We have a garden dedicated to hummingbirds in a park not too far from our home. It has a small pond with water lilies and a number of flowers to attract hummingbirds.
I’m not sure the people who tend it have noticed, but it is also a wonderful garden for insects.
The hummingbirds benefit from the insects and spiders, too. They use the spider webs for their nests and regularly feed on small insects.
Maybe it should be called a “wildlife” garden.
What do you think?
Things have been crazy here the last few weeks, but I finally had a chance to do some photography again.
Looking at the hollyhocks in the back yard, I spotted this beige bug. I can tell from the long antennae and shape that it is a katydid nymph.
It took a bit longer, but then I noticed something else. Do you see it?
See it now? There is a second green katydid nymph on the same plant.
Wondering what is up with the different colors?
The oblong-winged katydid is known for being highly variable in color. It ranges from green to tan to orange-yellow to even bright pink! Now that would be something to see.
Once I started checking more closely, I found yet another green katydid. I guess that shows that camouflage colors might be harder to detect.
Aren’t those long hind legs something else?
Have you ever seen a katydid? What color was it?
We see these little, mostly black insects every year on the snapdragon flowers and buds.
They look like a cross between a mosquito and an assassin bug, with long legs, a slender body and long slender antennae.
Can you see the spikes on the thorax?
The stripy legs resemble certain mosquitoes, but they don’t act like mosquitoes. They simply walk to the other side of the plant when approached, rather than fly away.
This photograph show some of the characteristics used to identify it. Under its head is a yellowish beak or proboscis, which means it is a true bug. It could have been a thread-legged assassin bug, but its antennae are made up of four segments with the end segment swollen (like a butterfly antenna). That makes it a stilt bug, family Berytidae.
These particular stilt bugs are plant feeders, but other members of the family may be predators.
Those long “stilt” legs probably help them avoid the sticky protective hairs of the snapdragon plant.
Do you see any evidence in this photograph that another insect might be sharing the snapdragon flowers soon?
For more information, see Roberta Gibson Writes.
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