Spiders are amazing.
Tree Crickets Mating
Over the last few days, I have observed the mating of tree crickets.
The male has translucent teardrop-shaped fore wings. The female has narrow fore wings that wrap closely around the back of her body.
I have mostly found the tree crickets on blackberry canes. Where I have found them mating, the female has laid her eggs in the cane. I see that she chews through the outer part of the stem and makes a small hole. I read that she puts excrement in the hole, lays her eggs and then coats them with a secretion. I broke part of the stem open at one of these egg-laying locations. Inside there were three slender, tubular eggs.
The Himalayan blackberries have excessively spread throughout the arboretum. It is a small consolation to know that tree crickets are using the blackberry canes as a place to lay their eggs for future generations.
I also found them mating and laying eggs on a small Oregon ash sapling, as you can see in the last two photos below.
Tree Cricket Singing
The melodious songs of tree crickets can be heard gently ringing through the air at the arboretum. The notes are crisp and refreshing. Its soothing rhythm flows softly across the landscape like a gentle stream. Its reverberant sound calms the spirit. It’s magical.
Woolly Aphids
As I walked along the lily pond trail, rays of sunlight shined through the trees illuminating miniature, fuzzy orbs floating up into the sky. A woolly aphid has a fibrous, white covering. It resembles a fluffy cotton ball as it flies through the air. It is mating season, and today was the perfect day to find a mate in the warm, fall sun.
At one point, I found myself in a whirlwind of songbirds darting about foraging on the aphids. It was a mixed flock of chickadees, ruby-crowned kinglets, golden-crowned kinglets, bushtits, Bewick’s wrens, and brown creepers. They were foraging from slightly off the ground all the way up into the tree canopy.
A runner coming down the trail saw me taking photos and stopped to silently watch all of the birds. Sometimes they were only a few feet away as they flitted through the underbrush gleaning aphids off the foliage or catching them out of the air. After about five minutes, he smiled and waved as he continued on his run.
Ancient Writings
I found a charred script that was exquisitely carved on a weathered, ashen canvas. They are ancient symbols communicating a message of the inscrutable depths and layers of life. It’s a reminder of the mystery of life and the vastness of all that is unknown and unknowable.
Subterranean Termite
Last night I awoke to the sounds of rain drops pattering on the dusty window sill. I opened the window and the sweet smell of the earth breathing a sigh of relief came rushing inside. I wondered about what new life would awaken out of the slumber of late summer.
As I wandered around the arboretum, curtains of rain showers continued to sweep the day. During one of the intermissions, I heard the soft, whistling calls of a flock of cedar waxwings. When I walked out to an opening by the river, I saw them swooping out and back from a small tree. As I got closer I could see a fluttering of insects slowly taking flight off the ground.
Termites were emerging from a small hole and gathering together in a small cluster. Their wings were delicate and fresh with an opalescent luminance. As they took to the air, their flight was a white, wispy dance. As they silently floated skyward, it felt like a dream. They seemed more spirit than an animate creature of this world.
Praying Mantis
While walking along the south meadow, I saw a creature launch, fluttering and flapping out of the grass. As it propelled itself through the air, it reminded me of some whirligig invented in the initial days of flight exploration. I watched as it leap-frogged its way across the landscape. It was very noticeable while flying, but as soon as it landed, it quickly blended in with its surroundings.
Well-camouflaged to their environment, mantids are ambush predators. They wait motionless or slowly stalk their prey. This creature gets its name from holding its fore legs in a prayerful pose. These legs are armed with barbs that can snare an unsuspecting insect. They strike with lightning speed, and once in their grasp, their powerful mouthparts easily pierce through the armored exoskeleton. I’ve watched them munch and crunch a grasshopper effortlessly. I read that they are voracious eaters, even going so far as being cannibalistic! The female often devours the male after mating. I also read that as they emerge as tiny mantids in the spring, they will sometimes eat each other. It is easy to see why gardeners employ these amazing creatures to help keep other critters eating their garden in balance.
California Sister
I stood out in the main meadow just beyond the White Oak Pavilion and watched this butterfly as it flew in and out of the outer branches of the oak trees.
