Hi everyone! I'm back from vacation! 

Today's new coloring page is of a Manta Ray.

    

 Manta Ray       

A manta ray is a cartilaginous fish. That means that instead of hard bones, it has bones made of cartilage.  It is therefore related to sharks. It is the biggest of the rays. It can have a wingspan of up to 29 feet or 8.8 meters. That measurement is for the Giant Oceanic Manta Ray. The Reef Manta Ray has a wingspan of 11 feet or 3.5 meters. 

Manta rays feed on plankton and small fish. They are filter feeders, like many baleen whales. 

NOTE: This coloring page, in printable form, is found by clicking on the "Animals" button. Then scroll down to the bottom of the list of coloring page titles.  Have fun coloring this unique fish. 

                                                                            

 

Going on Vacation

 

NOTE: I will be going on vacation, so there will be no new posts for a few days. 

Sorry for the inconvenience. 

Mother Duck & Ducklings poem and coloring page for young kids

 

This is my newest coloring page drawing I did. It is of a Mother Duck and her Ducklings.

You are on my free coloring pages blog. There are over 3000 coloring pages to print here.

 

Mother Duck & Ducklings

Mommy Long Island Duck had babies three

They were all darling - as cute as can be

They swam in the river

Did not make them shiver

In their down they were warm, and filled with glee

They belonged to a kind Farmer Joe

His nice wife was a lady named Flo

The ducks came home at night

To the farmer's delight

There was no place they would rather go

-By Robin Lyman

Long Island Ducks are white. They were imported from China to Long Island, New York, in 1873. They are a domesticated breed of duck and are raised in many parts of the world now. 

NOTE: I hope you liked my limerick-style poem. This coloring page can be found in printable form by clicking on the button labeled "Birds" or the button labeled "Animals." 

Chipmunk coloring page

Today's new coloring page is of a Chipmunk in an Oak Tree.

This is my free coloring pages blog with over 3000 free-to-print coloring pages.

Chipmunk Juvenile on an Oak Tree Branch 

There are 25 species of chipmunks. Some are 5 inches long, and some are up to 11 inches long - if you count the length of the tail. They are a type of small squirrel. But chipmunks all have racing stripes on their face and down their back. Some nest in trees and some in underground dens. 24 species of chipmunks live in North America. The Eastern Chipmunk is the largest at 11 inches long.

The Siberian Chipmunk lives in most of Northern Asia and in some parts of East-Central Asia. Some live in far Eastern Europe. By the way, all chipmunks are small squirrels, but not all squirrels are chipmunks. Squirrels are larger and lack the racing stripes. 

Chipmunks are herbivores and are excellent climbers. They have cheek pouches to hold food. They store large amounts of food in underground burrows. This food is kept for the winter. Chipmunks take long sleeps, or torpor, in the winter. But they do not truly hibernate. They wake up from time to time to eat their stored food... like acorns, pine nuts, etc. Chipmunks rely very heavily on acorns if there are oak trees around. 

You can tell that this is not quite an adult because the chipmunk has the "cuteness factor" of a larger head-to-body ratio. Many young vertebrate animals have the cuteness factor. This young chipmunk was old enough to live outside the nest and fend for himself. 

THIS drawing is based on a chipmunk my daughter photographed in the Black Hills of Western South Dakota. The only species in the Black Hills is the Least Chipmunk. It is the smallest species of chipmunk. They weigh less than 2 ounces, or less than half a gram. I should add that the background is more like the Rocky Mountains. The Black Hills are covered in conifers- pines, spruce, & firs. 

NOTE: This coloring page is found in printable form by clicking on the "Animals" button. Then scroll down to the bottom of the list of coloring page titles. If you are accessing this page in October or September, then this coloring page's title will be at or near the end of the list of animal coloring pages. Have fun coloring this cute little chipmunk!

Unicorn Coloring Pages for Young Children to color

 I decided to draw and post more coloring pages for young kids to color.

So today I am posting 3 ink drawings of Unicorns.

Unicorn Stallion and Colt at Overlook

The Unicorn daddy is showing his colt their domain. The colt is his son. A colt is a young male equine.

Unicorn Mare and Philly in a Valley

The Unicorn mommy is with her philly. The philly is her daughter. A Philly is a young female equine.

Fairy gives a Philly Unicorn an Apple

I should mention that Unicorns are like Fairies in that Unicorns are magical beings who are sentient. Unicorns and Fairies are friends - often best friends. 

Birds of Psalm 102 coloring pages

  In our study guide for Sunday School, we are on Psalm this week. 

Today's new coloring pages are the birds mentioned in Psalm 102.

