A Backyard Bug Trap

 My kids, like many others, just love bugs.  We've gone on many bug hunts during camping and fishing trips, and several here around our home.  We've caught (and subsequently released) dragonflies, damselflies, bees, caterpillars, and other various insects.  The other day, however, Dirty D mentioned that we have never set out a trap to see what kind of bugs we have living in our back yard that may be too smart to be caught.  We decided to put a pit trap in our garden area and see what we may catch!

First, we got together our materials:  a jar, a hand rake, a square of wood, some stones, and for bait we used a few chunks of cheese.

Princess and Dirty D picked a spot in our garden area and soaked the area generously with the water house so that it would be easier to dig.  Then the kids started digging a hole the depth of the jar we were using.

After digging deep enough to hide the body of the jar under the mud, we set the jar in it's hole with the cheese bait inside.

Then we set the stones around the jar and put the square of wood on top, protecting the bait and whatever it catches from our pets prying noses (and paws) and any inclement weather. 

We left the trap out overnight.  The next morning, we checked it to find an interesting insect that we have never caught or seen before!  We dug the jar out and put our specimen in a container for closer observation. 

It's not a fly, or a bee...we still don't know what it was.  It was a pretty awesome catch for our first time using a trap though, and we plan on trying different baits to see what kind of other creatures we can catch!