The First Wednesday group numbered seven nature lovers which included me. Of course, why else would they have been there. LOL We looked at the plants, but I didn’t take any photos of them today. However I did take photos of the critters!
If sunrise was any indication, it was going to be a beautiful day for First Wed!
First photo was taken by Scott. As hard as I tried, I could not get close enough for a shot. We saw multiple of the Variegated Meadowhawks (Sympetrum corruptum). They all looked very fresh with their shiny wings. The term for the shiny wings is teneral. This means they had just moulted and their wings are not fully harden. Great job Scott and thanks for sharing with us! Here is an nice pdf on the The Dragonfly Life Cycle Explained.
Indeed a great find by Alan was this walkingstick (Diapheromeridae). Rosie was holding it for photos.
So a funnel spider was kind enough to come out for us!
Next here is a strange one! It looks like a weevil with upwards snout. However, it was a planthopper in the genus of Scolops. In fact there are 32 species in 2 subgenera, all in our area. (BugGuide).
As happened it, a crab spider was eating a geometer caterpillar on the same leaf that we found with the gall. Yum!
Last stop was at a pond near the vehicles. Furthermore, the cricket frogs were jumping wildly to safety even though they had nothing to fear from us. 🙂 However, this one seemed to be brave!
We set sail the milkvine pod on to the pond that someone had found earlier. Of course, it was another great day with wonderful folks! Thank you all!
Thats a perfect walking stick. And glad you got funnel spider. I see yall had a very nice day.
We did! Missed you.
Wonderful day!
Glad you could make it. Always fun!
I thought you were going to say the two black things were black pearls from the oyster mushrooms.
What a great day!!
It was a great day!
It certainly was and so happy you can come join us!