Although it has quite a bumpy, meandering flight pattern, it seems like it has a territory. There was a breeze swirling about and small, brown oak leaves were floating and tumbling through the air. Amusingly, if one of the leaves fluttered into the butterfly’s airspace, it would swoop over to it as if to warn the intruder. Even dragonflies would be paid a visit if they came into its domain.
I loved watching the flash of its bold orange and white markings. It is a fairly quick flyer and a little tricky to follow as it weaves through the landscape. It would only light somewhere for a few seconds, which made getting a photo pretty tricky. However, it occasionally paused on these overripe blackberries for a minute or so to eat. In my research I found that rotting fruit is part of their diet. So look for a patch of blackberries along the edge of the oak savanna. This is a good place to try and get a good look at them as they momentarily pause to eat. Good luck.
Black-and-yellow Argiope
Spiders are magical creatures. They have organs called spinnerets that produce silk. This amazing material is used very creatively in the world of spiders. The most obvious use is that it can be used to build webs like the circular construction of this orb-weaver. Their silk is also used for swathing prey that gets caught in the web and to make sacs to encase the spider eggs. In a process called ballooning or parachuting, some spiders will release silk that can be caught by the wind which allows them to float into the air. I read a National Geographic article that said ballooning spiders have been found more than two miles high and thousands of miles out at sea! Spider webs are strong, stretchy, sticky and very versatile. Many birds will collect them and use them in building their nests.
The spider in the photos is the female. The males are smaller with brownish legs and less yellow coloration on their abdomens. The male seeks out a female and plucks at her web during courting. After mating, the female fills a spherical sac with a tough, brown papery covering. She attaches it to one side of the web close to resting position, then dies. Eggs hatch in the autumn, young overwinter in the sac and then disperse in the spring.
References:
Milne, Lorus and Margery. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects & Spiders. New York, Knopf, 1996.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/spiderwebs-explained
Velvet Ant
Confusingly, velvet ants are actually wasps. The velvet part of their name refers to their dense, hairy bodies. They are bright colors of orange, red or yellow. The females lack wings and the males are fully winged. Adults feed on nectar and water. The larvae of most species are parasites of larvae and pupae of bees and wasps that nest in the ground. Some species will parasitize flies and beetles.
They prefer open fields or pastures, and I usually come across a female out in the south meadow along the road that goes out to the river. They seem to be always moving and vigorously searching through the vegetation. They are a solitary wasp and don’t seem aggressive. That said, be warned that the female can deliver a painful sting, so be careful when observing them.
Yellow-spotted Millipede
Firstly, I thought I got a better photo of this shiny, armored creature as it moved across my path. Nevertheless, I wanted to write about it hoping its amazingness would overcome the photo until I can take better one.
The yellow-spotted millipede, Harpaphe haydeniana, is also known as the almond-scented millipede or the cyanide millipede. It is an aposematic species — the black body with bold yellow spots signals predators of its potentially harmful toxicity. When they feel threatened they will curl up into a spiral and secrete hydrogen cyanide which has the scent of toasted almonds. This is toxic to small predators, but is not dangerous to humans as the amount of cyanide is small.
They are detritivores which means they feed on the dead leaves and wood of the forest floor. I read that they eat 33 to 50 percent of all coniferous and deciduous leaf litter. As they chew, digest and excrete the leaf litter it makes valuable nutrients available to other organisms in the ecosystem.
I am looking forward to researching more about the life of this incredible organism and its importance to the health and well-being of our forests.
Dragonflies
This beautifully flaming-red dragonfly looks like it was born from the breath of fire. Darting about the wetlands, it liked to perch on the oxidizing cables of the bridge over the lily pond.
Dragonflies are amazing fliers. They seem to be darting in every direction as they sweep the landscape catching insects and/or guarding their territory.
According to the Smithsonian, dragonflies are the fastest flying Insect as they are known to travel at the speed of 35 miles an hour. Coupled with their speed is their incredible maneuverability. Each of their four wings is controlled by separate muscles which allows them to swiftly change course in any direction or hover in place.
The adults have eyes that cover most of their head which gives a great range of sight for detecting prey and predators.
