Closed for June 4 – A Potpourri of Invertebrates

Howdy, BugFans,

June is waning, and pretty soon the BugLady will have to stop eating chocolates and watching soaps and get up off the couch and start writing. Actually, with a way warmer and wetter June than normal (more than 7” of rain at the BugLady’s house for the month), the trail hasn’t been as much fun as usual, and the bugs are slow to reappear (not surprisingly, she has gotten some nice dragonfly shots).

So – your reading list for the week includes bumble bees, butterflies, leeches, and spiders.

Jorō Spiders are sandwich plate-sized immigrants from East Asia that are making themselves at home in parts of the eastern part of the country. Although they are startling (to say the least), they are reportedly benign. It will be a while before they get here to God’s Country, but here’s one of our larger spiders, a slightly-related Black and Yellow Argiope/Garden spider.

Bumble bees play soccer.

And they are specialized pollinators.

And leeches leap.

And Painted Lady butterflies are big-time travelers, which was determined by an analysis of their pollen.

Stay cool,

The BugLady

Bees, bugs, bumble bees, Butterflies, Dragonflies, insects, Jorō Spiders, leeches, Painted Lady butterflies, pollinators, Spiders

About the BugLady

The BugLady (aka Kate Redmond) is an Environmental Educator who has been having “close encounters” with insects all her life. She has worked and/or volunteered at Lac Lawrann Conservancy in West Bend, the Mequon Nature Preserve, and Riveredge Nature Center near Newburg and spoken at other area Nature Centers. At Riveredge, she has had the wonderful assignment of being the “sturgeon paparazza” at their annual sturgeon release. She leads field trips in the Cedarburg Bog, is a founding member of the Friends of the Cedarburg Bog, and is a current Board member of the Lake Michigan Bird Observatory. When she’s not appreciating insects, she’s enjoying prairies and wetlands.

Her 40 year addiction to photography is (almost) her only vice. She's gone through a number of cameras in the last 40 years, and now she packs a Pentax K-70 with a 70 mm macro lens.

The BugLady is a Wisconsin native, presently living in Sheboygan County. Most of the photos in Bug of the Week were taken in southeastern Wisconsin. Her Mission Statement is “Less stepping on bugs.”