American poet Karl Shapiro begins his poem “The Fly” with the address, “O hideous little bat, the size of snot.” No other group of animals is as reviled as flies. Annually, members of the order Diptera account for millions of human deaths through diseases they spread. The ones that pester, infect and disgust us are really only […]
wasps
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HumBug: Beacon Islands on a Dreary Day
It was sunny when I went to get my hiking boots but by the time I got dressed and out the door, it was 49 degrees and drizzling. I went anyway. The path down to the river was dark, the only sounds were the gentle “pok, pok” of water dripping from branches. The burning in […]
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HumBug: Gold Diggers
In more than 300, trips I have yet to go on a walk down to the Van Duzen River and not see something interesting. Today was no exception. Because I got a late start I expected all the dragonflies to be perched high up in trees for the night. The puddle I’ve been watching had […]
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HumBug: Scary Scenarios
If you like the Alien movies with Sigourney Weaver, you’ll love the solitary wasps. Take one of my favorites, Eumenes, the potter wasp. She flies up and down tiny branches, diligently seeking small caterpillars. When she finds one she darts down, grabs it and paralyzes it with a sting. Once it’s immobilized, she takes it to […]
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HumBug: Gardeners’ Woes
Standing up to work the kinks out of my back brought on by bowing in submission to the dandelions, oxalis, and the nameless red-stemmed running weed among my strawberry plants, a tiny flash of orange caught my eye. When it landed in a nearby pear tree, I saw how its red and black elytra covered […]
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HumBug: Solitary Wasps
Working in my garden, I noticed a small blue black wasp flicking its shiny wings as it dashed across the dirt, searching here and there. I can hazard a guess as to what it was looking for: a spider. Much has been written about the social wasps and their organization, diligence and sacrifice for the […]