Arrival of the Toads

  To me, there is nothing better than spying a couple of toads in the gardens.  I try to leave their "dens" (small dugout cubbies) so the critters feel at ease and will continue to reside amongst the vegetable plants and flowers.  Their voracious appetites for bugs works wonders in protecting the plants.  Not only will toads munch down insects, they will quickly down slugs and snails which makes me (and the plants) all the happier.  So, the toads stay...along with frogs, lizards and non-venomous snakes.  All of these are a true gardener's friends.

  On either side of the house, there is a small pond.  One, I named the "Frog Pond" for obvious reasons.  Frogs and toads love this safe place to gather, mate and lay eggs.  It is not uncommon to find thousands of tadpoles hiding under the lily pads and water hyacinths.  The other pond is much smaller so is named "Puddle Pond".  Puddle Pond is merely a catch pool for runoff from the house eaves.  I concreted a small "stream" alongside the length of the house and then down the hillside just a wee bit.  This small pond also has become a haven for treefrogs and toads. Once again, the hyacinths provide a thick protection from predators so the frogs and toads feel safe.  Both ponds are within the gardens so my critter friends do not have far to go to find their dinner.

  This is the time of year for those billion or so tadpoles to start morphing into their adult selves and leave the safety of their watery homes.  One has to be careful when wandering the gardens simply to avoid stepping on these tiny critters.  They are no bigger than a pea and, since the toads are dark in color, hard to see when in mulch.  Thankfully, they are a bit "squishable" and can pull themselves back together if I make a misstep.  

  One such tiny toad was making his exit from the Puddle Pond when I was out and about.  The tiny critter hurriedly hippity-hopped up the concrete "stream" to the chive row where it quickly disappeared under the leaf mulch.  The sighting caused me to smile as I whispered out well-wishes to the wee one.  Now, hopefully, it will avoid the ribbon snake that lives about ten feet further down that stream and the black racer that lives under the plant arbor just to the outside of the chive row.  Be safe, Little One!  You have a big chore ahead of you keeping my garden free from pests!

Swamp Friends

   For years now, I have said that I have more critter friends than human friends.   People, in general, bother me.  No matter how much you do for them, how nice you try to be or how you try to avoid conflict, invariably, people bring it to you.  I am over it.  I am tired, folks.  I am just pure tired.  That said, I seek out the solace that only the swamps can bring.  There, I find peace as not many dare to traverse the marshes.  There, I am people-free.

  That said, I was pleased to find that an old friend came to visit.  The large, mama gator gently slid into the waters of the Bayou.  She floated just yards away as the darkness of the early morn almost shrouded her from view.  I was not frightened but rather strengthened by her presence.  I poured out my troubles to this unlikely listener.  Her unwavering attention gave me comfort.  While most would have been a mite uneasy with the huge alligator so near, I felt at peace.  My attitude was much better after our one-sided conversation as the visit made me able to face the world outside of the swamp. Sometimes confiding in someone...anyone...really helps.  I will go on.

Molting Assassin Bug

   It seems that I post a good bit about the insects around here.  We have plenty.  Some wreak havoc.  Termites and eastern lubber grasshoppers are both on my "bad" list.  I am not a fan of either.  Also on that list are yellow jackets but I have not come in contact with any of those yet this year...yet.  I hope I do not.  They have nasty tempers!   We do, however, have some "good" insects and I have found myself fully appreciating those.  Just a couple of days ago, I found that assassin bug creepy-crawling on the turmeric leaves.  I was elated to see more of them today.  A lot of folks think I am nuts loving these bugs since they can give a painful bite.  The assassin bug has one large fang that it is not afraid to use when it feels it is in danger.  That piercing fang hurts!  Still, I am always excited to find the critters and never dream of killing them.

  Today, one assassin nymph was in the process of molting.  I found it on the fox grape vines.  Later, I found one living up to its name.  Back in the herb garden, one had caught a fly and was sucking the life from it.  Let's return to that one molting, though.  I always find it fascinating to watch how insects can actually climb out of their exoskeleton and become a larger critter.  I suppose not many folks take the time to view this but it is quite the undertaking for the critter and puts it in danger.  While molting, an insect is rather soft and vulnerable to any larger predators.  It has absolutely no defense at this stage and cannot even make a run for it.  The critter is literally "stuck" there until it manages to wiggle free and then "harden".  

  Most likely, others would purely see the critters as "just another pest" and try to eradicate them.  Not me!  I figure to let these predators live and flourish in the gardens.  They are free pest control and eat a lot of insects that would love to dine upon my cabbages!

