Nature Notes
by Bob Thomas

One of the fun summer events is the formation of dragonfly swarms throughout our area, and they are especially enjoyable when close to home, as in our backyards. There are many more dragonflies (called mosquito hawks by many) in summer, in part because they have been breeding successfully so the population builds. Many adults have arrived by migrating back to our neighborhoods, thus supplementing the home-grown numbers.

Nature Notes
by Bob Thomas

One of the most easily recognized insects in our region is the wheel bug, Arilus cristatus. Adults are a little over an inch long, grey to brown, and have a gear-shaped half wheel on their thorax. I’ve always called them Rotary bugs since the structure is reminiscent of the Rotary International emblem.

Nature Notes
by Bob Thomas

One of the most beautiful local butterflies is the Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae. They are now flitting about feeding on the nectar of a variety of flowers and laying their first eggs of the season. When they land to lay an egg or to feed on nectar, they usually fold their wings above the body and reveal silvery-white streaks on their lower wing surfaces.

Nature Notes
by Bob Thomas

The loudest insect in our area is the cicada. It is often erroneously called a locust, but it doesn't hop about as do the grasshoppers and crickets, preferring instead to fly quickly, land, then sit still. Cajuns call them cigale de bois (meaning mosquito hawk of the woods, or cigale de nuit (mosquito hawk of the night).

Nature Notes
by Bob Thomas

The cicada is one of our most common yet innocuous insects that abound in neighborhoods and countryside during the summer. They while away their days singing and breeding, yet from July to September they are savagely attacked by one of our largest native wasps, the cicada killer (Sphecius speciosus).

Nature Notes
by Bob Thomas

Why is it that so many invasive species are icky?

Nature Notes
by Bob Thomas

Summertime in the humid subtropics of south Louisiana marks the arrival of the Devil’s Horses, those large, black “crickets” with yellow or red stripes and normally concealed, but bright red or hot pink wings. The critters are actually southeastern lubber grasshoppers, Romalea microptera, members of the short-horned grasshopper family Acrididae. A popular Louisiana childhood past time before computer games was to harness lubbers to a matchbox and pretend they were horses pulling wagons.

Delta Journal

by Bob Thomas

I awoke early one morning on a small Belizean caye. The air was fresh, the sun was just rising, and I was very comfortable in my nicely screened tent. I stepped outside to stretch, and immediately felt unbearable itchy-stingy sensations on every exposed portion of my body. I was being accosted by zillions of sand flies.

Seconds later, I found my only relief – I was underwater.

Delta Journal
by Bob Thomas

Caterpillars are supposed to be cute little innocuous worms that while away their days munching leaves. Indeed, most are - but some aren’t. A select few pack a walloping surprise for the unsuspecting gardener who touches or rubs against them. Some, like the Tentacled Prominent, exude a creamy fluid that causes a rash. Others have hollow urticating spines connected to venom sacs that cause symptoms ranging from mild pain to anaphylactic shock! Two of the most common in Louisiana are the Saddleback and Pus caterpillars.

Delta Journal
by Bob Thomas

Who among us (at least in certain age cohorts) did not grow up finding a little funnel-shaped dimple in the sand, picking up a twig, gently stirring it around in the dimple, and chanting: “Doodle bug, doodle bug, come up to see me; your house is on fire, your children may burn; doodle bug, doodle bug, come up to see me”?