The Pretty Big Pollinator Project

I raised a caterpillar named Reggie. My mom and I  found Reggie as a skinny caterpillar. We brought him inside and watched him eat leaves as he got fatter and bigger. Then he turned into a Chrysalis after making a J shape! We watched him for days as a chrysalis. 

One day his chrysalis turned clear. So we taped my mom’s phone to the flower pot and put the video setting on time-lapse. The next morning, my mom was walking by when she saw a wing appear. She woke me up immediately and by the time I got to the flower pot, the butterfly was already out of the chrysalis. We watched his wings unravel for the next hour. Then I took him outside to give him flying lessons. I set him on a flower outside and he just stood there! He crawled to the top of them plant and flew to a plant lower where it was less windy.

After three hours of watching him practice flying, it was time to let him go. I didn’t want to let him go, because I loved him and I have been watching him for so much of his life. I knew it was the right thing to do. I felt so sad to have to say goodbye, but I put him on a plant near the ground and said, “Goodbye, Reggie.” I went back inside and cried a little even though I don’t want you to know that.

The tiniest bird

Pollinator sweetly squeaks

Zips to bright flowers

As we continue to learn about pollinators, we invited local beekeeper Sue Rieck to be a guest speaker at one of our online meetings. Sue talked to us about honey bee biology.

The bees collect pollen in their pollen baskets on their hind legs for protein but also collect nectar by their proboscis (tongue) for carbohydrates which they store in their honey stomachs to transport to the hives. Different honeycomb cells hold storage for water, pollen or nectar.  The nectar is then turned to honey by adding enzymes and reducing the moisture content which the workers cap over with wax for storage.

Sue also told us about how bees need water. “Bees need water, just like us,” said Sue. How bees get water is different. They get water almost like zebras in the savannah. They need a place to stand to lick up water! To help them find water you can build a place for the bees to stand on the water, like a cork, for the bees to stand on, to lap up the water. Bees can easily drown while trying to get water. You can find how to make a water source for bees on our website.

It was a fascinating interview. We learned so much about bees and how they collect pollen that becomes nectar, and later honey.

Honey possums are nocturnal pollinators which weigh 11 grams.  They have long pointed snouts to gather nectar.  Their toes are long and sharp.  Honey possums are lightweight and fast.  They like to climb trees and hide in plants.  Their color is reddish-brown.  They pollinate when they climb on a flower and drink its nectar.  The pollen gets stuck on their underbelly.  When the possum is going on with its day, the pollen falls off and pollinates other things.