Roly Poly

Back in the month of May, on the 31st, the children and I were working hard beautifying our patio garden. In an old pot, was a tight cluster of last years strawberry plants, not thriving. I pulled and separated many handfuls and put them snug in the soil by the sidewalk's edge. In doing so, tens of roly poly bugs revealed themselves within the old pot of soil. I called Julia and James over to have a look and to hold these cute little critters that I thought would roll up into a ball when touched. I shared how when I was a child I also found hundreds of roly poly bugs one day at the base of a tree stump and played with them for what seemed a couple of hours.

But why are these roly poly bugs not rolling up into balls we wondered?

I pulled off my gardening gloves and dashed inside for our insect field guide and found the answer. They were NOT roly poly bugs after all, but Sowbugs! The sowbug has two short tails and will not roll into a ball. The roly poly is actually called a pillbug and will roll, hence the name roly poly.

We made an entry in our nature notebook to not only document our discovery, but also to make the kind of imprint in our memory that only careful study and drawing can give.