Kyle and the prairie falcon Toronto Butterfly Festival at Tommy Thompson Park
By: Dea Yu (8 years old) and William Yang (12 years old)
We went to the fifth annual Butterfly Festival at Tommy Thompson Park on Saturday,
August 24, 2013 in the afternoon. The park is located at Leslie Street and Lakeshore
Boulevard in Toronto.
It took about three months to plan the festival and there were 12 booths that we could
check out.The butterfly festival is meant to teach people about butterflies and to teach
us how to help them.
After we arrived at the park, we went on a nature walk. On the way to the trail, we stopped at the “Wild Ontario” booth. Kyle, a volunteer, had a brownish Prairie falcon resting on his hand. The bird was 15 months old and had beige and white feathers with beautiful black spots on it. At the display table, among a skull of a prairie falcon and a claw, an egg-shaped pill caught our eye. “What is that?” we asked Kyle. It looked like a tiny freckled clay egg. Kyle explained that it was a pellet; falcons can’t digest everything that they eat, so they compact it into small pellets, then cough them out. Very interesting.
Afterwards, we walked on a sandy trail right by Lake Ontario. On the way, we spotted crickets, an orange sulphur butterfly, a Monarch butterfly, milkweeds, a white cabbage butterfly, and cattail weeds. From the scavenger hunt sheet we got from the park entrance, we learned that milkweeds attract Monarch butterflies.
By: Dea Yu (8 years old) and William Yang (12 years old)
We went to the fifth annual Butterfly Festival at Tommy Thompson Park on Saturday,
August 24, 2013 in the afternoon. The park is located at Leslie Street and Lakeshore
Boulevard in Toronto.
It took about three months to plan the festival and there were 12 booths that we could
check out.The butterfly festival is meant to teach people about butterflies and to teach
us how to help them.
After we arrived at the park, we went on a nature walk. On the way to the trail, we stopped at the “Wild Ontario” booth. Kyle, a volunteer, had a brownish Prairie falcon resting on his hand. The bird was 15 months old and had beige and white feathers with beautiful black spots on it. At the display table, among a skull of a prairie falcon and a claw, an egg-shaped pill caught our eye. “What is that?” we asked Kyle. It looked like a tiny freckled clay egg. Kyle explained that it was a pellet; falcons can’t digest everything that they eat, so they compact it into small pellets, then cough them out. Very interesting.
Afterwards, we walked on a sandy trail right by Lake Ontario. On the way, we spotted crickets, an orange sulphur butterfly, a Monarch butterfly, milkweeds, a white cabbage butterfly, and cattail weeds. From the scavenger hunt sheet we got from the park entrance, we learned that milkweeds attract Monarch butterflies.
Don with some Monarchs When we came back from the walk, we interviewed the event organizer, Natalie Racette. We asked, “How long does a Monarch butterfly live?”
“It depends on how long it migrates, so probably three to four weeks,” she replied. We
asked Racette how many species we can find at the park, and she said, “There are 55 species of butterflies around the park.” When we asked what kind of butterfly she would be, if she could be one, she pointed to a poster with a large colourful butterfly and said, “I would be a Swallowtail.”
We continued our walk to other display booths. We saw a man attaching tiny stickers on a Monarch butterfly’s wing, and then he released it. We were fascinated and walked over to his booth. His name was Mr. Don Davis. He’s a naturalist and is from an organization called “Monarch Butterfly Journey North.” He explained that the butterflies he just released will migrate south, all the way to Mexico. Numbers from 1-800 are printed on the stickers he attached so that people down in Mexico will know that the butterflies came from Canada. So far, Mr. Davis has received four phone calls from Mexico since he started tagging the butterflies. He also showed us Monarch butterfly eggs; they were so tiny and transparent! You can hardly see them on the back of a leaf. He hatched all of the Monarch butterflies he released; they are his babies!
Last but not least, we went to a booth with lots of snakes. The volunteers let us hold a
large yellow snake. Its skin was smooth, cool, and slimy. We even had it around our
neck! It felt AMAZING!
Some other things we learned from the booths were that butterflies taste with their feet and use their antennae to communicate with each other, and that some butterfly
collectors preserve butterflies by drying them up.
We had so much fun at the Butterfly Festival, and learned a lot about butterflies! We
hope to come back next year.
“It depends on how long it migrates, so probably three to four weeks,” she replied. We
asked Racette how many species we can find at the park, and she said, “There are 55 species of butterflies around the park.” When we asked what kind of butterfly she would be, if she could be one, she pointed to a poster with a large colourful butterfly and said, “I would be a Swallowtail.”
We continued our walk to other display booths. We saw a man attaching tiny stickers on a Monarch butterfly’s wing, and then he released it. We were fascinated and walked over to his booth. His name was Mr. Don Davis. He’s a naturalist and is from an organization called “Monarch Butterfly Journey North.” He explained that the butterflies he just released will migrate south, all the way to Mexico. Numbers from 1-800 are printed on the stickers he attached so that people down in Mexico will know that the butterflies came from Canada. So far, Mr. Davis has received four phone calls from Mexico since he started tagging the butterflies. He also showed us Monarch butterfly eggs; they were so tiny and transparent! You can hardly see them on the back of a leaf. He hatched all of the Monarch butterflies he released; they are his babies!
Last but not least, we went to a booth with lots of snakes. The volunteers let us hold a
large yellow snake. Its skin was smooth, cool, and slimy. We even had it around our
neck! It felt AMAZING!
Some other things we learned from the booths were that butterflies taste with their feet and use their antennae to communicate with each other, and that some butterfly
collectors preserve butterflies by drying them up.
We had so much fun at the Butterfly Festival, and learned a lot about butterflies! We
hope to come back next year.
Dea makes a slimy friend!
 | Dea Yu Hi everyone, my name is Dea, I am 8 years old. My name is not popular, I only knew one girl whose name sounded the same but she spelled it differently. Guess how I got this name; my Mom told me she found it on a website called babynames.com. It is a Greek Goddess name who was in charge of beauty. I go to Sommerville Manor School which is really close to Voice K. My favourite classes at school are Drama and Music, I love playing acting games with my Drama teacher. I live in Mississauga, Ontario. I like reading and all kinds of arts. I am a Ballet dancer; I had my fourth recital this year. I really enjoy putting on new costumes each year and dancing on the stage. That is it, so far |
 | William Yang Hi, I am William Yang. I'm a Chinese born in Senegal, Africa. I can speak 4 different languages. I'm 12 years old and I am in grade 7 and go to Hazel McCallion French Immersion Senior Public School. My favourite subjects in school are math, gym, and French. I like video games, making videos, and a board game called "Go". I enjoy playing Go because there are infinite possibilities, and it is challenging. My hobbies are Kung Fu, basketball, soccer, skating, and skiing. I am Tae Kwon Do black belt 2nd Dan and Kung Fu level 3. I also love to read and write. I also love to watch Kung Fu movies, especially Jackie Chan movies. I also love music; I can't stand a day without listening to music of some sort. |
RSS Feed