Both the aquatic nymphs and the flying adults are skilled at catching insects. They are known to eat many mosquitos — the dragonfly would have been a fitting tattoo and totem animal for my dad who cursed “the bloodsucking varmints,” especially when he was fishing.
Cicadas
There are a few cicadas that can be heard buzzing out at the arboretum. Their sound evokes the long, sun-drenched days of summertime, in which, you want to while away the hot afternoons lounging in the shade by the river.
I found this small explanation on Britannica’s website about their sound: “Cicadas are able to produce these sounds because they possess an organ that is almost unique among insects, the tymbal organ. Each male cicada has a pair of these circular ridged membranes on the back and side surface of the first abdominal segment. Contraction of a tymbal muscle attached to the membrane causes it to bend, producing a clicking sound. The tymbal springs back when the muscle is relaxed. The frequency of the contractions of the tymbal muscle range from 120 to 480 times a second, which is fast enough to make it sound continuous to the human ear. Cicadas also have air sacs that have resonant frequencies comparable to tymbal vibration frequencies, thus amplifying the sound and producing that crescendo of high-pitched buzzing that is the characteristic sound of late summer.”
Speckled Oak Galls
Gall wasps lay their eggs on the underside of the Oregon white oak leaves. When the egg hatches, larvae produce a substance that induces swelling in plant tissues and forms a gall. It protects the larvae as it matures and provides food.
This tree next to the White Oak Pavilion has an abundance of galls growing on the leaves. They are yellow with red speckles and turn an amber color as they age. They have paper thin shells and glow in the late afternoon sunlight. These beautiful ornaments don’t harm the tree. Chickadees will soon start opening them and eating the larvae inside.
Spittlebugs
This small insect gets it name from the frothy, bubbly “spittle” it produces to make its home. The horticulture extension at the University of Wisconsin-Madison describes the process: “They produce the frothy mixture by mixing air with fluid excretions, but not out their mouth, so it technically isn’t spit. The immature bugs feed face down on the stem, and as excess sap is excreted out the anus, it is mixed with a substance secreted by epidermal glands that enhances surface viscosity and stabilizes the foam to make it last longer. This mixture is forced out of the abdomen under pressure and as it is mixed with air, it forms bubbles. Some species can produce as many as 80 bubbles per minute.”
At this stage, spittlebugs are in their nymphal form. This foamy mass attached to a plant stem hides it from predators, insulates it from extreme temperatures and keeps it from drying out. For food, both the nymph and the adult pierce the stems of plants and suck the sap.
I chased one out of its spittle that was attached to a stalk of grass and took a couple of photos. It crawled up the stem and immediately began to make bubbles. You can see that it is getting close to becoming an adult. The adult stage of the spittlebug is often called a froghopper. It has powerful, springy back legs for leaping and their faces somewhat resemble a frog. They have wings but they rarely fly.
There is only one generation each year. The nymphal stage lasts about 6 to 8 weeks and the adults emerge in late spring to early summer. In late summer to fall the females will lay eggs that will over winter. When they hatch in the spring, we will see the white, foam attached to plant stems again.
Spittlebugs and leafhoppers resemble each other and are related. Leafhoppers generally are smaller and more slender than spittlebugs. The adults will be springing into action soon, and I’ll be trying to tune in my awareness to find them. Maybe they’ll sit still for a photo.
Tiger Swallowtail
This butterfly bebops around the landscape as if the musical notes of Charlie Parker are its driver.
As it flutters about in its happy-go-lucky way, it flashes its colorful cloak.
It rarely seems to want to land, and when it does, it is not for long. I fortuitously captured this photo as it momentarily paused on an oak leaf. I saw it stop by the flower umbel of a cow parsnip today for a brief sip of nectar.
I’m looking forward to continuing to watch this beautiful creature.
