Our trap is back up!
Sadly, there is still no sign of bugs.
Hopefully next week is better!
Monthly Archives: April 2015
Wild & Wacky Weather in T.O.
It’s been a wild and wacky week in Toronto weather-wise. Wednesday experienced virtually all the seasons in one day. The high winds and mixed precipitation have caused our tent to collapse three times, resulting in a loss of some collected specimens. Although we are a bit disappointed and frustrated, this is certainly a teachable moment. Science is not perfect and the students at JPCI are getting first hand experience in learning this reality. We have had some lively discussions on how best revise the set up of our trap. The students have decided to re-position the straps and pegs and have applied extra anchors to help the trap withstand the wind, rain, snow, and, hail.
We are happy to report that the trap stayed standing Wednesday night and we have topped up the collection bottle fluid. Fingers crossed that it stays up and the bugs keep coming.
Next week, the students have decided to move the trap to a slightly less exposed part of the garden to try and reduce the weather-related disturbances. Stay tuned. We hope that other groups are having a better luck with their bug collections.
SETTING UP THE TRAP AND COLLECTION
On Friday April , the weather was quite nice and sunny. It was 19 degree Celsius so we decided to set up the trap. We looked for an open field and found a perfect spot in our school grounds.
The process of building the tent was a new and fun learning experience. Everyone has been really enthusiastic but the weather hasn’t been helpful since the temperature has dropped drastically here in Toronto since Monday and its 0 degrees outside today. On our third day i.e. yesterday we took a picture of some of insects we have caught.
We remain optimistic and hope for weather to warm up and to have a great catch in the upcoming days. We’ll keep you posted with more pictures and news soon.
First Day a Success
Teeterville Public has a lot to smile about after finding a perfect location for our Malaise Trap! On Monday, the first day of deployment, we caught a house fly and smaller insects.
Wind, wind, go away.
It sure has been windy the past few days at Wellington Hall Academy in Guelph, ON! The Malaise Trap needs minor adjustments daily. Since the wind is blowing so hard and the ground is so soft, the guy ropes and pegs are being moved around a lot and today, the pegs were pulled out of the ground due to the big gusts.
We hope that it stops snowing and the temperatures warm up a bit. Despite the cold, we have collected a number of insects. The forecast next week looks to be warmer! Happy collecting everyone!
A moment of silence please…
We checked the trap today and There were about 20 bugs inside it. If you are reading this. Take a moment of peace for the dead bugs.
St.Peter’s grade 6 class
It’s too cold and rainy in Toronto
Our poor teacher has been setting up the trap in the terrible weather. I am so desperately sad that I couldn’t set up the trap with the teacher. We were looking forward for this exciting opportunity, but sadly we missed it. Even though we were not able to be “mini scientists” yet, we’re all looking forward to getting out and observing the trap in action. -Anushey
We Caught More Bugs
We caught two bugs, and they were mosquitoes! In total we caught six bugs. The weather is 5 degrees but it feels like 2 degrees.
Monday, April 20th,2015 Day 1: Set up The Trap
We are Iona Academy situated in the st. Raphael’s area of Eastern Ontario. Today we set up our Malaise Trap! We had a few minor setbacks because it was raining while we were setting up. The location we chose to set up was in an open field along the forest edge. It was also near a pond, so we could attract insects from the water, field and forest. It was a very chilly day as it was only 12 degrees Celsius, so not many insects were caught. We hope the weather clears up because we are very excited to be part of this project and hope to catch more insects!–grade 7 students
Bad News…
Last night we had rough winds and rain. Unfortunately, our trap blew down, and is raining too hard to go out and fix it.
Yesterday near lunch, we had checked and there was still no insects.
We hope for a better day tomorrow!