December 29, 2024

December is almost over, only a couple or three more months till Spring!  Here is the Pond on December 25, 2024.  

On the 27th.  Completely melted.

And then later the same day.  Can you tell it is raining?

Here we are on December 28.   The fishes at the right are blow-ups of the ones at the left.

Let's look at some of the critters we saw this week.   Number 1 is the nymph (larva) of a Striped Lady Beetle  Cheilomenes propinqua, sent in from Biddy Greene from Cape Town.  It is actually a common Beetle from Portugal to the bottom of Africa.  To see an adult, go to this link:    https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/256255243         But you know we also had some Asian Lady Beetles, especially on the bedroom ceiling.  Here are two shots of one we saw outdoors today.

There are still a lot of Flies, mostly still of genus Trichocera.  I'm not so sure about the middle one here, but its shape looks so much like that of number 1.

Here are some Barklice.  Number 1 is a clear case of Graphopsocus cruciatus, and the little creature on the right of number 2 is a nymph of one, but what is that thing it seems to be holding onto?   A funny thing: the critter in number 2 seems to be upside down, as the antennae are otherwise coming out of the bottom!!!  Last but not least, what is number 3?  Probably an adult G. cruciatus on top and a moult-case on the bottom....

Well, here we are at the end of our weekly show-and-tell.  Please go outside for a while (it was 56 F outside today in Michigan) and think of how we can help the planet to solve its climate problems.   Love, Martha