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Scouting America developed the STEM Nova Awards program to excite and expand a sense of wonder in our Scouts.

10/08/2026

Wild Wednesday - October 7 - What’s on the Leaf?

On lightly drippy days, water accumulates on some fallen leaves. The water might form droplets. They might be various sizes. Scouts can look for this on a hike or on their walk to school or while waiting for the school bus.

Notice things. That’s a continuing theme in this series of posts.

The drops on this leaf are different. They are colored. What causes that?

Perhaps there was some dirt or other impurity on the leaf. Perhaps the rain dissolved it.

Perhaps some of the chemicals in the leaf (tannins?) are decomposing and they are dissolved by the rain.

How do we find an answer?

More interested and careful scientists might somehow sample the different drops and study their composition in a lab.

Scouts interested in exploring chemistry might want to know that the Chemistry merit badge has been updated. See link below.

10/01/2026

Wild Wednesday - September 30 - Same Species, Different Life Stages

The pictured bugs are all Large Milkweed Bugs (Oncopeltus fasciatus) at various stages in their life cycle. After hatching from reddish eggs, they are nymphs. They grow through several stages called instars until they become adults. They start out mostly red-orange with a black head. Then they get black spots on either side of their bulbous bodies. Then they elongate (stretch longer). And then they take their adult form with a black band with black diamond-like shapes.

The bug in the picture that is somewhat alone and mostly brighter orange is molting as it transforms into the adult stage. That orange is its fresh exoskeleton that will harden into the adult colors.

These bugs eat the milkweed seeds. That makes them toxic to predators. Their reddish orange color is a warning to not eat them,.

In warmer areas, they will overwinter as adults. In cold areas, they will freeze to death unless they migrate south. In spring and summer, they migrate north somewhat to repopulate northern areas.

09/24/2026

Wild Wednesday - September 23 - Long Journey vs. Longevity

Today I took a photo of a migrating Monarch Butterfly (top) and a sub-adult Bald Eagle (bottom). We noted how they have different lifetimes and journeys. But we are delighted when we see each of them. You may have to tap on the photo to see the butterfly or bird.

The Monarch is headed to Mexico. It hatched from an egg in August or September and ate a lot of milkweed leaves. It made a chrysalis and after a week or two, it eclosed as a butterfly. Now it is heading to Mexico where it will spend the winter with a lot of other Monarch butterflies. As the weather warms in spring, it will head north, find a mate, lay eggs if female, and eventually die of old age in a southern state. It will not get back to where it was hatched. Long journey but not a long life. Less than a year.

The Bald Eagle will live much longer. This is a sub-adult that hasn’t grown its white head and tail. But there were hints of that whiteness. So it was probably about 3 years old. We have many bald eagles here all year because the Susquehanna River doesn’t freeze very long. I thought this bird would be a resident, but some birds migrate north or south to have access to clear water and plentiful food. So our initial thought that the bird wasn’t taking a long journey may have been wrong. We don’t know. But bald eagles often live 20 to 30 years. That’s much longer than the Monarch butterfly. And it’s not flying to Mexico.

09/17/2026

Wild Wednesday - September 16 - Tagged

This California Condor is tagged with big tags on both wings. It’s its identification. I could look up where it was hatched and who its parents are at condorspotter DOT com. It is part of the Arizona-Utah flock. It hatched April 3, 2020.

I was surprised to see such big tags, but people need to see them from a distance.

Have you ever seen a tagged bird? A tagged farm animal? A California Condor?

09/10/2026

Wild Wednesday - September 9 - Butterfly Bed & Breakfast

A few days ago, as we walked through a nature preserve on an early morning hike, we counted 20 monarch butterflies in a quarter mile of open trail. The monarch migration is here, and they are enjoying the boneset (flat white flowers).

The orange and black monarchs are joined by the yellow and black tiger swallowtails. How many of each can you find in the picture? (answer below)

The Wild Wednesday for September 10, 2025 was at this same preserve and same type of flower but bumblebees sleeping on the flowers.

In this case, the monarch butterflies are not sleeping on the flowers. On their journey south, they gather in trees for the night. A roost of butterflies clustered together helps them keep warm overnight. They need temperatures about 55F to fly, but they can withstand cooler temperatures overnight. As the sun warms them, they become more active. These were getting nectar from the boneset before continuing on their journey to Mexico. Such nectar plants are important for fueling their journey.

Note that tiger swallowtails do not migrate. They live their entire lives in a relatively small area. Monarchs developing early in the spring and summer often fly north or stay local to where their eggs are laid.

