Cicada

Bumper year for cicadas.

As summer winds down, our warm weather has continued in the upper Midwest and insects are having a heyday.  Cicadas still call and Katydids make quite a racket at night. Behind all these summer sounds is the high pitched “cheek-cheek-cheek” of cricketsMosquitoes persist as do any number of tiny biting insects the gravitate to open skin.

Several interesting and helpful insects, however, capture our attention.  Donna, a walker on Rich’s “100th Circuit” walk around Cedar Lake shared pictures of the Digger Wasps  in her yard.  What fascinating insects!

Grasshoppers and Praying Mantis catch our eye because the first can hop incredible distances and the second has such an unusual shape and seem to appear only this time of year. The ubiquitous Asian Lady Beetles that bite and stink and Box Elder Bugs so aptly described as having “no where to go and all day to get there” are massing to enter our warm homes for the winter.

Winding Pathways invites readers to take a few minutes to learn about and then go out and observe these fascinating denizens of late summer and early fall. You Tube has great videos of these insects and we’ve cited several sources above.  We even learned that people can and do eat some of these crunchier critters.