The Golden Mimic

  In keeping with the current recommendations of avoiding crowds, I roamed the Bayou.  This is my way of avoiding people and, thus, not spreading any disease.  If you can believe all you hear (90% of which I do not), critters do not carry this virus.  It is a good thing as I would rather spend time with the critters and not with people.  As long as no one ill comes traipsing to the Bayou, I should stay well.  Perhaps if I threaten them with a good dose or two of Bayou Fire, they will have second thoughts.

  While out and about today, an unusual critter was found in the sandy dirt.  At first glance, I had a notion to kill this bug as it sure looked a lot like a queen Southern Yellow Jacket.  Then, I had second thoughts.  Something seemed a little off with my knee-jerk identification.  After photographing and studying the insect a bit, I kept leaning more toward thinking this was a fly not a wasp.  Kneeling on the ground about two feet from my fine friend, I took note of not only its physical appearance but its actions.   This was definitely NOT a yellow jacket! Pulling on memories from long ago, a sure ID was made.  Even though I would check to make sure, I felt certain that this was a type of robber fly. 

  After my wandering for the day was complete, I set about checking facts.  Yep, this was indeed a robber fly.  In fact, it was a Laphria saffrana!  Pop always called it a "Golden Robber Fly" and that is what my memory had stored it as...a Golden Robber Fly.  Even though this mimics the coloring of the queen yellow jacket, it will not hurt you like the wasp will.  There is still some question as to why the robber fly's coloring mimics the yellow jacket (and only the queen) but one thought is that it draws unsuspecting worker wasps to it.  The robber fly has an easy meal.  Robber flies of all sorts are voracious hunters that will track down other insects.  They do not attack humans or animals but will take the opportunity to snatch a deer fly or other biting insect that is attacking!  Robber flies are some of the best allies people can have! 

  After finding the beautiful robber fly along the path, I felt a lot better.  It is almost deer fly season and that usually puts a halt to my long hikes.  By allowing the robber fly to live, perhaps there will be a few less biting insects along the paths.  One can hope anyway.

Wasp Versus Big Foot

  Around the Bayou, the bees are busy...so are the wasps.  Yesterday, I watched as a small black wasp carried off a huge cross spider.  The spider was stuffed down a small tunnel in the ground to become food for a future generation of the wasps.  This morning was spent watching another wasp do the same job.  Keep in mind that the wasps doing all this hard work are all females.  The males have nothing to do with rearing the young of most ground bees and wasps.  The female digs the hole, creates the birthing cells and catches all of the prey.  The male flies around doing not much of anything.

  This morning's wasp was a weevil wasp.  This one caught me by surprise.  Mark and I were rigging the sprinkler in the garden when I noticed a wasp flying erratically around me.  Hmmm?  "Go away, wasp.  I am not hurting you."  The wasp did not listen.  When I finally identified the wasp and saw that she was carrying prey, I knew immediately what was the problem.  I, obviously, was standing on her tunnel!  Sure enough, as soon as I took a step backward, she honed in on a certain spot on the ground.  She dropped her prey of a stinkbug and started digging out the dirt that I had accidentally pushed over the opening.  After a few seconds, she had the hole cleared and was hauling the paralyzed stinkbug down into the hole.  Her larvae would dine on the bug.  I watched as she backed out of the hole and flew off to find another insect.  On, happy day!  She headed right back to the tomato plants!  The stinkbugs are such a nuisance that I was singing praises for the weevil wasp!

  Sometimes it pays not to kill every bee or wasp you see.  Most solitary ground wasps are not aggressive.  They catch tons of garden-destroying bugs so do us huge favors.  This one is welcome to make as many holes as she wants and I promise that I will try to not to step on them, if I see them!  Carry on, Little Mama!  Carry on!  And just so you will know, I am aware that I probably spend far to much time watching the critters around the Bayou.

A Useful Bit of Information!

  There are a lot of folks that have a tendency to kill just about any bug that crawls, flies or otherwise makes its way about the place.  We have come to the point where all creepy-crawly critters are considered bad and must be eradicated.  This makes me sad.  There are a few insects that I deem a pest and must be eliminated....think roaches, mosquitoes, termites and gnats...but on a whole I do not mind the critters if they do not make a nuisance of themselves.  Ants can build all the mounds they want back by the palmettos.  Grasshoppers are welcome to hop around the woods.  And, well, most critters fall in my category of "live and let live". I am not about to start squishing, spraying or slapping something just because it is alive.  That is stupid, as far as I can tell.  Some of those insects are pretty helpful, in their own way.

