It is always nice to be back home. And in the spring so much has grown. Additionally it is interesting to see which plants appreciated the late winter and spring rain schedule nature provided.
Pano view of last night’s storm clouds. We got .33″. Nice!
The Prairie Parsley (Polytaenia nuttallii) is having a banner year in North Texas! It is thick in places we have never had it before here at home.
The inflorescence is so lovely and bright.
A few are already going to seed.
Perhaps you noticed the white glob in the above photo? It is spittlebug! This is where the larva hides. One of my favorite species of spittlebugs is the Two-lined Spittlebug (Prosapia bicincta)
Another animal visits, the Parasitic Fly (Tachinidae).
A leaf miner also had a meal. Leaf miners are any one of numerous species of insects that feed on leaves in the larval stage.
A green metallic sweat bee (Halictinae) was loading up!
A tattered Buckeye gets a sip!
When I first happened up on it, I thought a weird grasshopper. It was only 6 to 7 mm.
Definitely not a grasshopper, but a True Bug type (Hemiptera).
I mean look at those back legs. There are three species in our area (NA). Thus going by the range of each that left me with an ID of Merocoris curtatus. It is in the Leaf-footed bugs (Coreidae).
So many animals appreciate the Prairie Parsley (Polytaenia nuttallii) from bees to butterflies and more. Also it is the host plant for the Black Swallowtail. No cats yet.
And while I was gone a new nest was built!
Six eggs! This is the second nest that has had six eggs this spring. The grocery shelves (ie bugs) must be stocked!
The more you know, the more you see and the more you see, the more you know.
6 Comments
I saw some amazing and scary looking bugs last year in my garden. BugGuide users helped me ID it as a jagged ambush bug. Brrrr I would not want one of those to chase me!
I saw some amazing and scary looking bugs last year in my garden. BugGuide users helped me ID it as a jagged ambush bug. Brrrr I would not want one of those to chase me!
Or in a dream, eh! Really there are some amazing bugs and we hardly know anything about most of them.
There are swallowtail eggs on my parsley but haven’t seen any babies yet. Those little green bees use my bee house.
Were the swallowtail eggs singular or in a cluster?
Prairie parsley is so great! We saw a big field of it at the WMA here too on Friday
Neato!