Pollinator Power!

Last week was National Pollinator Week! Michigan State University celebrated with the First Annual Bee-Palooza.  Here is a link to a Michigan Radio story about the event.

We here at Crunchy Segments are big-time supporters of pollinators!  Go Bees! and Butterflies and Bats and Beetles and Flies and etc...!

Insect Flower Parties

Here are some pictures that I took on a recent visit to the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Iowa. Many different kinds of insects visit flowers for a variety of reasons.  They might be eating the pollen or nectar that the flower produces. They also might be eating other insects on the flower. Of course some of the insects on flowers will be feeding on the flower itself or laying eggs there so that their larvae can feed on the flower. Flowers can also be important meeting places for insects looking for potential mates. I'm not sure which of these activities are going on in the photos, but it can be fun to try to figure it out.

Compost helpers!

Found this soldier fly swarming around our compost bucket!

It might be this species, but its hard to know for sure.  They were too busy flying around and chasing each other to pose for a good photo.  As you might remember from a previous post, some soldier flies are very helpful when it comes to processing our food waste. Thanks guys!

Peek-a-boo!

This is a leaf roller larva (caterpillar) that we found on an ash tree over memorial day weekend.  It has used silk produced by specialized mouthparts to tie the leaf together.  This protects it from predators while it feeds on the leaves. I had to peel apart the leaves very carefully to take this photo. 

This is what the leaves looked like before I pulled them apart.