Meet the Neighbors: Widow Skimmer For the introduction to this series, see here. Here is a beautiful species of dragonfly that is very common around ponds across much of the US. You also might see them in your yard in the late summer looking for mosquitoes and other insects to eat. Why are these dragonflies […]
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Every day, we will post a few brief prayers inspired by the Liturgy of the Hours. O Lord, open my lips. And my mouth shall declare your praise. Psalm 135:1-7 Praise the name of the Lord, praise him, servants of the Lord, who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house
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Meet the Neighbors: Long-tailed Giant Ichneumonid Wasp For the introduction to this series, see here. Here is one of the most dramatic wasps you might see in your yard. This is a rather scary looking insect. After all, look at that long appendage on its tail. You might think that is an enormous stinger! In
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Meet the Neighbors: Common Checkered-Skipper For the introduction to this series, see here. Today we meet the Common Checkered-Skipper. If you live anywhere in the US or Mexico or southern Canada, you will have these little butterflies living near you. Skippers are butterflies even though they are so small and chubby. Common Checkered-Skippers lay eggs
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Meet the Neighbors: Carder Bee For the introduction to this series, see here. This is a carder bee. These bees “card” wool off of fuzzy plants like lambs’ ears to make a nice soft nest. Humans comb sheep’s wool before making it into things. This is called carding. It cleans and aligns the wool fibers.
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Meet the Neighbors: Buffalo Treehopper For the introduction to this series, see here. “Hi! I am a thorn. Don’t look at me closely.” This neighbor does his best to look like a thorn attached to the stem of a plant. That way, hungry birds will be less likely to find them. In profile, they have
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Meet the Neighbors: Plains Cicada For the introduction to this series, see here. If you live in the middle part of the United States, you might hear a loud mechanical-sounding buzz in the trees. I want to introduce you to the culprit, the Plains Cicada. The buzzing noise is produced by the males who vibrate
What’s In My Backyard? Meet the Neighbors: Four-banded Stink Bug Wasp For the introduction to this series, see here. I noticed this big beautiful wasp in my yard for the first time this year. These solitary wasps hunt stink bugs including the invasive Brown Marmorated Stink Bug. (Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs are originally from Asia.)
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What’s In My Backyard? Meet the Neighbors: Sutured Long-horned Beetle For the introduction to this series, see here. This bright red and black beetle loves to eat pollen. These beetles are easy to watch because they like to sit on big flat flowers and are slow-moving and not easily alarmed. They belong to the large
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What’s In My Backyard? Projects: Pressing Plants For the introduction to this series, see here. Today we are going to press plants and make an herbarium. An herbarium is a collection of dried pressed plants mounted on stiff paper. Herbariums are useful to showcase the plants of a certain location. Often scientists can learn a
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