Ok, so it wasn't quite a bonanza, but I wanted to see how many B's I could fit into the title......
Ellen and I are bordered on two sides by fields (hay & sugar cane), and the hay field leads down to a coulee and some containment ponds. There's usually something down there to keep my interest for a while; mostly wasps, but other things as well. There's some sandy patches where I've seen dark gray day-flying tiger beetles and velvet ants like this one:
There are also quite a few thread-waisted and digger wasps down there. Now, a true test in excercising patience is kneeling down in grass with stinging ants, waiting for a digger wasp to build up enough courage to enter her dugout in the ground with a large grimacing human holding some sort of contraption over her home. You'll notice there are no digger wasp pictures here. Not yet....I haven't given up yet. Just yesterday....
The cool thing about hay fields is that they have plenty of grasshoppers. All kinds. Don't ask me to name them, I can only identify lubbers, but they sure are attractive!
Also, some of the taller grasses host long-jawed orb-weavers. They hide on the stalks of the plants and blend in quite well. If the wind is blowing, it's really a challenge to get a decent shot, but I was able to grab these two:
While on the subject of spiders, I'll go ahead now and boast about the widow that took up residence under an old plow blade I have in one of my gardens. She showed up one day with another female (which quickly vanished), both as 2nd instars. I watched her everyday, until she matured into an ultimate instar. Yesterday (6/17/06) was the first time she wasn't there when I checked.
There are plenty of jumping spiders around as well, and this male Plexipus allowed me to get this stunning shot:
I'd like to go down there with someone else who can also identify true bugs. I found this guy, who is some sort of leaf-footed bug.
Well, I guess that's all for now. We have to run to Lafayette for some Sunday errands. I do have some more pictures and another write-up from Sunset, so I guess I'll post that later this afternoon. See ya!
James
No comments:
Post a Comment