faulker015

Yesterday afternoon, while sitting outdoors, my wife and I noticed a large black wasp that was scurrying across the driveway.  It soon became evident that it was dragging a dead or paralyzed cricket toward a mulched area next to the pavement. This was a great black wasp, found across North America, from southeastern Canada to Mexico; it is a resident of all of the Lower 48 States except Washington and Oregon.  Females dig a hole in the soil in which they lay a single, fertilized egg; they then capture a grasshopper, cricket or katydid, paralyze it and place it in the nest cavity, repeating the process multiple times throughout the warmer months.  Once the egg hatches, the larval grub feeds on the hapless victim until it is mature enough to pupate.  Adults emerge from the pupae and spend much of the summer feasting on nectar; in the process, they pollinate a variety of flowers. Of course, most of this life cycle is unnoticed by humans.  Gardeners may encounter gr...

Walking through South Platte Park the other day, I looked ahead and saw bright red masses on the side of the trail.  Initially thought to be some type of fungus or slime mold, I found that they were large clusters of small bugs.....milkweed bug nymphs to be exact. Found throughout North America, from southern Canada to Mexico, these true bugs feed exclusively on milkweed plants.  Eggs are repeatedly laid on the plants by the adult female; during her month of adulthood, she will lay thousands of eggs.  Upon hatching, the nymphs molt five times before reaching the adult stage; each nymph phase is about 6 days in length.  While the elongated adults have a striking black and orange pattern on their dorsal surface, the younger nymphs are bright orange-red.  Both adults and nymphs may cluster where milkweed seed pods are abundant and their bright coloration warns potential predators that they are toxic (due to compounds ingested from milkweed sap). Unlike most insects...

On this bright, warm, autumn morning, our youngest grandson visited our Littleton Farm.  Searching for an activity that might entertain him, my wife suggested picking some of our green apples and making cinnamon apple sauce. He, of course, enjoyed the collection process and sampled quite a few of the apples before they were processed.  Since we do not use pesticides on the farm, a good number showed signs of insect damage and earwigs emerged from a few of the cavities.  Represented by about 2000 species across the globe, these elongated, flattened insects are easily identified by the pincers at the end of their abdomen.  Females lay their eggs in protected crevices by mid autumn and, in some species, overwinter with them to offer protection; after hatching in late winter, the juveniles undergo at least four molts before they mature to adults.  Throughout these stages, they feed on a wide variety of plant and animal matter, including flowers, vegetation, fruit, o...