wondernose. The woolly fur on

the body is reddish, or chestnut; the legs and

underparts are black; its face and ears are white

with a black stripe running from the eye to the

mouth. Quite an appealing little face,

Wondernose. And what a lovely tail he has!

It’s nearly as long as the body, soft and bushy, and

ringed with different shades of orange and brown.

The ringed tail gives you a hint why it’s some-

times called a raccoon. Indeed, this is a confusing

animal. Even its teeth have the scientists puzzled:

the front teeth are like a flesh-eater’s, while the mo-

lars are broad like those used for eating vegeta-

tion. It seems our mystery animal eats

both plants and small animals.

You wonder where it lives? Most of

you will probably never see it except

in zoos, because it is found in China

and Myanmar. A tree-dweller,

it spends its days curled up on a

branch in the sunshine, or, on a cold

day, in its nest. At dawn and dusk it

forages for food.

But all these facts have not helped to solve

the riddle for you, Wondernose. I

can’t blame you. Here I am talking about

cats, bears, raccoons, and foxes, but the

real name has yet to come! Well, have

you ever heard of the lesser panda—also

called the red panda? There you have the

answer to the riddle.

It doesn’t resemble the giant panda at

all, because the shape and color are so

different. Besides, it is much smaller—a

2-foot body and a 22-inch tail. It does live in much

the same area as the giant panda, and it also enjoys

eating bamboo. But I think its diet is more varied

than the giant’s.

The lesser panda was actually the first of the two

to bear the “panda” name, but later on, the big

black-and-white giant sort of took over the name.

What are the other common names given to

the lesser panda? Some people call it the cat-bear,

others the fox-cat, still others the fire-cat, and

sometimes it’s the Himalayan raccoon! What do

you think, Wondernose? Which does it

resemble the most? Which is the best name?

“ i w a n t g o o d l i t e r a t u r e f o r m y g r a n d c h i l d r e n . ” — t n

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WadlopenHave you ever walked on the seafloor? Well, here in the

Netherlands, it is actually quite normal, although it is very impressive every time you do it! We call it “Wad-lopen” in Dutch, which can be translated as “Wad-walking.”

Now, where do we get that strange word “Wad”? It is the name of the seafloor. In the Netherlands, we have a sea called “de Waddenzee,” or “the Waddensea,” which is very shallow in some places. These shallow places are called “een Plaat” (a sandbank) or “een Waard” (a Foreland), when they do not extend to the islands. They are called “een Wad” if they connect the mainland with the islands when it’s low tide. The islands of Terschelling, Ameland, and Schiermonnikoog are entirely connected to the main-land by wads. These three wads fall dry with low tide and are flooded with high tide.

We have dikes to keep the water out of our polders, which actually lie beneath the sea level. These polders were once seafloor, too, but nowadays it isn’t very exciting to walk there, because it isn’t a seafloor anymore. But on the

wad, you see and feel that it is still seafloor. Everywhere are shells, seaweed and a lot of MUD! In all this mud you can see all sorts of trails made by sea animals.

At the start, it is indeed very muddy and difficult to walk; you have to somehow skate through the mud! But after you have plodded along for about one kilo-meter, the ground becomes more sandy and hard. You don’t see trails anymore, but there are still a lot of sea animals. You will see many shells, sieving sandworms, crawling crabs, the stilt-walking pied avocets, and gob-bling gulls.

I think the charm of Wadlopen lies in seeing and feel-ing all those wonders of God. You can only experience this in the Netherlands, because walking on the seafloor in this manner is an outdoor adventure unique to our country! But it is a wonderful and muddy experience for everyone.

Bauke K. Stelma, 13 Franeker, the Netherlands

PS If anyone wants to give Wadlopen a try, they’re most welcome to stay with us for a couple of days!

From the dike, the wad seems firm, but

once you are there, you really have to muddle

through.

s

Many seashells cover the wad.s

A razor shell sticks out of the sand.

s

Do you have a nature experience you want to share, a question you’d like to ask, or a thought you want to share about something in Nature Friend? We want to hear from you! Write to: The Mailbox, 4253 Woodcock Lane, Dayton, VA 22821, or e-mail mailbox@naturefriendmagazine.com.

