It’s been slow going for a few weeks and I’ve not added a lot of new species to my Yard List. There are many reasons for this, including the fact we’ve removed a lot of vegetation, the days are colder and darker, and most of all, I’m not spending as much time in the yard with a camera.
The top photo is a western conifer seed bug, a fairly large true bug with a vegetarian diet. They feed on pine cones, which I suppose could be destructive if there were too many of them on too few trees, but I don’t think that’s generally a problem. They lay eggs on pine needles and go through simple metamorphosis in the spring and summer. The adults show up in the fall and overwinter, so they are often seen trying to find warm places to settle in around people’s homes this time of year.
Here’s another bug that was new to the yard recently, a damsel bug in the family Nabidae. These big-eyed hemipterans are predators, and their proboscis has a sharp piercing point, unlike the seed bug above. Maybe that’s why it seems to have a guilty look.
Last, this weird looking little fly was just outside our yard, in the alley. Its front legs are so much longer, and differently colored, that they look like antennae when the fly is skittering around. Well, I was less thrilled with my find when I looked it up and found out it’s part of a black fly genus, Simulium, that can cause diseases, including river blindness. There are hundreds of flies in the genus, so I doubt this individual has any nasty tendencies, but it might have anti-coagulants in its saliva to allow it to dine on blood and keep it from clotting.
That’s all for now. I hope you find time to enjoy nature this week.
Ticklehead 