Yesterday I posted the cute toad. Today is the rest of our finds!
A while back I had read that it was very hard to tell the difference between Common Checkered-Skipper (Burnsius communis – old genus- Pyrgus communis) from the White Checkered-Skipper (Burnsius albezens old name-Pyrgus albescens). By range it would seem that it would lean to B. albescens. Of course to be certain, you must examine genitalia of males. When we had started towards the creek, I asked the group to not look at anything unless it had more than two legs. Otherwise we would never make it to the creek. 😉 This qualified.
Here was the goal I set for the First Wed group, holes in the bank. LOL. These are the homes of the Chimney or Turret Bees (Emphorini) which nests in banks. Since it was rather chilly yesterday there was no activity.
However I did see one in a hole a few days before when I scouted. So this was one that I saw then. It was about 5 degrees warmer that morning.
Now that we had made it to my goal, we slowed down.
Elle was taking a look at the orange mushrooms. Not with any certainty I will call them a Chanterelle because the gills ran down the stem.
The beautiful Jagged Ambush Bug (Phymata) on a Purple Coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia)! They were waiting for a small insect or arthropod. And they are in the Reduviidae family (Assassin Bugs) as Anna pointed out. Thanks Anna!
We had all missed the Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa var mollis) on the way to the destination. So on the way back Anna stopped. Glad she did! 🙂
Coming or going, I don’t know which for this Wild Bergamot?
The spent pods of an Engelmann’s Bladderpod (Physaria engelmannii). The pod splits in half leaving this thin divider.
White Compass Plant (Silphium albiflorum) disk flower showed the Fibonacci pattern!
The Skeleton Plants (Lygodesmia texana) were closed on the way to the creek. When we were slowly heading back this one was just opening for a katydid with only five legs.
Another of Anna’s find a metallic green Cuckoo Wasp (Chrysididae)! They were not moving. Was it too cold? Nope, turned out it was dead. LOL.
Ladybird Centaury (Zeltnera texensis) was our last looky!
We all enjoyed the unusually cool June First Wed morning. Indeed good stuff!
I love that little bee face peeking out. We had jagged ambush bugs lurking on our kidneywood, and they are very cool and scary looking. Unfortunately, the kidneywood got frozen out in Snowmageddon 2021.
The ambush doesn’t even look like an insect – it’s got camouflage akin to one of the mantises in the pbs program Bugs That Rule the World I watched last night. Was all about dragonflies and mantises – super photography.
Wow! That ambush bug. Never seen anything like it. Bet it’s very successful.
Bet so☺️
I love that little bee face peeking out. We had jagged ambush bugs lurking on our kidneywood, and they are very cool and scary looking. Unfortunately, the kidneywood got frozen out in Snowmageddon 2021.
Sorry to hear your kidneywood died. The ambush bugs can be found in many colors on other plants too.
The ambush doesn’t even look like an insect – it’s got camouflage akin to one of the mantises in the pbs program Bugs That Rule the World I watched last night. Was all about dragonflies and mantises – super photography.
Í haven’t seen the Bugs show yet. Our recorder was fouled up so waiting for the series to come around again.
Beautiful day!