Painted TurtleDear Nature Friend,

I took this picture of a turtle on our

farm this last spring (2008). I was wondering what kind of turtle it is.

Jonathan Olthoff, 10 Emery, SD

Dear Jonathan,It looks to us like you photographed a

western painted turtle. You got a nice, right-in-the-face photograph, and it is very sharp. Good job.

—Nature Friend

Masked Bandits in the House

Dear Nature Friend, Our family has had the weirdest

experience ever! There were traces of an animal intruder, five chocolate bars missing, cupboards open and ransacked, and just an overall

mess everywhere! When we found a chocolate paw print left behind, we realized there was a raccoon coming

in through our cat door! So far, with a little chocolate bait, we have

caught ten of them! Why weren’t any of our kitties hurt? Where do they live? And why did they resort to coming into a home when they could have found food in the wild? Marita Zerbe, 11

Perry NYDear Marita,

It sounds like you slept through some excitement. We have heard raccoons can open a lot of doors, and I think you are observing that first-hand. It also sounds like they are fond of something sweet. We have a lot raccoons, and they do not seem to bother our cats. Only once did I observe a cat hiss at raccoons

when he felt cornered. I’ve seen raccoons resting on tree branches and have also seen them in holes of trees.

—Nature Friend

African Safari

In January, my parents and I had the privilege of going to Kruger Park in South Africa. At this game reserve many African animals roam freely. As we entered the park, we saw a herd of impalas and zebras. Zebras and impalas graze together and help each other watch out for lions. We had to

watch out for elephant waste because it has thorns in it. Next we saw giraffe, then a herd of elephants. The herd included a couple of young elephants, so we did not want to stick around to make the male elephant angry with us. Later we went for a night drive and spotted a group of female lions with their cubs. It is amazing to see God’s creation in real life and close up.

David Sikma, 7Grand Rapids, MI

Dear Nature Friend,I am replying to the question that a

person wrote in about a bird in Kenya in the February issue. My dad looked it up, and we think it is a yellow-fronted canary. This bird is found near moist areas and along the west coast of Kenya. I think the bird in the picture

was a baby.Ida Balona

Cassadaga, NY

“ i a p p r e c i a t e t h e e d u c a t i o n a l r e s o u r c e N a t u r e F r i e n d i s … ” — m n 11

A N S W E R S

Answers to Butterfly Search on page 7:

The four stages of Metamorphosis: egg, larva or caterpillar, pupa, adultAnswers to What’s the Other Name? on page 7:

1. D, 2. A, 3. F, 4. B, 5. G, 6. E, 7. J, 8. I, 9. H, 10. C

E B L U E M O R P H O G S K I P P E R G

L A F R I T I L L A R Y R P A I N T E D

L A D Y V A M O N A R C H O

R C A M O U R N I N G C L O A K T E

R P I L B U C K E Y E L A R

P B I R D W I N G U P A A

D U S W A L L O W T A I L L T

12

Mby Crystal Philips

osquitoes are “famous” flying, biting pests.

Did you know mosquitoes hatch unable to

fly or bite? In fact, before adulthood, mosquitoes

do not look or act like the notorious summertime

insect at all.

Mosquitoes begin their lives in water. A female

mosquito lands on a water surface; she is so light

she can stand upon it. Here she lays eggs. The

eggs hatch and out come small mosquito larvae.

The larva stage is the second stage of mosquito

growth. Known as wigglers, they are transparent

swimmers consisting of a head, beady eyes,

and a long body. They have no legs, wings, or

proboscises. The proboscis is the needle-like tube

that punctures skin and draws out blood. Most

mosquito larvae have an air tube at the tail end

and must come to the surface for oxygen.

The larvae are filter feeders. They have brush-

like hairs on each side of the mouth that sweep in

the food particles. The wigglers grow fast. They

molt, shedding their outer covering three times

before transforming into pupae.

