This Bug, That Bug

[Shades-of-Oregon]

@fowerbug so true. For a slug known for how slow they move they can clean out garden seedlings overnight.

 

[Marie2020]

Ack!

No, I have low tolerance for anything abusing plant garden partners.

We have had such a long relationship with lilies. We have given so many things (and people) the name. I was just reading about the etymology of the word. It is very old and may be related to the word "flower."

Grasshoppers, on the other hand ... I understand that they have decimated some gardens in Colorado this year.

Steve

Would you like me to send over my grasshopper and ant's exterminator

 

[Marie2020]

@digitS'
I was thinking of taking my beautiful princess down because I felt guilty joking on such a serious subject.
Bugs attacking our plants of edibles are so very annoying. So apologies my friend

 

[digitS']

My Kinda Bugs

 

[flowerbug]

My Kinda Bugs

View attachment 67517

b'dish and that's a wrap!

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

I like damsilflies. They are so delicate looking.

 

[ducks4you]

MY favorite bug is the dragonfly.
In the evening, the dragonflies fly with the barn swallows eating mosquitos.
A few weeks ago there was a flock of BABY barn swallows out en masse--so cute!!

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

Oh yes we have barn swallows to and swifts that are killer catchers during the day. At dusk the bats come out the are interesting to watch their acro-bat-ics. The hummingbirds also hare always near by …lots of feeders out for them. We do have a lot of moths at night.

Pink spotted hawk moth. They are awsome.

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

Today for the first time in all my years of gardening , while coming across all types of insects thruout the years, I saw something I’ve never seen before let alone thought about it… bumblebees mating. They were on a flag stone path my dogs almost stepped on them. It turn out that the male bumbles hangs out near a nest this time of year , drawn in by a queen - attracting scant pheromone, since that’s the male bumblebee only mission in life . The pheromone is used to mark promant rocks , objects, trees. Different species have preferred heights snd different scents, sometime the same route is used for the same species every year.

I snapped a pic and for some reason I found the pic funny. I guess it’s something you gotta see for yourself. Any hoo… How many gardeners or anyone actually come across bumblebees’s mating on their walkway. I always thought the nest/boudoir was a safter place than risk getting stepped on. They are everywhere every year around here, now I know why. Even though I’ve never found a ground nest. They seem to survive all the winter's and mowing etc. and the first bees out in spring.

He looks like a private moment is interrupted,

 

[digitS']

My experience with bumblebee nests is that not being seen is probably very much intended.

If you see a bumblebee somewhere that there are no flowers, watch them for a moment. They will disappear that quickly if they are headed home. Lawngrass is the only place that I have noticed them "going to ground." Landmarks? Perhaps it is scent. Nothing to me indicates that anything is going on down there.

Today, I saw just about the biggest Harvetman (Daddy Longlegs) that I have ever seen. Interesting how bees seem to emerge full grown. Maybe it's true with all flying bugs. Spiders of the same species are out and about in all sizes.

Steve