Once, while recovering from shoulder surgery, I heard my wife scream from the backyard. Arm immobilized with a brace, I stumbled outside. She was under attack from dozens of yellowjackets. Before I could get her away from them she had accumulated nine stings. The scars she got from accidentally disturbing a nest in the ground […]
Anthony Westkamper
Posted inNews (NCJ)
HumBug: The Most Unlovely Insects
Butterflies and dragonflies can entrance us with their beauty. Praying mantises carry themselves with a slender, lethal elegance. At the other end of the insect spectrum, you can find the order of flies. Unlike all other winged insects, members of the order Diptera have only two wings not four. Di meaning two and ptera meaning […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Buckaroos and Buckeyes
Giddy-up! It rained the day before and the sky hung low and menacing over the warm, muggy, quiet clearing. Strangely, at that moment there were very few insects in a place I expected to see many. I was reminded of an old jungle movie. The words “It’s quiet — too quiet!” ran through my mind. […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
HumBug: Jumping Spiders!
Even people who do not like spiders can find much to love in the red backed jumping spider. First of all they are cute.(well, cute for a spider). Stocky and fuzzy, with eight eyes positioned across a broad face, they are somehow a little less spidery-creepy than a black widow. If you are impressed by […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
HumBug: Flying Rods
The Van Duzen River provides me with endless things to see, photograph and ponder. In my excursions I have never once been disappointed. A while ago I watched a “hatch” of Mayflies (order Ephemeroptera) flying upstream against the gentle breeze following the river. There were hundreds in view and I could imagine how many there must […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
HumBug: Tiny and Primitive
If you have sharp eyes or good glasses, pick up a potted plant and you might see a tiny gray thing, not much larger than the period at the end of this sentence, scurry away or even leap. This particular kind of critter has been hiding under rocks for a very long time. These are […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Spotting for Spots
Artful Dodgers Today, faced with the humdrum task of taking old stuff out to the compost bin, I grabbed a camera on the off chance I might see something more interesting than rotten potato peels. Flying low and fast, dodging between grass stalks and tangled branches was a Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia). With their dark […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Humbug: Two Different Strategies for Prosperity
I can be sure it’s summer now that I’ve seen two of my favorite butterflies. Considered as a pair, they show two very different survival strategies. One is gaudy, covered by nature with large clown eyes, the other is a very “plain Jane” butterfly. You can see them both on any sunny Summer or Fall day. […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
HumBug: Giddyup!
Having rained the day before, the sky hung low and menacing over the warm, muggy, quiet clearing. Strangely at that moment there were very few insects in a place I expected to see many. I was reminded of an old jungle movie. The words – “It’s quiet. Too quiet!” – ran through my mind. Where […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
HumBug: That’s No Lady
Male Ladybugs must have a hard time of it. The familiar orange, black spotted beetles are represented by both sexes. Without a great deal of technical knowledge and a good strong hand lens, you’re unlikely to tell the difference. While insects don’t seem to mind what we humans call them, from time to time I have […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
HumBug: Artful Dodgers
Today, faced with the humdrum task of taking old stuff out to the compost bin, I grabbed a camera on the off chance I might see something more interesting than rotten potato peels. Flying low and fast, dodging between grass stalks and tangled branches was a Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia). With their dark wingspots, agile […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
HumBug: The Sister and the Admiral
Out in my back yard I saw a butterfly flying low, straight and fast, too fast to identify perfectly. It landed half way up a redwood tree and proceeded to open and close its wings, displaying its striking markings, still too far away to identify perfectly. That’s because there are two species of similar size, […]