After almost five years doing a weekly blog it had to happen. With rainy, cold weather and the fact that over the last several years I’ve already written about most of the noteworthy entomological subjects hereabouts, this week I didn’t see any new critters worth photographing or writing about. So I think I’ll do what […]
glow worms
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Best of the Bugs
After almost five years doing a weekly blog it had to happen. With rainy, cold weather and the fact that over the last several years I’ve already written about most of the noteworthy entomological subjects hereabouts, this week I didn’t see any new critters worth photographing or writing about. So I think I’ll do what […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Preserved for Posterity
I recently did something I haven’t done in a long time. I went looking for glow worms in my backyard. Locally I’ve found them to be amazingly common in the leaf litter beneath our local redwoods but lately they had been absent from our usual haunts. This time though, I was greeted by at least […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: New Neighbors
Late the other evening, my wife and I went out for a walk. Along the road we saw several large shiny brown millipedes. In the middle of the road, apparently investigating a smeared member of that species, was something that at first looked like a slightly smaller one. On closer inspection, it was something completely […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Rainy Day Locals
Head’s up: It’s tick season again. It seems they like damp weather. My archives show photos of them primarily in April to May and December to January. In the last week, I’ve pulled one off a dog and one off a friend who had one on her arm. Even if you haven’t been outdoors where […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Seasons Change, Bugs Change
Following up on last week’s post of photos of the American rubyspot (Hetaerina americana) male, I decided to try to get a better shot of the wings. Relying on the fact that this species is extremely territorial, I found him in exactly the same spot. This time I got closer and waited until he flew […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: The Return of Old Friends
Tonight, following our second rain of the season, I went out, camera in hand, looking for one of my favorite insects. Pterotus obscurripinis, our local glow worm. They hide in the ground all summer long awaiting the wet season. Serious snail hunters, they feed on some of our smaller local native land snails and slugs. […]
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HumBug: Glow Worm vs. Snail
Tonight I counted four glow worms (Pterotus intergrippinis) under my redwood trees. I have counted as many as 27 in the leaf litter beneath my small 20-foot-by-50-foot grove (roughly 1/50th of an acre.) The first ones I ever saw were beneath redwoods at Grizzly Creek Campground. So far I’ve seen them in every grove I’ve […]
Posted inNews
HumBug: Look What the Rains Brought
As the seasons change, the macro invertebrate fauna (aka bugs) change. It’s November, and it finally rained at my house. At night when my dogs take me out for a walk I’m finally seeing my long awaited friends, the glow worms. Rapacious slug hunters, these little firefly relatives are usually found on the ground amongst […]
Posted inNews
HumBug: New Spirals
I think the best and most frustrating thing about nature study is that one thing almost always leads to several more, and each one of those leads to still more. I have a particular fondness for glowing things, especially our local glow worms, Pterotus obscuripinnes. Studying them I learned they feed almost exclusively on small […]