Great White Pelican in the Wilderness

From Psalm 102:6

The Great White Pelican is the pelican from the Old World... that is, Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is the second-biggest flying bird. It has a wingspan of up to 11 feet 10 inches, or 360 cm. It feeds mostly on fish. It migrates great distances and lives in flocks - often large flocks. It often fishes in large groups. They are monogamous each breeding season, meaning they choose a different mate each season, but they mate with that chosen mate each year. 

Pharaoh Eagle Owl of the Desert

From Psalm 102:6

The Pharaoh Eagle Owl is generally a desert bird that lives in the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East. It is a medium-sized owl with a wingspan of up to 5 feet 6 inches, or around 140 cm. This owl nests in rocky cliffs and high-up caves. It has yellow eyes and tawny feathers with some darker spots.

Dead Sea Sparrow on a Housetop

Psalm 102:7

Dead Sea Sparrows live in the Middle East and therefore, of course, in Israel. It also lives in parts of Southwest Asia. It is a small bird with a short tail. They grow be up to 5 or so inches or around 13 cm. They are the sparrow Jesus talked about in his Sermon on the Mount. 

Now let's talk about why these birds are mentioned in Psalm 102.  This psalm is the prayer of a person going through trials. They are crying out to God. If David wrote it, then it would make sense that he would mention birds. After all, he was a shepherd out in Nature way before he was the King of Israel. Some scholars think the song was written after Israel was in captivity because it mentions Jerusalem in ruins. I suppose that may be correct. But maybe David was prophesying in this psalm about the later destruction of Jerusalem. There ARE prophecies in some parts of the Psalms. In any case, it is obvious that the composer of Psalm 102 appreciated birds. I can relate. My wife and I are "birders."

 

 NOTE: This set of drawings can be found in printable form by clicking on the button labeled "Religion." Then scroll down to the bottom of the Old Testament section. OR click on the button labeled "Birds." Then scroll down to the bottom of the list of bird titles.  Have fun coloring these. And take a look at Psalm 102. With my many trials, I found it relatable. 

 

2 Dinosaur Coloring Pages for Young Kids to color

Today's two new coloring page drawings I did are of 

two well-known dinosaurs. These are drawn for younger kids to color. 

For the past few days and for the next few days, I am posting simpler drawings I have done or am doing

for younger kids to color. Coloring is great for developing hand-eye coordination in young kids.

 T. rex and Pteranodon Kids meet a Mammal

I should say that this is a KID drawing, so it is NOT a dinosaur and a pterosaur meeting and eating a mammal. Interspecies friends ARE seen sometimes in our modern natural world. For example, ravens and wolves play and work together.

Didelphodon is the name of the mammal. It was about as big as a badger. It probably was active at night, so it was probably nocturnal. You probably recognize the T. rex and the Pteranodon. T. rex was a dinosaur, but Pteranodon was a Pterosaur or flying reptile. These flying reptiles are also called Pterosaurs. Pterosaurs are NOT flying dinosaurs. The Pteranodon and Triceratops are both juveniles or "kids," but the Didelphodon is an adult animal. 

Notice the volcano. Volcanic activity was particularly high in the Late Cretaceous Period when these animals lived. 

These animals all lived in the Cretaceous in North America. Underground you see a fossilized skeleton of a Stegosaurus... an armored dino of the Jurassic Period. Even deeper, you see the skeleton of a non-dinosaur that is sometimes confused with dinosaurs. It is buried deeper because it lived BEFORE the dinosaurs. This non-dinosaur is a Dimetrodon from the Permian Period of the Paleozoic Era. The Paleozoic Era was BEFORE the Mesozoic Era. The Mesozoic Era was the era of the dinosaurs. 

Young Triceratops & Magnusavis meet a Young Troodon 

Magnusavis was a Cretaceous bird of North America. There WERE birds in the Cretaceous. Birds had already evolved from Theropod dinosaurs. Technically, flying birds ARE flying dinosaurs. Triceratops was a horned dinosaur from North America. Troodon was a "raptor" dinosaur from North America. All these animals lived in North America in the Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic Era. These are all juveniles or "kids." 

IN the ground, you see a fossilized and buried skeleton of a Jurassic dinosaur... a young Allosaurus. Do you see the unhatched and now fossilized dino eggs underground? 

NOTE: These drawings were done for younger kids to color. These coloring pages are found in printable form by clicking on the "Paleontology" button. Then scroll down to the bottom of the "Mesozoic Life" part of the list. Have fun coloring these ancient animals. Oh. I forgot a final item: Do you see the happy plant in one of the coloring pages?