Here’s an attractive little true bug that I found crawling on the outside wall of the garage on May 19, 2013
Its jet-black body with white trim running around the edges and down the legs is quite elegant, don’t you think?
In 2013, it took until May 15 for the pond in the woods out back to thaw enough to go netting for aquatic insects. One kind that is easy to find early in the season, is these caddisfly larvae. These three were in a single scoop of the net. The bottom of that pond must be absolutely crawling with them.
So here we are, back in Michigan. On May 17, 2013 we decided to have another look at the contents of the little pond back in the woods. So, we were poking around on the shore, and Sandy spotted an odd orange object in the weeds. Which we promptly netted, and found to be – A Leech! A big one!
Tasmania – Fossil Bluff, and Heading Home Again
And then, it was time to go home. The airport in Wynyard turns out to be just a few miles from another interesting beach, so we left a bit early so we could visit Fossil Bluff. This is a rocky beach, with a big cliff exposed to the waves.
Of course, in addition to taking pictures of various invertebrates, I photographed a lot of other things, of which I only have room for a few here. One thing that is particularly notable, is how much better trees grow in Tasmania than here in northern Michigan. For example: this is one of the pines my Dad planted around 1984, and it is just a bit over 30 years old:
For comparison, here’s a selfie of me with one of the pines in the plantation behind our house here in Michigan. It is also about 30 years old:
Tasmania – Stanley Beach, and Crabs
For our third trip to a beach, my parents’ friend Amanda took Sam and me to the beach near Stanley, right next to The Nut (on the opposite side of the peninsula from Seven-Mile Beach)
This beach is distinctly different from the other two: it is less protected than Seven-Mile Beach, so it doesn’t have the sheer number of shells, but it isn’t as wind-blasted as the beaches on the west coast, so some things that are a bit on the fragile side can actually survive. It was the most conventional-looking beach of the three.
So, to wrap up the things that were in and around the blueberry patch: First, here’s another cockroach. This time I’ve got the full length antennae in the picture.
Given that it was nowhere near the house, I think it is safe to say that this is one of the species that prefers the outdoors.
As a contrast to the calm, protected, shell-covered Seven-Mile Beach, the next day we went to one of the beaches on the west coast. The contrast was striking.
The creatures posted so far that I found in the blueberry mulch are mostly mild-mannered detrivores, eating various bits of rotting things. But, there are others there to feed on the detrivores. Like this rather pretty little cobweb-weaver spider:
My parents’ blueberry patch is in a swamp, very wet and lush. It is, quite literally, a jungle down there. Filled with plants that like it wet, like this “manfern” [1].
There is also a lot of what is locally known as “tea-tree”, which ranges in size from a scrubby little bush to fairly substantial trees. The bark is shaggy and kind of peels away from the trunk in big sheets.