Example Update Post
Here's an update on some Observations I did this June and July.
When I was at Allerton Park I heard the chorus of periodical cicadas, a rare double or possibly even triple emergence of species on different cycle lengths. The cicadas are a feast for all kinds of predators. I found a soldier bug eating a cicada. Its prey, much bigger than it, was hanging suspended from its piercing mouthpart. Pretty cool!
Also at a schoolyard near my house I saw a hump-backed beewolf on an oak tree. It was very easy to photograph and let me get nice and close.
Later in July I found something very strange in my backyard. My wife Tina actually saw it. She has good eyes! They looked like tiny eggs or something. Using iNaturalist I was able to identify them as a cluster of pupae of wasps. All of them came from a capterpillar. When they get big enough they leave the caterpillar and glue themselves to the leaf and become cocoons. The whole thing is pretty nutso. BugGuide helped me learn more about it.
