Wonder Blog

Entry #1, Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden, 6/22/22

Part 1: Wednesday June 22, 2022. 2:50pm. The weather is partly cloudy.

Part 2: My site is located in Manhattan Beach in the Botanical Garden. I hear music in the distance and people talking. I hear crows squawking. I hear cars going by and peoples footsteps. I hear a plane in the distance. To my left I see a bumble bee pollinating an orange flower. There are 2 pathways in that direction and another one to my right. 4 crows just flew over my head. I see 2 monarch butterflies flying next to me. There are twigs on the ground. There is little plants sprouting from the brick pathway. There are a few giant trees to my left and middle and a medium tree to my right. There is a shed house to my right. There are ants crawling on the ground. I see 4 yellow and black butterflies. There are a few big rocks to my right, deliberately placed by someone. There is a ledge with ants crawling up and down it. There is a white butterfly flying around the flowers. There are sunflowers. There are pink, light yellow, darker yellow, light purple, darker purple flowers. There is a little pathway in front of me leading to a little area with larger rocks you can probably sit on. There are metal fences around around some plants. I feel a slight breeze. I just saw a lizard cross my path and go into a bush. I just saw a monarch butterfly and a yellow and black butterfly fly next to each other. I see 2 squirrels in a tree high up.  

Part 4:

1. Why are the ants walking in 2 rows, one going up and one going down the ledge?
2. Where are the ants going to? 
3. Why did the ants decide to gather there? 
4. Why are there a bunch of stones deliberately places right behind the edge of the path?
5. How did a lizard get to this botanical garden?
6. How do the bees collect pollen from the plants?
7. Do the bumble bees and honey bees collect pollen the same way? 
8. Can the Anise Swallowtail butterfly and monarch butterfly reproduce with each other?
9. How did the butterflies find this botanical garden? 
10. Why are there metal gates around some plants but not others?
11. Why is there a fallen tree branch in the middle of the dirt? 
12. Are there any creatures living inside of the fallen tree branch? 
13. When did the branch fall or get cut down? 
14. What is the crow looking for when it moves its head around while sitting on a branch? 
15. Are the 4 crows eating near each other in a group or are crows solo animals?
16. What are the crows eating?  
17. How many times a day do crows eat?
18. What kind of lizard is that? 
19. I’ve seen a lizard go into the same bush/spot twice now at different times, is that the lizards home? 
20. Is there food for the lizard behind the bush? 
21. How are there plants growing from the cement? 
22. Why are there 4 different types of plants growing from the cement all near the same area? 
23. I see spiders and ants on a fallen tree branch, is that their home or shelter? 
24. Do the spiders and ants get food from the fallen tree branch?
25. What kind of spider is it?
26. I see a pill bug on a wood chip with ants crawling on top of it, why are they crawling on top of it instead of going around it?
27. Why is the pill bug sitting there?
28. Is the pill bug dead? 
29. How did the pill bug get there? 
30. I approached a lizard by a bush and it froze, is that it’s defense mechanism to blend in and not be caught?
31. Does the lizard have any other defense mechanisms?
32. What does the lizard eat to survive here? 
33. Why are there so many different types of flowers and plants here? Do they each have a different purpose?
34. I just saw a Harlequin bug, why does it have red spots on its back? 
35. How does the Harlequin bug eat? 
36. I noticed there are a lot of butterflies out today, do they come out at a certain time of day or are they here all day?
37. Do they come here a certain season or are the butterflies always here? 
38. Were these trees planted here or were they originally here? 
39. Do squirrels normally climb tall trees all the way up? 
40. Do squirrels have nests? I see one in something that looks like a nest.
41. Or are the squirrels taking over a birds nest? 
42. Two squirrels were making squeaking noises at each other when I was near, was that to signal danger?
43. The squirrels were wagging their tails, what does that mean? 

Part 5:

The questions I have are about the harlequin bug I spotted. The first question I have is, “why does the Harlequin bug have red spots on its back?” What I found was that the red spots on a harlequin bugs back, “draw attention to it, telling predators that it’s inedible” (https://thenaturecollective.org/animal-guide/details/harlequin-bug/). The second question I have is “how does the Harlequin bug eat?” What I found was that harlequins have, “mouth sucking parts that enable them to suck moisture and nutrients from plant parts including leaves, stems, and fruits” (https://morningchores.com/harlequin-bug/).

Part 6: Today was a beautiful day with mostly sunny and partly cloudy skies and a small breeze. There were lots of beautiful plants and trees. There was also a lot of different animals that I saw. That was something I didn’t expect, I honestly just expected to see maybe some crows but I was pleasantly surprised that there were a lot of different types of animals in this little botanical garden today. I don’t think I’ve ever seen or noticed a harlequin bug so that was cool to observe and learn about. Something that caught my attention was in the middle of the garden there was a “bee hotel”. I briefly looked at it and saw what looked like wood logs in a sort of tiny wooden house. I didn’t get a good look though and didn’t read the sign and so on a future visit I’d like to see what exactly that was and why it is there.