Tag Archives: insect

Sounds of Summer

Afternoon flashback: I was thinking how the sounds of summer are different than the sounds of winter. The symphony starts with spring peepers, early in the year, then builds through the months, finally reaching a crescendo near summer’s end, when the cicadas add their insistent hum to the sounds around.

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The Shell Out of Which a Cicada Hatched - Summer 2011

Growing up in New York State, I don’t recall ever hearing (or at least noticing) cicadas. I was in Japan when I first noticed the  蝉（せみ）- cicada. Since that is where I first became aware of that hum of late summer, I always think of them first by their Japanese name. It is pronounced “semi,” the e is a short e, the i is pronounced as in Latin, with a long e sound. The call of the cicada seems to herald the onset of Autumn.

Katydid

Afternoon flashback: It is summer. The fields are alive with chirping and any move through the grass scares up hundreds of grasshoppers. Or are they crickets? Or katydids?The photo here is of a katydid. I love its long, graceful antennae, and that’s how we can tell it is not a grasshopper, despite the fact that it lives in the grass and hops wildly when disturbed.

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Katydid - Summer 2011

The chickens don’t care whether the hoppers are crickets, grasshoppers or katydids, they just love chasing them across the lawn and into the pastures. The best part for them is catching and eating these apparently delicious insects!

Worker Bee

She’s busy as a bee! I was out of town, out of state, actually, and had just a little downtime, so I took a stroll with my camera. It was that wonderful golden hour as the sun sinks to the horizon, and there she was with her sisters, busily trying to collect as much nectar as possible before curfew. Her bread baskets are full of pollen, too.

Beautiful Honey Bee - 2011

Holy Canoli! What IS That?

Here’s a flashback for you. So, there I sat on the pond bank, stalking the ever wary dragon fly and damsel fly (really, I am not picky, I’ll shoot whichever will light close enough and hold still long enough!), when I turned my head and spotted this guy on a leaf really close to my head. Moving slowly, so as not to scare it off (never had I seen anything resembling this critter), I turned and focused the camera. Voila! French is not my language, so ほら！すごい虫ですねえ。

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Wheel Bug - Summer 2011 - Arilus Cristatus

Well, I just called it a prehistoric-looking bug, but my friend Travis did a Google Search and came up with the common name, scientific name, and an article about the beast. It turns out it is a “true bug,” something my Dad had tried to tell me about once – that there were insects that were truly bugs, and insects that were not – a member of the Assassin Bug family. And look there on its proboscis, a little assassinated insect from which it is presumably drinking the juices!

I was so excited to make a new (to me) discovery! And there were wheel bugs all around me, once I started looking. They are really quite a large insect, I don’t know how I never noticed them before. What an absorbing hour of shooting that was 🙂

Dragonfly, the Third Iteration

Yet another flashback photo, again of a dragonfly. I think this is my favorite dragonfly photo! He is nearly camouflaged, but so sharp and clear. You can tell it was early morning, before the dew burned off, which may be why he was not as busily flitting around on dragonfly business as they usually are.

Green Dragonfly - Flashback to Summer 2011