The pupa stage does not look like a wiggler, nor

does it look like an adult mosquito. The pupae,

called tumblers, look like tiny cooked shrimp. The

pupae are dark-colored with tiny paddles at the

bottom and two trumpet-shaped breathing tubes

on their heads. A tumbler floats on the water’s

surface with the help of an air bubble inside its

body. It has no mouth and does not

need to eat. The tumbler is able to

tumble and spin to the bottom of the

water for safety, and then simply float to

the surface again.

During the pupa stage, big changes

are happening to the mosquito. This

is the transition stage into adulthood.

Inside the pupa, old muscles are broken

down and give way to adult muscles.

The digestive system converts from a

small aquatic-food diet to a liquid diet.

Bigger eyes, wings, legs, and a long

proboscis all develop in the pupa’s body.

When it is time, the pupa’s curled tail straightens,

lying flat on the water surface. The back of the

cuticle (the hard outer covering) opens, revealing

the thorax first, then the head, legs, and wings. An

empty, transparent carcass floats on the surface, and

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an adult mosquito stands on the water.

The mosquito makes an amazing transformation—egg,

feeding larva, changing pupa, and finally an adult. The male

adults will feed on nectar. The female must have a blood

meal in order to make more eggs and begin the process for a

new generation of mosquitoes. s

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A male Aedes vexans mosquito on water, with larvae and pupae in the water.

An adult mosquito emerges from its pupa.

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m a y 2 0 0 9 n a t u r e f r i e n d14

Variegated Fritillary CaterpillarThese variegated fritillary caterpillars are on a

Johnny-jump-up plant.Jonathan Krohn, 12

Centennial, CO

Immature Owl There is a small wood in the pasture where I check

the cows every day. One morning in May I spotted the owl on the ground, evidently still learning to fly. I went home quickly and got the camera. He was still there when I got back. In fact, I still often see him flying about. Matthew Walters, 13

Tyndall, SD

Honeybee Swarm

These bees from our hive swarmed onto a fence post by the pasture.

Leslie & Lucille Horst

Lykens, PA

Wild RoseWe have an abundance of wild roses here in the

spring. I saw this one in a pine tree. It was climbing the trunk.

Natasha Torkelson, 13LaGlace, AB

Strawberry ButterflyLaurel Martin, 13 Tamaqua, PA

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15“ a t r e m e n d o u s a s s e t t o a n y g r a d e s c h o o l c u r r i c u l u m . ” — K a t h y B a n k s

bonus page

Gulf FritillaryLuke Lee, 11 Swainsboro, GA

Robin NestA few days ago, I was outside

looking for some pretty flowers for my sister. I climbed the fence near our crabapple tree and peeked over to see what flowers were growing. I saw a robin’s nest with two blue eggs. I ran inside to get the camera, and then took this picture. I checked on the nest several times and was able to see the robin on her nest. I just love birds.

Natalie Allen, 10Winona Lake, IN

s

s Minnesota WaterfallBeautiful waterfall in the wilderness

of Minnesota. Sarah Beougher, 12Newark, OH

Rabbit RescueOne night our cat caught this young rabbit

and was tormenting it. Mom opened the basement door, and the rabbit ran right between her feet into the basement. The next day we caught it and let it loose in the woods.

The Messaros FamilyHamburg, PA

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M a y 2 0 0 9 n a t u r e f r i e n d16

… a Dogwood by Joyce Weaver

Want us to consider your drawing for publication? Send your completed drawing on clean, unlined paper, and do not fold. On the back write your name, age, and address. Send to You Can Draw a Dogwood, 4253 Woodcock Lane, Dayton, Virginia 22821. If you would like it returned, you must include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. You may e-mail scanned art as a high-resolution jpeg attachment, 3 inches and 300 d.p.i. Send to youcandraw@naturefriendmagazine.com. Label art with name, age, address, and then crop excessive margins. Name file: dogwood-child’s name-age While we appreciate all the hundreds of submissions we get, we can print only a few of them. Selections are made from all age groups and not based on quality alone.

