cicada — 2014 — The 21st Century Matriarch

2014 07 clip s img_8307.jpg — Sometimes bugs can be annoying…but they are often intriguing to watch.

2014 07 clip img_9130.jpg — Sometimes they are relatively still. Maybe it is a little cool or they are waiting for prey.

The bugs that are loving my zucchini plants way too much are annoying but have a certain beauty as they proliferate and march over the leaves. Note the size variation in this group!

Some bugs are noticeable by the way they move. Water striders sit quietly on the top of the water…only noticed when they suddenly move.

The pollinators are busy on the flowers.

Some bugs are busy creating the next generation.

Spiders are easily disturbed. This one scurried up one of the securing silks of his web to the pipe when I got a little to close trying to take his picture!

The cicada was a little confused. It was on the ground and allowed itself to be gently picked up….eventually flying backup into the trees.

As one of my first projects after cleaning up my old microscope, I decided to look at some insect wings I had found in my yard last summer: a cicada and butterfly. I posted about the cicada back in August shortly after I found it in the grass. The wing was the only part of the butterfly I found; the rest of the insect must have been dinner for some other creature. Both wings had some dust accumulated but made easy subjects. I looked at them with the magnifying glass first - in the same way I had looked at the peacock feathers last week.

The framework of the cicada wing near where it joined the body of the cicada was a nice green color and looked very sturdy in the magnifying glass (image above). When I looked at it with the microscope, bristles were evident and the color became even more sticking (three levels of magnification below).

The structure of the butterfly wing using the magnifying glass was just barely evident(image below). It already does not look as smooth as a butterfly wing observed without magnification.