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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 […]

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

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

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

Meet the Neighbors: A Differential Grasshopper For the introduction to this series, see here. I found this grasshopper on one of our pepper plants. The best way to identify this species is the striking pattern on its legs. This grasshopper species can be many colors though they usually have the same pattern. Differential grasshoppers live

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

What’s In My Backyard? Meet the Neighbors: American Lady Butterfly For the introduction to this series, see here. Meet the American Lady Butterfly. This butterfly looks like the closely related Painted Lady Butterfly. How do you tell them apart? The secret is to look at the outside of the wings. American Ladies have two large

What’s In My Backyard? Explore and Learn: endangered species For the introduction to this series, see here. When many people think of endangered species, they think about animals like Giant Pandas, Hawksbill Sea Turtles, and Bornean Orangutans. All three of these creatures are in danger of extinction. What many people do not know is that