The Dogwood drawings will be featured in the September issue.

Please return your drawing by June 15.

1 With a pencil, lightly sketch the outlines of the dogwood branch and bracts.

you will need:[

[

4 paper 4 pencil 4 eraser4 Crayola pencil colors 4 scissors

2To color the dogwood bracts, you will need three colors: pink, peach, and raspberry. Notice that

the bracts are darker around the edges, while still white in the center. This is important to make them look real. Start with light color, and gradu-ally add more darker color as you go. See how the pencil strokes move from the outer edge toward the center and fade into nothing. This fading effect is achieved by making some strokes longer than others. Look closely and see how some strokes curve with the edge of the bracts. Try to draw what you see.

3

The small center flowers are done with bronze yellow and dark brown, with touches of yellow-green. The small shadows around the flowers are made with a dark brown pencil color. Color very lightly, then go over the color with white to smooth it. This is called burnishing.

1 2

3

17“ a t r e m e n d o u s a s s e t t o a n y g r a d e s c h o o l c u r r i c u l u m . ” — K a t h y B a n k s

Editor’s Note: The colored parts of the dogwood “flower” we think of as petals are actually bracts. The dogwood flowers are ¼" tall and are clumped in the center of the bracts. See diagram.

For the stem and leaves you will use bronze yellow, dark brown, and jade green. Look at the illustration and copy what

you see. The last touch to complete your picture is the soft blue sky in the background. To create this look, gently shave a blue pencil color lead to make blue powder. You can do this by dragging the lead over the edge of a scissors blade. Next, use your finger to rub the powder around in a circular motion to create the soft look. If you’ve never done this before, try it first on a scrap piece of paper. (Tip: I often try my color blends and each different technique on scrap paper before starting, just to be sure I like the way it looks.)

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m a y 2 0 0 9 n a t u r e f r i e n d18

hortly before dawn in mid-May (5:00 a.m. EST), you can see an interesting spectacle. Six planets will be up (counting Pluto), and three

will be visible to the unaided eye. Mercury and Saturn are the two that will not be up.

Mars will just be rising in the east, and Venus, Uranus, Neptune, Jupiter, and Pluto will line up across the sky to the south. Seeing Neptune, Pluto, and probably Uranus will require a telescope. While Uranus can sometimes be seen with the unaided eye, the brightness of the moon will likely overpower it. The brightest planet will be Venus. Except for the moon, Venus is the brightest object in the night sky.

Venus goes through phases, just like our moon. On May 2 (rising near dawn EST), when Venus reaches its greatest morning brilliancy of this cycle, it will be nearing its “first quarter” stage. Looking at it through a pair of binoculars, you may be able to see its crescent shape. Its greatest evening brilliancy was February 19 in a “waning crescent” stage.

Venus is the hottest planet, with a daytime temperature of over 900° F. It has a thick layer of clouds that create a greenhouse effect, thus making it warmer even than Mercury.

Because of its brightness, Venus is sometimes called the “evening star” or “morning star.” Because it is similar in size to the earth, it is sometimes called “Earth’s twin.” With a diameter of 7,563 miles, it is smaller than Earth by only several hundred miles. Venus makes one trip around the sun in 243 Earth days. It is approximately ¾ of the way out to Earth from the sun.

Slip out one of these mornings, and see Venus, the diamond of the sky.

by Shaphan Shank

Beginning at about 10:30 p.m.

EST on May 15, Titan, one of Saturn’s moons, will cast a

shadow on the face of Saturn. The transit across Saturn will take several

hours. To see this you will need a six-inch reflector telescope

or larger, and a very still

atmosphere.

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“ i w a n t g o o d l i t e r a t u r e f o r m y g r a n d c h i l d r e n . ” — t n 19

One spring morning, I headed out with my camera to look for an American bittern at a small pond in a city park. A friend had recently seen one there. I approached the pond and carefully searched the edges. I knew that American bitterns are expert at blending into their environment, and it might take some time to spot him. But only a moment passed before I spotted the bird. He was standing, perfectly frozen, in the reeds at the edge of the pond directly in front of me! He was only about 15 feet away. The stripes of his neck feathers matched the colors and patterns of the reeds, and his posture of bill turned upwards added to his amazing camouflage.

