Unsettling weather at dawn. Somehow it's both stifling and windy, with low clouds scudding by. It feels stormy, but no rain is forecast, just oppressive heat. The robins and the wrens are singing, but there's not the usual bird activity. It is not a great day for photography.
I found this potato beetle (Lema sp.) on a goldenrod. They feel on plants in the nightshade family (including potato of course), but I don't know what this one's finding here.
Here's a red ant on a rooted Oudemansiella mushroom (O. radicata) underneath a rotting stump in the yard. My field book says it's edible and the ant agrees, but I'm not feeling that confident!
This is a red-tailed Ichneuman wasp (Scambus hispae). I've read about these since I was a kid, but this is the first one I've identified. The adults feed on nectar, but the female lays a single egg on a caterpillar and then the larvae feed on it.
This is a red-tailed Ichneuman wasp (Scambus hispae). I've read about these since I was a kid, but this is the first one I've identified. The adults feed on nectar, but the female lays a single egg on a caterpillar and then the larvae feed on it.
mmmmmmm potato bugs
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