I am thankful for screens.
Every once in a while, it gets cool enough to open a window. When that happens, I am thankful to have screens that keep the bugs on one side and me on the other.
Showing posts with label assassin bug. Show all posts
Showing posts with label assassin bug. Show all posts
Sunday, August 2, 2015
Thankful Sunday--August 2, 2015
Every once in a while, it gets cool enough to open a window. When that happens, I am thankful to have screens that keep the bugs on one side and me on the other.
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
A Second Look--July 22, 2015
While the flowers are very pretty this time of year, it's the critters that have been getting my attention this week--specifically the birds and the bees and the bugs.
A few weeks ago, I showed a picture of a wheel bug nymph. Adult wheel bugs are fearsome looking with their big size and gray and brown armored looking shell. So I was surprised when I discovered, the slim, green insect I found was the nymph for it. While identifying the nymph, I found the wheel bug was also called the assassin bug because it pierces its prey and sucks out the insides to eat. The nymphs feed this way also. Well, this week I actually saw this happening. The nymph I found was a little older that the one I saw before and some of its green had to turned to gray, but it was definitely identifiable as an assassin bug. The bug was clinging to the underside of a coneflower with a lifeless bumblebee clutched in its legs while its mouth pierced the abdomen of the bee. Just like I had read about. Amazing to see! Despite the fact this one was eating a bee, assassin bugs are considered beneficial garden predators eating things like Japanese beetles and caterpillars.
On more pleasant insect news, the swallowtail butterflies have returned this week. I haven't seen them in great numbers yet, but I hope more are to come. The skipper and cabbage butterflies are still flitting around everywhere.
The baby finches are continuing to grow and the mother is still very protective of them. I thought that maybe the baby bluebirds had already fledged, but when I saw the mother go into the box, I took a look. They are still there, but they are mostly feathered and you can see some of the blue on them. I would like to see them fledge, but not surprisingly, the mother tries to do that when there are no threats around and in her eyes that includes me.)
A few weeks ago, I showed a picture of a wheel bug nymph. Adult wheel bugs are fearsome looking with their big size and gray and brown armored looking shell. So I was surprised when I discovered, the slim, green insect I found was the nymph for it. While identifying the nymph, I found the wheel bug was also called the assassin bug because it pierces its prey and sucks out the insides to eat. The nymphs feed this way also. Well, this week I actually saw this happening. The nymph I found was a little older that the one I saw before and some of its green had to turned to gray, but it was definitely identifiable as an assassin bug. The bug was clinging to the underside of a coneflower with a lifeless bumblebee clutched in its legs while its mouth pierced the abdomen of the bee. Just like I had read about. Amazing to see! Despite the fact this one was eating a bee, assassin bugs are considered beneficial garden predators eating things like Japanese beetles and caterpillars.
On more pleasant insect news, the swallowtail butterflies have returned this week. I haven't seen them in great numbers yet, but I hope more are to come. The skipper and cabbage butterflies are still flitting around everywhere.
The baby finches are continuing to grow and the mother is still very protective of them. I thought that maybe the baby bluebirds had already fledged, but when I saw the mother go into the box, I took a look. They are still there, but they are mostly feathered and you can see some of the blue on them. I would like to see them fledge, but not surprisingly, the mother tries to do that when there are no threats around and in her eyes that includes me.)
Here are a few things I saw this week
during a Second Look.
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| A few of the flowers that are in bloom right now. |
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| Adult assassin bug from last August. Notice the wheel on its back that gives it its other name of wheel bug. Next notice the antennas on its skinny, long head. Bent under it's head, is its long, deadly mouth. |
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| Assassin bug nymph from a couple of weeks ago. If you look carefully, you can see its orange mouth under the antennas. |
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| With some studying of this picture, I hope you can see what I saw recently. The assassin nymph is holding onto the coneflower with its back legs. Its front legs are wrapped around the bumblebee. Once again see the long, orange antenna. Under them is the orange mouth that is stuck into the bee. It's just under the bees wing. |
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| Tiger swallowtail butterfly |
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| The wren's have grown a lot in the last week. |
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| So have the bluebirds. |
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
A Second Look--June 24, 2015
The weather has been very hot and humid recently with a thunderstorm every afternoon/evening. I feel like I'm living back in New Orleans where we had months of this kind of weather. Actually since I started to write this post, it has began to storm and the electricity has bumped off twice. Let's hope it remains on.
When I took a walk around the yard this morning, I found that the deer had been enjoying themselves. In one bed, every single coneflower bud had been eaten and in another every hosta bud was gone. Add eaten day lilies and black-eyed-susan and I started to wonder if I would have anything to take pictures of except stems. However, they did leave a few things here and there. I think I appreciate the blooms I do find even more because of this.
It is definitely mating season in the bird world as I usually see pairs of birds together visiting the feeder. The bluebird nest has two eggs in it with probably more to come. The new wren's nest looks complete, but there are no eggs in it yet. Those wren's are tricky with their decoy nests, so we'll see what happens.
When I took a walk around the yard this morning, I found that the deer had been enjoying themselves. In one bed, every single coneflower bud had been eaten and in another every hosta bud was gone. Add eaten day lilies and black-eyed-susan and I started to wonder if I would have anything to take pictures of except stems. However, they did leave a few things here and there. I think I appreciate the blooms I do find even more because of this.
It is definitely mating season in the bird world as I usually see pairs of birds together visiting the feeder. The bluebird nest has two eggs in it with probably more to come. The new wren's nest looks complete, but there are no eggs in it yet. Those wren's are tricky with their decoy nests, so we'll see what happens.
Here are a few things I saw this week
during a Second Look.
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| Coreopsis. This is one of the few things the deer have left alone in our yard. I don't know if they don't like it or they like the day lilies and coneflowers next to it better. Okay. I just looked up coreopsis to see if it is supposed to be deer resistant and it is. However, coneflowers were listed right along with it as being deer resistant. That has been far from my experience. They seem to love them at my house. |
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| Day lily |
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| Geranium, "Rozanne" |
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| Day lily |
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| Lamb's ear |
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| Assassin bug--nymph (l), adult (r) I had no idea that the spider looking bug I saw yesterday on the astilbe was really the nymph form of the insect I saw last fall. Apparently, their bite (both forms) can be quite painful. I'm glad I didn't try to handle it, but I did watch it for awhile as it used it's feelers to navigate almost like it was blind. |
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| Balloon flower |
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| Cardinal and house finch |
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| Pollen covered bee in day lily |
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| Bluebird eggs |
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| Goldfinch |
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