Thank a Strider!

  It seems strange to me that vultures get such a bad rap and folks find them disgusting.  Face it.  The birds do us a huge favor by cleaning up roadkill.  It is their nature to circle an area until they find the opportune moment to swoop down and feed.  Turkey vultures have a keen sense of smell that leads them to dead animals.  Black vultures' sense of smell is not nearly as good so they have learned to follow the turkey vultures to a kill.  Both types will follow predators around and simply steal the prey if given the opportunity.  The sheer number of vultures approaching is often enough to intimidate a small predator into giving up its supper.  These birds are sort of the garbagemen of the avian world. Without them, we would find far more dead critters about the place. The vultures do a grand job of cleaning up what others leave behind.

  This all leads me to what I call "pond vultures".  These are not birds but rather insects.  Pond skippers, pond skimmers, water walkers, Jesus bugs or water striders...call them what you will but they are pretty much the vultures of the pond.  They clean up the place.  The water striders eat anything that hits the water.  Let the surface wiggle just a bit and dozens of the striders will scurry across the top of the water to investigate.  If it is what they deem edible, the bugs will immediately set to work devouring their prize.  One big difference between the striders and vultures is that the striders will also take live prey and will attack an insect that is much larger than themselves.  Here again, the numbers are the key.  Let a larger insect alight on the water's surface and dozens upon dozens of the striders will launch an attack.  

  With all of the rain for the past few days, the water striders are not only busy in the Frog Pond, they are occupying puddles.  Any standing water is home to these critters which is a good thing as they eat a lot of mosquito larvae which also dwell in any standing water.  The "pond vultures" are not choosy!  So, if you see one of these critters, let them live and even thank them that there are a few less mosquitoes biting you!