Bugs and More

Birds, Bugs, Family, Leaf Bug, Reflections,

Hello and welcome.

Yesterday morning I was blessed to be able to spend time with some of my family: my aunt, one of my sisters, two of my daughters and my sister’s granddaughter (my great niece). We met at a local coffee shop and spent at least an hour and a half just drinking lattes and talking.

At one point the conversation turned to bugs. My daughter mentioned that she has been seeing a lot of spiders lately. Then my sister said she had been seeing stink bugs (like the one pictured below).

I agreed about the stink bugs and added that I had been seeing a lot of “those bugs that look like giant mosquitoes” (like the one pictured below).

I have since found out that they are called crane flies, and they seem quite harmless.

My sister then mentioned that she likes seeing leaf bugs. I said I had never heard of leaf bugs, so she described them as looking “just like a leaf”.

“I probably just sweep them off the deck never realizing they are there,” I joked. (These days I’m always sweeping leaves off the deck.)

Later in the day I was on our deck and grabbed the broom to sweep the leaves off. One of the leaves stood out from the rest as it was bright green instead of the browns, yellows, and reds of the rest of the recently fallen leaves.

As I took a closer look, I realized it wasn’t a leaf at all. It was a bug! I grabbed my phone and took a photo. I sent it to my sister who quickly replied, “That’s it.” I am still amazed that the first time I ever saw one of these bugs was when it showed up at my front door just a few hours after my sister was telling me about them.

I did a little research and found out that these bugs are also called Katydids. I have heard of katydids but never knew what they looked like. I do think they are a neat looking bug.

While I had my camera out I was able to get a picture of the squirrel that has been a frequent visitor to our yard and driving Ranger and Ruby crazy.

This black capped chickadee paused in the cherry tree for a minute or two so I could get a couple of pictures

as did this little bird in the picture below.

I’m not sure what kind of bird this is and am hoping some of my smart readers can help me out. Please leave me a comment if you recognize this bird.

Thank for visiting?

Have you ever seen a leaf bug?

22 thoughts on “Bugs and More”

    1. Oh, Nancy, I can’t believe you said that! The only person I ever heard use the word kawinkidink was my dad. In fact I never knew it was a word that other people used. I thought it was just dad’s weird way of saying coincidence. Maybe the katydid at my door was more than just a kawinkidink.💖

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  5. I can’t say I’ve noticed the types of bugs, but something has been eating big holes in some of my plants sporadically all summer – Japanese beetles? maybe as I’ve heard about them. We always have a lot of spiders in the fall.

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  6. Ruth – yes, the leaves are falling fast and furiously, but more brownish leaves right now in this area. I have never seen a Katydid in person, but a fellow blogger had some up-close photos of one they saw on a walk (they live in North Carolina). She photographed it in the woods and when they returned from their day trip, they had a Katydid on their vehicle – she and her husband believe it is the same one. I think they drove 60 miles with this Katydid hanging on for dear life. As for your bird, it is a Nuthatch. I think it is a White-Breasted Nuthatch, although there are Red-Breasted Nuthatches and this one does seem to have a reddish tint on its tummy. I’ve never seen a Red-Breasted Nuthatch around here. Usually, you see Nuthatches creeping headfirst down tree trunks but this one was posing for you!

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      1. They are cute little birds, but always on the move, usually downward. Yes, it was a lucky shot. I was fascinated by how the katydid looks just like a leaf, the walking stick looks like a stick – creatures trying to fool us.

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