Fast Flyers

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

There is a katydid in my house.

I like bugs. A lot. And I like katydids. But not in my house.

I think it has been fairly well established here (or maybe I have not had occasion to mention it), that we get bugs in our house fairly regularly. We live next to the woods, you know how many bugs there are in my yard; there's no way to avoid them getting in the house occasionally. Mostly I just suck them up with my bug vacuum and release them outside. Some of the spiders I actually allow to stay, if they are living quietly in a corner somewhere and not coming near me. But there are some bugs that absolutely CANNOT remain in the house, and katydids are one of them. Because katydids are LOUD. And my house is a geodesic dome, which is very effective at amplifying sound. So the katydid that is in the house is going to DRIVE ME CRAZY. Oh, and the other thing about sounds in a geodesic dome? It's really hard to tell where they're coming from.

So, excuse me while I take my bug vacuum on a katydid hunt. I can hear it, and I think it just flew into the next room...

HA! Success!!! I couldn't catch it with the bug vacuum, but I did catch it with my hands (it landed on the back of the couch, cheeky bugger), and now it is outside with all the other katydids. There were four on the front porch when we got home tonight. One of them came in with us, and it was quickly removed with the bug vacuum. I have no idea when or how the other one got in...

Here's the one we DID catch with the bug vacuum, in the act of being caught:

Aaaaah... Quiet...

Noise is one of the two reasons I didn't spend much time outside today. The other is weather, specifically heat and humidity that was unpleasant. Actually, now that I think about it there were three reasons - a swarm of gnats that were following me around, and that I wanted to escape.  But I found an awesome bug for Backyard Bug of the Day almost the minute I walked outside, so I didn't really need a lot of time.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 This bug may look familiar to you. If it does, and you are sure you never saw it in your yard, it could be because I posted pictures of it mating two days ago.

 This is another bug I really enjoy watching, specifically around the astilbe plants, which is mostly where I have seen them in the past. Sometimes there will be several of them around at once. I like the way they move, and their fairy-like appearance (you'll have to trust me on this - it's not apparent at this scale).

 I have actually be trying for a couple of years to get a REALLY good picture of them, because they don't really stop moving, so it's hard to focus.

Speaking of bugs that never stop moving...

 I spotted this gorgeous, tiny, blue wasp, and really wanted a picture. It was on a plant that I couldn't really get close to, but I tried...

 Here is that picture zoomed in A LOT.

 But it would NOT stay still for me to take a good picture. It flew from leaf to leaf, from plant to plant, not staying anywhere for more than a second.

 Here is THAT picture zoomed in A LOT. Is is gorgeous!

 Here is is zoomed in even more. Pixelated, but it shows the colors well.

Aaaaaand... it was off again. Can you spot it?

So, I lost it, and then I gave up.

But nearby I found the Backyard Bud of the Day:

 It is possible that this has been Backyard Bud of the Day before (there are kind of a lot of plants that look like this, and frankly, I am losing track), and it's not even a good picture (because of the awkward location of the plant), but here it is anyway.

 And as I was taking pictures of it, look who showed up!

It stuck around long enough for me to get two shots of it, but not to focus. Sigh.

Now, how about some random bugs, just for the fun of it, and because I don't want all that sweating in the hot sun this afternoon to go to waste?

 Astilbe is a popular plant.

 Woolly aphid.

 I found a yellow jacket hole under a board that formerly was part of our garden beds. I saw several wasps fly in and out.

 The ones flying out had blobs of mud in their mouths, as you can see with this picture zoomed in. I wonder where they were taking it...

 A squash bug sitting on a cucumber flower in the vegetable garden. That looks like a guilty face to me.

You can't see the bug here, but it's there, inside that swelling on the goldenrod stem. That is a gall, created by the larva of a goldenrod gall moth. The moth lays the egg inside the stem of the goldenrod plant, and the plant swells up while the larva (which is really small, so it must be roomy in there) develops inside.

Speaking of moths...

 An unusual sighting of a moth on the front porch during the day.

 This one was there when we got home tonight.

 Fantastic antennae! I think this means it is a male.

It looks like a bunny. A tiny, flying bunny.

After the initial excitement over an adopted caterpillar chrysalizing, there is a feeling of letdown that after watching its progress for so long, and checking on it many times per day, there is nothing left to do but wait. It's not like the chrysalis changes, right? And it's in such an awkward place that it's hard to look at it.

Well, today I realized that I do have a way to look at it, a flashlight with a mirror on the end (meant for mechanics):

 And in looking at it this way I realized that it has changed!

 So, out came the camera to try to get pictures of it. As you see, it now has some green on it. It is also a lighter color than it was the day it formed. That brown part on the top is where the wings are developing inside, and when it is ready to eclose (the official term for emerging from the chrysalis) the wing pattern and colors will be visible through that area.

That's a lot of bugs, how about some plants?

Ah, it's blooming, whatever it is! Very pretty.

 Even the stem of astilbe is cool.

It's a good thing we went out tonight, because I would not have a spider for you if there hadn't been one on the porch attracted by the porch light. Or rather, probably attracted by all the bugs that were attracted by the porch light. There was definitely a spider's smorgasbord out there. It's surprising that there aren't more predatory bugs that gather there when the light is on.

Arachnid Appreciation:

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