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 crickets. Mosquitoes 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.
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- Grasshoppers are considered among “…the oldest living group of chewing herbivorous insects.”
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- The Digger Wasp makes and then covers over tunnels.
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- Digger Wasps are benign insects.
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- Camouflaged all summer, this nest now stands out against the red foliage.
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- These “pretender” lady bugs invade homes each fall.
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- Praying Mantis live in temperate and tropical climates.
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.
Hope you will have some comments regarding box elder bugs! Not my favorite “bug”. Thanks.
Kathleen, they are pesky. One commentator on Iowa Public Radio described them as having “Nowhere to go and all day to get there.” I found out last year that they had infested the indoor plants I had put outside for the summer. Once the leaves and roots were washed and soil was changed they were no longer a problem in the house.
The stink bugs here at The Ridge House off Kelso Mill Road in Bedford County, Virginia, are trying to wiggle their way into our house for the winter. Sorry! Go away! I don’t have nearly as many preying mantis as in past years. However, all the other critters are busy preparing for the coming winter days.