Category Archives: Insects

Numbers Game #6, Jan 29, 2024

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The first time I ever held Zoe.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Welcome to “The Numbers Game #6”  Today’s number is 127. To play along, go to your photos file and type that number into the search bar. Then post a selection of the photos you find under that number and include a link to your blog in my Numbers Game blog of the day. If instead of numbers, you have changed the identifiers of all your photos into words, pick a word or words to use instead, and show us a variety of photos that contain that word in the title.

This prompt will repeat each  Monday with a new number. If you want to play along, please put a link to your blog in comments below.

Nature Photo Challenge: Patterns

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A different variety of butterfly visits in a cycle every year.
Ah, that Amazon Jungle trip..and exotic new bugs!
A visitor by my kitchen door. Gorgeous little guest.
Probably my alltime favorite, captured on a soda straw at my favorite beach resturant in La Manzanilla
Pretty, but painful!
Do you see a caterpillar in this photo or just the stamen of a flower?

I got a bit carried away, initially intending to only post photos of caterpillars with interesting patterns, but then a few butterflies flew in followed by beetles and bees and wasps and pretty soon I had a crowd.  I’ve been fascinated by the incredible number of insects there are in Mexico. I believe all of these beautiful creatures were photographed in my own yard except for the fifth one of the huge hopper on the hand which was photographed in the rainforest in Peru. So, here they are, Denzil!!! Thanks for the prompt

 

For Denzil’s Nature Photo Challenge: Patterns

Seasonal Hunting Party

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What is Pasiano looking for??? Click on photos to read the story.

What is Paciano hunting for in the Virginia Creeper?
Hard to find in the dense foliage.
But here is evidence of what he is hunting: its droppings littering the terrace and the table beneath the vine
In two stages. Here are two that he removed from the vine, but where is the one that got away?
Mystery solved. All in all, he removed about a dozen of them, which I safely relocated in the spare lot. How could we kill anything that turns into something that looks like a hummingbird? Unfortunately, I’ve never gotten a photo of one.
Here is an image of hummingbird moth by Graehem Mountenay. I’ve never been able to capture one and have seen only one in 22 years. They must be present, though, judging by the dozens of their caterpillars that we remove from my Virginia creeper each year.

Midweek Monochrome #117

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For Midweek Monochrome #117

What Bug is This?

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My neighbor came to borrow my drill and on the way back out to let him out of my gate, I chanced upon this insect. It was a very fast mover, but I was able to get one decent shot. Does anyone know what insect it is? It is about 6/16ths of an inch long.

It reminds me of a cow-killer ant but it is much smaller and redder as opposed to the black and orange of the cow-killer ants (which are actually a variety of female wingless wasps) I’ve seen here on my property. It is probably a red velvet ant but has different markings, is brilliant red and much smaller than ones I’ve seen before. Click HERE to see a huge Cow-killer ant I saw a few years ago and to learn more about them..

Veiled Mercy

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Veiled Mercy

Home after a summer hike, a picnic and a swim,
while taking off your sun hat and dusting off its brim,
you find a tiny spider who has caught a ride—
one who would be better off if he’d remained outside.
Of course you cause a fracas, so upset I cannot quash it,
demanding that we find the harmless bug and promptly squash it.
When I respond with reason, saying it’s benign,
as usual you discount any argument that’s mine.
You won’t be contradicted, insisting out of spite
that the tiny hitchhiker is bound to take a bite.
Handing me a tissue, you demand I do the deed
before the evil insect has the chance to breed.
But, tired of your edicts, I even up the score.
I gently swathe it in the Kleenex and toss it out the door.

 

Prompt words for today are seal, quash, spider, fracas and swim.

Spiders and Glowworms: Sixteen Lines

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Having Guests for Dinner

I very nearly missed out on her graceful zigzag gig
beneath my bougainvillea, suspended from a twig.

Behold the nimble spider, spinning out her floss
determined that no insect will turn out to be her loss.

See her web’s tenacity, holding fast her prey—
those delicious visitors who rarely get away.

She sucks out their elixirs with minimal delay,
having guests for dinner every single day.

 

Incandescent Insect Insomnia

When nature made the  glow worm glimmer,
would that she’d installed a dimmer;
for when I put out the light,
what I expect is total night.

When it puts itself in action,
I fear it sets up a distraction.
Little glow worm on the shelf,
please keep your glowing to yourself.

 

For dVerse Poets Creepies and Crawlies
To read more infested verses, go HERE.

Are you old enough to remember this song? I think the lyrics are both fun and brilliant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dpqfvFd1M0

The Rest of the Story. . . . A Scorpion Adventure

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Since I’d just had the house fumigated less than two weeks ago, I was distressed to walk into the bathroom and discover a scorpion on the floor! Please click on the photos below to see and read about the rest of the story.

I quickly stomped on it with my shoe, but realized it was a soft rubber sole so stepped on it again, then ground it into the tile.
Looking down on wiping up.
That although this is what I thought I had seen,
this is what I had actually stomped on.

Rain Beetles

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The rain has brought out three new varieties of large beetles that I’ve never seen before. Can anyone identify them? Click on photos to enlarge.

Hibiscus Bud with Daddy Longlegs: FOTD, Nov 6, 2019

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When I tried to take this photo, a cluster of Daddy Longlegs unfolded from behind the bud. Every year they collect by the thousands on my walls and plants. Welcome back, long-legged annual visitors. Please click on photos to enlarge the view. This is the first time I’ve gotten close enough to see their eyes!! Oscar is here for his English lesson, but later I’ll establish a link to earlier views of huge clusters of these yearly guests.

If you’d like to see the video of a past year’s Daddy Longlegs invasion, go here:

And then go HERE to see the incredible view of the first year I hosted a Daddy Longleg convention.

For Cee’s Flower of the Day