May 13, 2018

Martha O'Kennon

Back to early Spring. I relented and turned the heat back on today after a week of having it turned off and getting cooler outside air blown in with a big window fan.

The golden wood poppies are everywhere (anyone want a few bushels?). The primroses have sprung into action. Here is a magenta one. And the little weeping redbud looks a bit more healthy than last year.



Remember that there is information in the name of the file for each image. You can see it by mousing over the image - look at the lower left of the screen. Or you can click on the image to get to the (usually) larger image. Then the info is displayed in the address line above. Sometimes the second click will actually display a different view of the original image.

Mrs.Robin is a mom! On Friday, May 11, I spied her sitting tall over her nest seemingly relieving herself over the edge of the nest. Then I saw one little beak opening and closing. I suppose she headed out again for more food for the baby(ies). Now she is again busy feeding the 2 little mouths visible to the robin's right, just barely clearing the nest.

Now it is easier to see the winged female ants. Here are an Eastern Black Carpenter Ant and a winged female Smaller Carpenter Ant.



This little honey bee was swimming in the pond. It must have misjudged its footwork somehow. I tried to pull it out but I don't think it helped. Another one is enjoying the poppies, and finally, a bee I don't recognize (which is most bees).



Three beetles: The first one we saw last week. The second is such a gorgeous brilliant red! Third is a new one to me too.



It must have been Weevil Week. Here are a few of the weevils I found on the shop siding. Numbers two and three are different angles on the same beetle.



More Weevils. Two mysteries and one Redbud Bruchid.



Now for the bugs. Here is the one leafhopper of the week, Eratoneura carmini *(ID'd in October 2019)*. Next is a strange bug that appeared for just a brief time on the 9th. And look at this! It's a treehopper, Entylia carinata, which I first observed on the big Thistle community in 2015. Last is the White-margined Burrowing Bug.



A bug in a bag! It uses its first few segments to drag itself along the shop steel. I've still never seen the contents of the bag, but it's probably the larva of a moth. Then we see a tiny caterpillar and wonder what kind of moth (or butterfly) it will grow up to be. On the side of the house, in a corner of the brickwork, a cocoon that I never noticed before seemed to have opened up. A partial bee seemed to be embedded in the side of the cocoon. Hmmm.



I've spent a lot of time trying to make the pond look clearer - there are so many fish in there. But the other day I pulled a floating stick out and to my surprise there was this strange-looking creature. All the same color as the pond scum - but it was a dragonfly nymph. They are aquatic until they are old enough to become a dragon-(or damsel-)fly. Speaking of the pond, here are two more shots. The fishes are now ready to come to me hoping for dry fish flakes. Aren't they pretty?



We have now reached the part of this program which features the FLIES! This first tiny one looks so much like so many others. And then here is that very large beautiful crane fly. And another!



Ah spring! Here are two most likely fungus gnats - at least last year the ones that looked like this are fungus gnats.



A few more of those yellowish-green flies. The strangely lit last picture was caused by something I did in Samsung Image.



More flies. This iridescent midge was shot into a window screen. The next is likely related to the dung flies. Third is a root maggot fly, one of the commonest flies in my yard, though I've never seen one with such a swollen belly.



First is our old friend, sarcophagus (flesh eater). Then comes some kind of fly or bee. The last one may be a torch fly with its round black thorax.





Froggy in various poses. In the first image, you can also see some of the tadpoles (7 days since eggs laid) the toads left behind. Second, his usual froggy pose on the rocks. And last, froggy in the water. What a life! The other day when I walked over to see how he was, he was choking down some apparently large culinary item.

Some of the blooms of the week. The japonica (Japanese quince) should have been trimmed but nonetheless, blooms bright red-orangeish, which has in the past attracted orioles, but this year if they came, I was not looking. Many years ago, I had some of both white and magenta honoraria (money-plant), but in the intervening year the magenta disappeared. This year I had two small plants of the magenta! Last: one of the white primroses.

I've no idea what this assemblage of red objects is, nor the story behind the fly suspended beneath. It's been at least a year since I last saw this little black snail. And another mystery glowing red object.



A few kinds of pillbugs are afoot (ha ha) these days. These are for my friend Sofia, a woodlouse specialist in Italy.



The Common House Spider certainly is common. But the next spider isn't, here at least. This is my first time to see it. Third is a baby spider, but what kind? Same question for the little cobweb in the last image...



A chubbier version of Naphrys pulex, showing her patterns being stretched out. A pirate spider.



A most unexpected tiny red- rear- ended spider was only around for a bit on Cinco de Mayo. I was so entranced with it that I followed it around for a long time, trying to catch its front end. Spider #2 gives a ventral view. #3 is full-frontal.



There are those that can't believe this, but a couple of days ago I caught Spooky sneaking out of BB's cage. No way! Here is a yearling Toad, hunting game along the periphery of the shop. Later I found another in a distant part of the yard.



In the shadiest part of the far back yard, a few trilliums have survived the years. Here are two small sessile Trilliums (one red, one yellow And here's a wasp with a great shadow.



Yhe tulips came, saw and are mostly gone. But the primroses are in their heyday. The redbud tree, given to me as a sapling by John Hart, has attracted some of our more faithful friends. And it's got its own kind of underplayed flamboyance. Figure that one out!



So until next week, Have a wonderful time and be healthy (as much as possible at some of our ages)!

Love, Martha

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copyright Martha O'Kennon 2018