Southern Two-Striped Walking Stick

 

So little

 Down by the river, on a ledge of the walkway, sat a small stick with the end cap, or cupule with scales, of an acorn. There was a tiny dark speck on it. I had brought my camera in hopes of getting a picture of one of the noisy birds there today, but I wanted to see what the speck was. Surprise! It was some sort of flying insect. A fly? Check out the wings that are naked to the eye of a human. There is always something fascinating out there in nature.  

Another Dragonfly: View from the top.

 

New Dragonfly

 This one has a stubby white abdomen and white and black wings.

Lucky Shot

 

Moth on a window

Dragonfly 2020

Not sure what kind this is. A paler blue body (thorax and abdomen) and at least three inches with wings spread.

Fiery Skipper on Sea Ox-eye

always pretty dragonfly

Golden Silk Orb Weaver

Six weeks later, the big spider is still there, but today is different. He has a cicada in his web. 

Horace's Dusky Wing. A skipper.

The tiniest grasshopper inside lily petals

spinning her web

 

magnificent

Giant Leopard Moth

The front half.

I chose this photograph to post because you can see the feathering of its hair-sized antenna.

what kind of hairstreak butterfly?

Looks like part of his wing is missing.

pretty orange dragonfly

Camouflaged dragonfly

a nest of little red bugs

what a great face!

Tiny Green Damselfly

Wolf Spider

Web of caterpillars

My new home in Wilmington has a small backyard, then a white fence, then the undisturbed wetland. In a branch of a small tree, or at least some sort of green growth that hung over the fence, were several white webs filled with black dots and wiggly things. On closer look, I saw hundreds of caterpillars in and out of the web. I must learn more about them, like what they eat and what kind of moths they will become, and if they will be back.

Such a Pretty Color

I saw a flash of a beautiful aqua color land on the grass in front of me. On very close look, I saw that it was a tiny, lovely moth - possibly.

Curious

This little bug outsmarted me. He would not come fully out from under the leaf  so I could take a picture. I think he was following my eyes. I wonder what it is.

Long-tailed Skipper

The top of its body is a pretty teal blue.

In this picture you can see its proboscis. It works like a straw that goes deep into the flower to suck out the nectar.

Pretty Little Hoverfly

hmmm...

I wonder why she is so fat.

Inchworm

This little guy was climbing up a tulip leaf. I can see why inchworms move as they do; they have feet only on the front and back ends. If all goes well, by summer this one will have turned into a pretty, brown geometer moth. I have seen lots of them around.

A Nymph

On the edge of a periwinkle petal was this baby insect, a nymph. Its wings are almost transparent, reflecting the blue of the flower. A human changes a lot from three months old to twenty-one years, and an insect also changes a lot before it becomes an adult. Can you tell what it is?

Cicada Killer

Trip took this cool picture this summer. It is a big cicada killer wasp with her even bigger prey.

Peeping Skipper

Writing Spider @ Work

This pretty female writing spider was hanging in the branches of my big, sweet smelling gardenia bush. I took her picture. Then about fifteen minutes later, I went to see her again. She had just captured what, I believe, must be a bee. Apparently she rolled her long, thick, zigzagged web around the big bee body as a shroud.

Here's looking at you, Mantis.

Blue Darner?

pretty colors

It may be another leafhopper.

A Common Little Fellow

what??

I know it is an insect because I watched it hop - or fly - several times. But where is its face? Do you think it is a type of moth?

I think . . .

this is a male writing spider. They are brownish and smaller than the colorful females.

Bees Love Sunflowers

A Leafhopper of a Different Color

Good job, Wasp!

As you can tell by the wasp's shadow, it is about noon on this sunny summer day. He had found something on this sunflower leaf to enjoy for lunch, and I think it was a hornworm. They are pesky creatures, and now I know they were responsible for the munching of the sunflower leaves.

I love little grasshoppers!

Is it a bee or a fly?

A Spider in its Web

Designed by the Creator

On a sunflower leaf. I can see why stinkbugs are also called mosaic bugs.

One of the millions of tiny insects

This is one of those tiny flying moth creatures, here staying still on a mint leaf looking curiously at me. I think the fuzzy tusk-like appendages are interesting. I wonder if it is a young insect or a mature one, and what is it?