Observation of a family of deer; discussion of concepts and terminology such as:
feral, native, introduced, natural, wild, domestic, tame...
(these are feral deer, descended from escapees from local deer farms and living wild in our bush, who often come up close to the house to feed on the grass.)
We noticed that one of the fawns was dark coloured while the other was traditionally dappled. We observed that the dark colour was much harder to see when he was in the bush and we wondered whether this was an adaptation to Australian conditions, as opposed to European forests where the deer originated. It was so hard to distinguish in the scrub, I couldn't get a clear photo of it until it had crossed the road to our neighbour's land and stepped out into the open for a moment. We noticed that under the sparser, taller trees in the open glade near the neighbour's dam, the dappled fawn was better camouflaged.
One of our zucchinis in the vegetable garden has grown through the wire. We have decided not to pick it, but to wait and observe what happens to it over time.
A tiny thumbnail sized dwarf tree frog on the corn. We investigated what insects were nearby and hypothesised what he was there to catch (small spiders, flies, pollinators of the corn). We talked about what would happen to frogs like this if we used chemicals in our vegetable garden.
Boronia carried out her own experiments, having recently discovered the joys of a tongue that is capable of protruding.
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