Corn-Fed Caterpillars

We had been warned that Silver Queen is about the only way to go when growing sweet corn here, but we were given some Super Sweet seed and so we planted it. It started out OK, but two weeks ago,  B pulled it all out to stop the spread of caterpillars.

We had tried dusting, but the caterpillars were deep into the corn. It was totally eaten up.

The culprit: some kind of cutworm, I think. Cutworms also destroy tomatoes. So far they are not a problem on ours.

The corn was just a mess.

What a shame.

Mailbox Monday: Muffler Man

A prickly situation, even for the Man of Steel.

Doesn’t he just look exhausted?

8^)

Stay Out of Our Garden!

And the worst is…..we saw TWO!

Beautiful Begonia

We have had this begonia for a number of years. After we built the screen porch, we moved it out there, except for the winter when it mostly resided in the (warmer) garage.

Boy, is it happy! Each leaf is bigger than my hand and it has been blooming for weeks.

Katydid Like the Truck

 

There are about 250 different  species of katydids in North America and others around the world. The males call loudly to attract females during summer evenings. As with crickets, the air temperature can be determined by carefully counting the calls in a minute and then using a little formula. Upon hearing the calls with ears in their front LEGS(!) the females merely chirp in response and seek out a male whose call has that certain appeal.  Interestingly, her body temperature and his have to be the same, or she does not recognize him as one of her own kind. Katydids usually eat plant material, sometimes nectar and pollen and, occasionally, are carnivores of other insects, snails ---and even lizards and snakes. In Uganda, they are known as bush-crickets and are consumed by hungry people.

Katydids can bite, so be gentle --or simply watch.

Fiddlin’ Around

On Saturday we took a drive to the lighthouse and found the road had fiddler crabs running all around in great numbers. None of my shots on the asphalt were worth showing: they were running from me!

This pair of laughing gulls were dining on some. I was surprised there were not more birds with the same idea.

“Oh, look, honey! Our supper is here!”

All of the ones I ended up photographing are males. They have the one large claw which they wave, giving them their name. They also use it for combat.

Pretty little purple spot:

This one was dark, almost black on top.

Batman?

Yo! Yoda!

And the gulls just kept laughing!

Mouths to Feed

A Carolina wren has made a nest in the potted plant by our front door. They are all pretty much fuzz and mouths at this point. I have yet to hear the babies, but they are in there and still blind. I counted four mouths open before I got the picture.