Sawflies & Bracken Ferns
There is a small wetland area out at the arboretum known as The Seeps. I was out there the other day, and I came across all of these small creatures dancing around in the sunlight that was breaking through the clouds. They were in this patch of bracken ferns that were sprouting up and beginning to unfurl. Periodically they would land and deposit eggs. I don’t know if they were laying the eggs on the fronds or piercing part of the plant and laying them inside. Trying to capture a photo was a little challenging. They are sensitive to movement, and they are small. After awhile I managed to take a couple of photos. A knowledgeable friend of mine identified them as sawflies. I found a photo of the species Strongylogaster distans Norton, and it seemed like a good match.
Observing these small creatures reminded me that there is an entire world occurring mostly unnoticed. Reading on the website of the Smithsonian, it says that there are some 900,000 different kinds of living insects known in the world (approx. 91,000 in the United States). It is estimated that there are somewhere between 2 - 30 million yet to be discovered. Additionally, insects probably have the largest biomass of the terrestrial animals. Apparently it has been calculated that “at any time, it is estimated that there are some 10 quintillion (10,000,000,000,000,000,000) individual insects alive.” This is blowing my mind.
Read this brief article published on the Smithsonian’s website. It’s awesome.
https://www.si.edu/spotlight/buginfo/bugnos
Moth - Ctenucha Rubroscapus
The seeps are a small wetland habitat along the road out to the old quarry. Recently out there, I found a few of these caterpillars grazing on green, round vegetation that I think might be a type of sedge. They were all out at the tip, moving down the stalk as they ate. I am always delighted to find the larva stage of a moth or butterfly, because I feel that they can be tricky to locate. In my readings, I found that many species have specific host plants and habitats. So hopefully this knowledge can help guide me in my future searches for moths and butterflies.
Moths at rest do not press their wings together vertically above their bodies. Rather, they hold their wings flat over their abdomens in a near horizontal position. Most are active at night and are well camouflaged to avoid predation during the day.
Adult (Ctenucha Rubroscapus): Wingspan 4.5 centimeters. Wings black, edged with white distally. Thorax black, laterally with two red longitudinal lines, prothorax with a red apical patch. Head red and black. Abdomen iridescent blue.
Ctenucha Rubroscapus
I found this resource online to identify the species of caterpillar:
https://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/technology/pdfs/FHTET_03_11.pdf
Lepidoptera of the Pacific Northwest: Caterpillars and Adults
Jeffrey C. Miller
Department of Rangeland Resources, Oregon State University
Paul C. Hammond
Department of Zoology, Oregon State University
Goldenrod Spider
I noticed that small samaras were starting to emerge out of the flowers of the bigleaf maple, and I went over to have a closer look. I saw a dead bee in the flower cluster, and I realized that a spider was holding on to the end of it.
The goldenrod spider doesn’t spin a web to catch its prey, it uses the tactic of camouflage. It patiently waits on a flower to ambush an unsuspecting insect, such as a bee foraging for nectar. It has a unique ability to change colors depending on which flower it is hiding on. It can either be white like the petals of a daisy or it can turn yellow to blend in with the flowers of a goldenrod. The process of changing colors isn’t instantaneous, it takes days to accomplish.
It is also known as goldenrod crab spider because it holds its legs out to the side like a crab as it waits on a flower.
Goldenrod Spider (Misumena vatia)
Beetle
I saw this beetle yesterday and thought of this poem by Pablo Neruda.
Beetle
I went to the beetle
with my question about life:
the rites of his autumn,
his linear armor.
I hunted him down in the lost lakes
of the black south of my country.
I found him in the volcano’s
malevolent ash,
or followed the fall of his roots
into innermost darkness.
How did you work those hard things?
Your zinc eyes and your necktie?
Your cast-iron trousers?
Your contradictory scissors?
Your gold ridges, the tongs of your claws?
What resins could ripen
the incandescence of your kind?
For myself I ask only
a scarab’s heart
to push past the densities
and sign my name’s secret
in the death of the wood.
(Who knows? My name might take on
new life, turn to the light
new channels in midnight,
come out at the opposite end of the tunnel
with the other wings waiting their turn?)
What is prettier than you,
beetle, inscrutably mute,
priest of the roots,
rhinoceros of dew,
I said. He said nothing.
I asked. He said nothing.
There’s a beetle for you.
— Pablo Neruda
(Translated by Ben Belitt)