I quietly set up my tripod and camera, then held as still as possible. I hoped he would return to his natural habits, despite my presence. Before long, he started to stalk around the area, hunting for food. I watched him catch and swallow several frogs. When he caught this pickerel frog, I wasn’t sure he’d be able to swallow it! He kept shaking it and dipping it back in the water until he was finally able to get it down. I watched and photographed this amazing bird for more than an hour and was sorry when it was time to leave. The photos are wonderful remembrances of this amazing experience.

by Rachel EcholsAmerican Bittern

God has created an incredibly amazing and diverse universe. It is filled with interesting

things we can study and learn about, and through this, discover more of His infinite wisdom. The night sky houses a showcase of much more than just nondescript pinpoints of light that we call stars. God has created innumerable stars grouped together in enormous galaxies. Mixed into the display are a host of uniquely-designed planets with moons revolving around many of them. Across this spectacular array, He stretched dramatic clouds of gas and dust called

by Morris Yoder

nebulae, which can extend trillions of miles through space. Scattered through this incredible spread of creativity are comets and asteroids, as well as strangely-behaving and powerful quasars, magnetars, pulsars, and supernovas.

When we look up at night, we see a vast sea of stars floating in the blackness of space, and they all look almost identical. But they all have their own unique properties. Some stars have obvious color to them. White stars are much hotter than red stars, and blue stars are much hotter than white ones. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star. It is so large that if it were placed in the center of our solar system where the sun is, the Earth would be completely swallowed up inside the star. Betelgeuse is larger than the Earth’s orbit!

The sun is actually a medium-sized star. The reason it appears so much bigger and brighter than other stars is because it’s so much closer to the earth. The next nearest star is over 250,000 times farther away from us than the sun!

While the sun is close compared to other stars, it is so far away that light, traveling at 670,617,000 MPH, takes eight minutes to reach the Earth. If the sun would instantly turn off, we wouldn’t know it until eight minutes later when the last light rays would reach the Earth.

Even though it is a medium-sized star, the sun is so large, it contains 99% of the mass of our entire solar system. This means that if we would weigh the solar system, 99% of the total weight would consist of the sun, and the remaining 1% would be the combined weight of all the planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and meteoroids.

21“ I l i k e t h e w a y y o u l e t r e a d e r s h e l p w i t h t h e m a g a z i n e … ” — P A

The planets also have some interesting features and properties about them. Venus is hot enough to melt lead, and has clouds filled with sulfuric acid, the same highly-corrosive acid that’s used in vehicle batteries. Its atmosphere is so thick and heavy it pushes down at over 1,300 pounds on every square inch of the planet’s surface. This compares to the Earth’s atmospheric pressure of 14.69 pounds per square inch. Mars’ surface contains iron oxide, which is rust, and is the reason for its brown color. Mars has a volcano three times higher than the tallest mountain on earth, and a canyon that cuts about five times deeper than the Grand Canyon. Uranus smells like rotting animals because of the methane gas in its atmosphere. But if you could stand the smell, you would be in for a tremendous view; Uranus is known to have twenty-seven moons orbiting the planet, and thirteen rings. Saturn is the planet that most of us think of when we think of a planet with rings. This is because Saturn’s rings are easily visible with a backyard telescope, and those of Uranus are not. Jupiter spins so fast that it bulges around its equator. The east-to-west diameter is about 6,000 miles greater than the distance between the north and south poles.

Saturn

has rings

that are

easy to see.

Uranus has thin, dark

rings that are hard to see.

Several rings were found

in 1977, and two more in

1986. Between 2003 and

2005, the Hubble Space

Telescope found two more.

Thirteen rings are now

known to circle Uranus.