But monarchs in the migrating generation will fly south to Mexico, spend the winter there in roosts, and then migrate partially north to Texas and other southern states. There is a west coast population that flies south to California rather than Mexico.

In 2025, scientists put over 400 tiny solar-powered tags (BluMorpho) on monarchs to track their movements. See the link in the comments.

Have you seen any monarchs? Were they eating nectar or flying? Were they flying roughly in the direction of Mexico? Which way is Mexico from where you are? Could you make plans to plant native nectar plants to help the butterflies and other insects have food?

Answer about picture: three monarchs (one left, two upper right with closed lighter-colored wings) and three yellow tiger swallowtails

09/03/2026

Wild Wednesday - September 2 - Leave It in Its Home

One of the points of Leave No Trace that we teach Scouts is "Respect Wildlife".

Don't get too close. Don't hurt them. Don't remove them from their homes.

Land turtles don't roam very far. Where you find them is pretty much where they live. If you pick them up and take them home, you have kidnapped them. They want to be home. A Scout is Kind.

A Scout is also Obedient. In most states, taking wild reptiles and amphibians from the wild is illegal.

Leave the animals where you find them. Unless you need to help them cross a road. In that case, move them in the direction they were traveling.

In addition, consider not sharing details on precisely where you saw a turtle. Turtle hunting and poaching is a problem. Before posting on social media, take a screenshot of your photo so that it isn't geo-tagged. Post the screenshot that doesn't give away where the turtle is.

08/27/2026

Wild Wednesday - August 26 - Don't be Afraid to Try

The Cub Scout Motto is Do Your Best.

This Great Egret was fishing. I don't know if it slipped on the rock or was just enough off-balance. but it fell into the water. That wasn't the picture I expected to get. But it got back up (a little wetter than before) and kept on fishing.

Yoda says, "Do or do not. There is no try."

But we encourage Scouts to explore new activities and practice. That is trying as much as doing and mastering. A Scout is Brave as they attempt new things.

Be the egret. Try. And if you fall in, shake yourself off, and try again.

08/26/2026

Lunar Eclipse
Thursday into Friday.
Max near midnight Eastern time.
Safe to view with bare eyes.

08/20/2026

Wild Wednesday - August 19 - Crabs are Cool

On a visit to Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware, we found three kinds of crabs on the beach. The blue crab was feisty; I shouldn't have picked it up. The fiddler crab was itty-bitty. One of the scouts did carefully pick it up; it's sitting on her fingers. The ghost crab was hanging out grooming itself waiting for a wave to take it back into the ocean.

We encouraged the scouts to notice how the beach environment differed from our normal woods and farmland.

Some of the trees and plants were the same, but many were different.

We saw many gulls of different species. We also saw pelicans.

We saw dolphins leaping in the ocean.

We saw a black rat snake on the dunes. We have those at home.

At night, we saw the crescent Moon and Venus as well as both dippers.

While they were sitting around the campfire, they saw the rocket stage separation of the Falcon rocket launched from Florida; I caught just a glimpse of it. But the Scouts were looking in the right direction and noticing.

Encourage your Scouts to notice the wild world around them.

08/13/2026

Wild Wednesday - August 12 - “Wort” in its Name

Many common names for plants contain “wort”. But that doesn’t mean they are related. “Wort” is derived from “wyrt” which means plant or herb. It’s a general term like “weed”.

But it sometimes suggests that it is a beneficial plant or a remedy. We know more about standard remedies now and don’t usually use natural wild ones. Many herbal remedies can be toxic.

Is “toothwort” helpful for easing tooth pain? (It’s the white flower pictured.) It was sometimes used for headaches.

What is “ragwort” helping? (It’s the left yellow flower.) It was once used for a variety of pains, but we now know that it is poisonous if consumed. DO NOT EAT OR APPLY TO BROKEN SKIN.

Spiderwort (the purple flower) was used for bug bites.

St. John’s Wort (the right yellow flower) blooms near St. John’s Day near the summer solstice. It’s been used for depression.

Finally, the bottom image is Snakeskin Liverwort (Conocephalum salebrosum). Its flat leaves look somewhat like snakeskin. Liverwort supposedly is shaped like a liver. Before people knew better, they used it for liver problems.

There are many other plants with “wort” in their names. Do you have any near you?

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1325 W Walnut Hill Ln
Irving, TX
75038

Telephone

+19725802000

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https://www.scouting.org/stem-nova-awards

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