The End of Summer
Howdy, BugFans, Well, we’re into October. The BugLady is still seeing and hearing lots of bugs as she makes her way to the hawk tower, where she counts migrating raptors from a perch 10 feet off the ground. Most of the …
insects
Cottonwood Leaf Beetle
Howdy, BugFans, The BugLady was out taking pictures on the beach when she spied this spiffy Cottonwood leaf beetle, a member of the very large (probably 50,000 species worldwide) leaf beetle family Chrysomelidae). It was actually a few feet away from …
Mid-summer Stories
Howdy, BugFans, It’s August!!! Or, to put it another way, it’s August – yikes! Halfway(ish) through summer. Here are some of the sights that the BugLady has enjoyed so far. Many of these have already starred in a BOTW of their very own – …
Bronze Jumping Spider
Howdy, BugFans, On a walk at Spruce Lake Bog in May, the BugLady spied this Bronze jumping spider (Eris militaris, in the family Salticidae) (thanks, Mike) sitting on an unfolding alder leaf. He spied her, gave her a firm look and …
Deer Fly at Last
Howdy, BugFans, Way back in 2008, deer flies appeared briefly (two paragraphs) in a BOTW episode called “A few Flies,” sharing the spotlight with mosquitoes and horse flies. Amazingly, that’s the only time deer flies have appeared in BOTW, and …
Ants 101 Rerun
Howdy, BugFans, 2025: This episode is a Golden Oldie, first/last posted in 2008. Despite her feelings of ambivalence about ants, the BugLady continues to photograph and write about them. See https://uwm.edu/field-station/bug-of-the-week/flying-ants/, https://uwm.edu/field-station/bug-of-the-week/the-ants-of-cesa/, and https://uwm.edu/field-station/bug-of-the-week/western-thatch-ant/, and more. For this rerun, the BugLady added a bunch of random …
Comet Darner Dragonfly
Note: All links leads to an external site. Greetings, BugFans, The Holidays are hurtling toward us at an astonishing speed, so the BugLady figured that a Christmas green and red dragonfly would be fitting. It’s one that she’s seen, all too …
And Now for Something a Little Different XVIII – Red-breasted Mergansers
Note: All links leads to an external site. Howdy BugFans, Perched, as she is, on the rim of the Lake Michigan, the BugLady has a front row seat for the activities of the Lake and its residents (and, of course, …
Blue Blow Fly
Howdy BugFans, It’s gotten cold here in God’s Country – abruptly – with overnight lows in the high teens/low twenties, and daytime highs below freezing. The water in the birdbath froze solid for a few nights in a row before the …
Little Yellow Butterfly
Howdy, BugFans, When the BugLady was on the trail recently, a small, yellow butterfly flew by, just above the ground. It was noticeably smaller than the ubiquitous Orange and Clouded Sulphurs, but it zipped out of sight pretty fast. Mike Reese, …