Orthoptera

I'll admit it right up front: these are not my photos.  I'm all in for the whole bug-catching thing, I am.  And I don't mind one bit that I have an entire collection of creepy/fascinating living things on my kitchen counter, right there where I chop my tomatoes and butter my toast, the praying mantis twisting its little head around watching every move I make, lick-lick-licking himself like a tiny, scheming cat....  No, I don't mind that one bit.  But I've got to draw the line somewhere, and a photoshoot with a grasshopper ready to spring, that's my somewhere.  I like a nice mason jar between me and my bugs.  You want wicked cool backyard bug photos?  Go visit Liz.  She's good like that.  Now that said, I give you the current residents of my kitchen counter (and yes, they have pet names):

We've got Hopper

Manty

Kate

The ants (no names)

Dinner for Manty (No names here either. That just seems wrong.)

Ick

Sphinx

Baby Sphinx

And even Speckles

All on the kitchen counter.  Right now.  We have read a lot about latin names and thoraxes and orders and larvae and amazing diets...  Some of these little (big!) friends we will release after watching for an hour or a day or two.  Some, like our Baby Sphinx, we intend to keep for awhile.  Just yesterday we watched our caterpillar burrow down into his jar of earth to make his chrysalis cocoon.  We have put dark paper around the jar in hopes that he will settle right up against the glass.  We also watched Manty bite the head off a small grasshopper.  All very cool. 

In closing, I have just two things to say: 
1. Caterpillars make a lot of poop.
2. I am sort of glad autumn is upon us.  Bugs are soooo much smaller in the spring.

On the table tonight: More corn on the cob, garden tomatoes, squash, salad...and maybe our first canteloupe! Woo!

Photo credits:
1. http://www.grasshoppercontrol.com/
2. http://www.naturesbestcreations.com/
3. http://unmuchodetodo.blogspot.com/
4. http://www.livescience.com/
5. http://www.utextension.utk.edu/
6. http://outernode.pir.sa.gov.au/
7. http://lifeinthebigtree.wordpress.com/
8. http://flickr.com/photos/quizicalcat/2539290792/
9. http://www.daylife.com/photo/07d6g9p9d216v

Comments

[gardenmama]

my family and i are watching a grasshopper out in our yard, it appears she is giving birth? so he i am trying to google it to find out more information and i was brought to your blog : ) i see in your sidebar that we enjoy many of the same blogs! hehe back to google and to check in on the grasshopper. nice to find your blog in the process!!

[Kimberly]

Once again sorry about the Speckles incident.

[dona]

I hate to be redundant but once again there are no words except for "WOW"! (That's a very loud and deeply impressed wow in case you were wondering.)

[Thimbleanna]

Ewwwww! On the other hand ... dinner sure sounds good. I'm relieved to know that none of those bugs were part of the menu LOL!

[Linn]

Ha! The comment about the caterpillar poop cracks me up, because I blogged this summer about the creatures my little guys captured so enthusiastically, but ended up meeting their demise in a bug box in our backyard. No, I'm not proud of it.

[Liz]

OK, I can't spell - I meant school YARD!

[Liz]

Aaaawwwww shucks...

Those are great photos you found. Those pet names are great. We found a mantis in the school year yesterday...They are are neat to watch.