The dark portion of the

photo with the closest

rings was brightness-

enhanced to make the

rings more visible.

There are even rocks that fly around in space. These are called asteroids and meteoroids. Asteroids range in size from less than one mile in diameter, to almost six hundred miles. Meteoroids are small pebbles to boulder-sized. Sometimes they follow a path that leads them on a collision course with the earth. I am thankful God has planned that most of them burn up in the atmosphere before they strike earth. s

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rapped around our planet is a blanket of air called the atmosphere. It extends

only about 800 miles high, slowly fading into outer space. Without air and without an atmosphere, Earth would be as lifeless as Mars. Plants, animals, and people must all have air to live. You could live more than a month without food and a week without water. You would die within a few minutes, however, if you did not have air.

You cannot see, taste, or smell the air, yet air is a substance, just as land and water are. You can feel the air when it blows, and you can see the effects of moving air. Air is a mixture of transparent gases; you can see through it clearly. Water vapor and dust particles are also present in

the air, but these are not considered part of the air. The main gases are nitrogen, oxygen, and argon. There are about eleven other gases in the air in very

small quantities. Of these eleven other gases, carbon dioxide is one of the

most important. This is what we exhale as we breathe,

and what plants use for photosynthesis.

The moisture in the air is in the form of a gas. Water molecules float around separately

through the oxygen and nitrogen. Air contains many

solid particles like dust, pollen, smoke, and microbes. There is an

average of about 100,000 solid particles per cubic inch of air. The dust count ranges from 15,000 particles per cubic inch in clean air over the Pacific Ocean to more than 5,000,000 particles per cubic inch in the smog of a large city.

by Lamar Showalter

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Scientists have divided the atmosphere into different layers. We live in the bottom layer, called the troposphere. The troposphere is about seven miles high. This is by far the densest and most habitable layer. Most of the earth’s weather takes place in this layer. Over ¾ of all the gases that make up the 800-mile-high atmosphere are contained in these first seven miles. Higher air is thinner and colder.

The next layer after the troposphere is the stratosphere. This covers the range from seven to thirty miles high. By only seven miles above the earth, the air is so thin that there is almost no convection, or rising, of heat. The temperature of the lower stratosphere is always about -67° F. Above the stratosphere there are three other named layers, the mesosphere, thermosphere, and the ionosphere.

The composition of the air in the atmosphere is in perfect proportions. It is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.03% carbon dioxide, and .04% other gases. Nitrogen is inert, which means it will not burn or combine easily with other chemicals. This gives a stabilizing affect to the atmosphere and controls burning. If air contained much over 21% oxygen, things would burn much too rapidly. If the carbon dioxide level gets higher than 5%, it can cause unconsciousness or death.

Another marvelous fact is that all of these elements are distributed evenly across the earth. In other words, the amount of oxygen in the air over the dense jungles of the tropics compares to that over Antarctica. The various elements are mixed by air currents and diffusion. This is a wise design. The people in densely populated areas will not run out of oxygen, and the plants in the jungles will not run out of carbon dioxide.

God mixed the atmospheric gases perfectly for the needs of His Creation. Let’s use our life and breath to praise Him!

“ t h e o n l y c h i l d r e n ’ s m a g a z i n e w e c a n f u l l y t r u s t ! ” — W a

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When I first saw this golden-crowned kinglet, it was part of a group of kinglets busily searching for insects and spiders in the low branches of a cedar tree. Birds were continuously flitting and moving as they searched, and it was challenging to get focused on one before it flew. I “caught” this female as it headed off for another branch.

We invite you to submit your caption for this photograph of a golden-crowned kinglet. The photograph will be used on the back of the September issue, along with our choice of a caption or captions.

We appreciate your following these rules for submissions:Please submit a postcard, not in an envelope, addressed

to: Caption This Kinglet, 4253 Woodcock Lane, Dayton, VA 22821, or e-mail to captionthis@naturefriendmagazine.com. Mention “Kinglet” in subject line. Include your name and address. Reply by June 15, 2008.

Golden-Crowned Kinglet

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