Green Hour Challenge #8 Up Close and Personal
GB and I did not intend to skip ahead in the challenges. But we got kind of carried away today with an investigation. We started the day by going to our neighborhood pond. We were looking for tadpoles because we raised tadpoles to toads last year and it was so interesting that we want to do it again.
So we traversed our way around some of the perimeter of the pond looking for tadpoles or even some eggs. GB used his new dipping techniques that he learned in our nature classes.
He even checked the gutters that feed into the pond. No luck…. We’ll keep looking though.
We did find this cool looking thing hanging on a tree. So we snipped off a little branch and brought it home for further investigation. There must have been about 20-30 of these things.
We also found some seed pods. These are from a maple tree. GB decided to plant them because he likes maple trees.
This is what they look like under our stereo microscope at 10X magnification. You can see all those little lung bombs pollen bits along the stems in in the cracks and crevices.
Next we decided to look at this pretty little thing. From our field guide, we were able to identify the tree as being a white oak tree. You can see a bit of the leaf on the plate of the microscope.
I thought this was just stunning! This was at 30X magnification. And it really looked like fiber-optic glass; especially with the light shining through it.
This was at 10X magnification.
We thought it was so cool and pretty that we wanted to figure out what it was. So we looked through the Handbook of Nature Study and decided that maybe it was the beginning of an acorn. I mean, who knows what an acorn looks like in the very beginning. I’m sure lots of people do, but this was our thought process at the time. 
So then we looked on the internet because we wanted to see a color picture to match up to our pictures. But we couldn’t find anything in Google using “oak+tree+acorn+female+flower” But when I switched to ‘images’ I found several that portrayed ‘galls.’
So that was our next path on the investigation. We started looking for ‘oak tree galls’ and found lots of them. Oak trees get lots of galls. We finally found out that this is a wool-sower gall. Here is what else we found out:
Wool-sower Gall - a fuzzy ball about an inch in diameter found on a White Oak twig. If you split the gall open you find seedlike items. Wool-sower Galls are fairly common in some parts of the country. The gall is made by a Cynipid Wasp, Callirhytis seminator. Cynipid Wasps, members of the Family Cynipidae, are 4-6 mm long (0.16- 0.24 inch), so they are much smaller than the wasps you see buzzing around gardens and house eaves. They are black and shiny with roundish abdomens and thoraxes, with a sort of hump on the back. Lots of gall-making wasps are found in this family. Some species live in galls made by other organisms!
Well, that was really interesting! So we thought, “What happens if we decide to dissect this sucker?” We wanted to see if we would see any of these wasp larva. So…………
Don’t worry……… we were careful……… I’m not sure that Pampered Chef products were ever intended to be used in precisely this way though…..
This is the gall split open. You can see the tiny little parts that look like seeds.
GB wanted to look first. We went outside to dissect the gall because I was worried that some strange flying wasps might fly out at us when we punctured the gall……..even thought I knew they would be babies of sorts. Wasps are wasps…… that was my fear. But they didn’t. It looked pretty harmless……. so we ventured on with our investigation.
This is the inside of the gall. You can see the little seed-like pods near the twig.
And this was at 30X magnification.
Funny thing……… When I was peering through the lens of the microscope, I thought I detected movement. So I wiggled the gall around a bit and changed the focus. And I DID see movement. It was a tiny little wasp larva! So I put my camera up to the lens of the microscope and got this video:
This is him, all grown up.
Cool, huh? I’ll tell you what, that Pampered Chef stuff got a thorough cleaning! And NONE of the gall material made it back inside the house.
Your nature study adventures are phenomenal!
Comment by
tribeofautodidacts — April 27, 2008 @ 7:57 am
We brought one of those pretty things home last year as well and kept it in the house only to discover that it was a gall. Luckily, it didn’t hatch before we moved it outside again. We weren’t able to see any baby wasps in ours. That’s SO COOL that you were able to see some!!! Thanks for sharing the video! Awesome!
Comment by Jennifer — April 27, 2008 @ 8:58 am
What a fabulous discovery! How cool to observe the gall and seeds under a scope. What kind do you have? Does it have a built it camera component? I plan to buy one for the kiddos at Christmas and am gathering suggestions.
We’ve fallen behind on our nature studies as well… the kiddos got sick and I haven’t wanted to take them out in the cold - we still haven’t got warm temperatures here.
In regards to the poem I posted… it was told to me by my counterpart (there were 2 of us that taught science in all of the elem. schools of our district) and I’ve never really “got” the grasses have bumps part myself but I haven’t really investigated it either. I believe that grass blades do have “edges” but if viewed under a scope (??) they also have small bumps as opposed to being smooth like rushes. I don’t know for sure.
Comment by Makita — April 27, 2008 @ 9:12 am
Robin, you guys do the coolest things! How awesome that you were able to follow through so well and find out so much! What a great day of exploration you had…
Comment by Christine — April 27, 2008 @ 3:43 pm
Wow, terrific nature study going on at your house. I was fascinated by the oak galls too…ours aren’t nearly so pretty on the outside.
Loved the video…thanks for sharing it.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
Comment by Barb-Harmony Art Mom — April 27, 2008 @ 4:32 pm
Would you consider submitting this to the CM carnival??
http://blogcarnival.com/bc/cprof_2378.html
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
Comment by Barb-Harmony Art Mom — April 27, 2008 @ 5:57 pm
Wow!!! What a great find! I was proud of myself for guessing it was a gall from the first photo. A year ago, I would have been clueless. So, I’m getting educated!
I LOVE that you dissected it… and found the wasp larva!!! What a great video. So, next time I find a gall, we’re bringing one home…
Comment by Dana — April 27, 2008 @ 9:31 pm
Excellent nature study, once again! I love what great use your awesome microscope is getting. I too would love to know what kind you have, I think it’s a great investment! We do not have those galls around here. At least I’ve never seen one!
Comment by Melissa — April 29, 2008 @ 11:46 am
AWESOME Nature study!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, I love your microscope and all the time you took to investigate your findings!! THis was a true inspiration to me!! I also love your pics and your viseo clip that was just amazing!! Thanks for taking the time to share!! Angie in GA
Comment by Angie in GA — April 30, 2008 @ 9:42 pm
Oh my gosh! That is so interesting. Thank you for sharing with us. I have never heard of a Gall. Can’t wait to show my son in the morning!
Comment by Sherry — May 1, 2008 @ 10:13 pm
What a great nature study - you really have got your children to look at things in great detail!
~Chrissy
Comment by mamasmurf — May 10, 2008 @ 11:10 am