gypsy moth larvae

these have been seen crawling around the office. i even had one on my shoulder one day, don't ask me how (some have suggested it fell out of a tree). gross! but, it makes every day an adventure...

nesting

one loop. 2 seperate branches. each branched loop had a way to connect to the other. the images show the loose way (below) and the tightened way (above). this is still not quite right.

how this works

so... i started with 3 loops and then added an extra string from seperate rope. i started the crochetting and when i got to aprox. halfway i looped up the extra string 3 times and started crochetting it around itself. afte making the branched-off loop aprox. the same size as the other one, i ended it and re-integrated the extra string and continued with the original crochetting until it was complete. hope this makes sense.

loops of the same size

is this what you had in mind?

a summary of what i have learned about pigeons

- rock pigeon = feral pigeon = city/urban pigeion = flying rat = columbia livia
- pigeons have excellent eye sight. they can see colors as well as ultra violet light
- they mainly eat seed and grain, but they also eat corn kernals, popcorn, grass, greens, berries, bugs, and human scraps
- they swallow seeds whole and thus require tiny bits of gravel to help them break the hard seeds down in their gizzard
- one of the most important things is that they have access to fresh water everyday
- they also have a unique way of drinking water, using their beaks like a straw and suck ing water down (unlike other birds that take a mouthful and then toss their heads back)
- they make flimsy nests but return to the nests repeatedly building on top of the previous one including their poop and babies that didn't survive (which get sort of mummified). eventually the nest becomes a stiff sort of mound
- they like have room to flap their wings inside their habitat

update

so these are the 4 most sucessful studies thus far.
1) 2 seperate branches that overlap
2)2 seperate loops, one beneath the other... perhaps as back support
3)1 big stem branches to the left and to the right. the right side then branches again
4) loops along back with are then interwoven

blogging is kind of nerdy.