  Between the rain showers today, I made a quick trip to the pier.  Being stuck inside was making me a bit stir crazy so out I went.  The rain did catch me before I got back to the Little Bayou House but it was well worth being a bit wet.  While on the pier, I found another denizen of the Bayou enjoying the great outdoors.  A Tiger Bee Fly was drying off after the aforementioned shower.  It sat on the pier boards soaking up the few rays of sunshine provided by a momentary appearance by old Mr. Sun. The Tiger Bee Fly was gorgeous!

  Now to pass on a bit of useful information.  The Tiger Bee Fly is one NOT to kill.  As menacing as they seem to be, they are rather docile.  The word "bee" in the name leads one to believe that this is a stinging insect. Not so.  They do not sting.  Because they are actually a fly, one might think that they are bloodsuckers and bite.  Not so.  In fact, despite their scary name, the fly actually sips nectar with a long proboscis.  If you visit a garden with highly scented flowers, you might see the Tiger Bee Fly flitting about from flower to flower.  

Tiger Bee Fly....menacing looking but helpful and nice!

Carpenter Bee...pretty but will sting if threatened and a destructive tunnel borer!

  While that is a bit of happy news, the next should be downright elating.  These flies are indeed predators to some insects that do cause problems.  The female Tiger Bee Fly will search around until she finds a Carpenter Bee tunnel and then she does her deed!  The Carpenter Bee females are the ones that drill the perfectly round tunnels in wood such as on decks, porches, sheds, etc.  The tunnels weaken structures to the point that most of the drilled boards have to be replaced.  This can be costly. How do I know?  We have had to replace plenty!  The female Carpenter Bee drills these tunnels to house her eggs and larvae.  She stockpiles spiders and other insects inside each cell to assure her little ones have plenty to eat.  The Tiger Bee Fly sneaks in and lays her eggs among the Carpenter Bee eggs.  Once all of these eggs hatch (both Carpenter Bee and Tiger Bee Fly), the Carpenter Bee larvae start munching the paralyzed insects that Dear Old Mom caught for them. The Tiger Bee larvae start munching the Carpenter Bee larvae.  The fly larvae feast upon the bee larvae and eliminate a problem for humans!  Thusly, YOU SHOULD NOT KILL THESE FLIES!

  Hopefully, explaining that some critters can be helpful will cause folks to stop, think, identify and not kill.  Not only are a lot of beneficial insects killed because of folks just not understanding but the chemicals used in eradicating the bugs is quite harmful to all of us.  STOP! THINK! IDENTIFY! And then decide if the critter does not deserve to live.  Live and let live...a good mantra.

The Helper

  A lot of folks look at critters as more a nuisance than a help especially when those critters are of the creepy-crawly sort.  Let one insect invade the garden and toxic chemicals are dumped by the boatload onto the plants.   Let one spider spin a web on the porch and flyswatters and bug sprays are used in force.  Let a spider creep into the house and full out panic ensues.  KILL!  This is all that crosses the mind.  It is a shame as a lot of these critters are more of a help than a hindrance and not all are as creepy as folks imagine.

  We are in a war with termites and wood borers.  While I can be found in the corner rooting for most critters, there are a few that have earned my disdain.  Termites and wood borers are perfectly fine if they stay away from my abode but let them attack the Little Bayou House and something has to be done!  We are doing.  The entire place is being stripped of siding, inspected, sprayed and rebuilt.  It is a time consuming, difficult task but worth the effort.

  Yesterday, I found that we had an army coming to our aid.  This army is made of critter soldiers.  Spiders!  Spiders of every sort are here to lend a helping hand and I appreciate their efforts.  I watched as a spider devoured its prey under the railing on the back porch.  A wood borer had become ensnared in the spider's web and the spider was making quick work of the beast!  Good job, Lady Spider!  She made haste in subduing the critter and then wrapped it in silk.  The wrapped beetle was pulled way into the corner so she could dine at her leisure.  I congratulated her upon her capture and thanked her profusely.  What a big help this spider is!  I ensured her that she would never be harmed and never shooed away from the porch.  She was fully welcome to call the Little Bayou House her home.  

  It seems strange to me that folks will kill every critter without asking if they are friends or foes.  Most spiders fall into the first category.  They are friends.  Without their help, our places would soon fill with unsavory characters that mean harm.  A single spider can catch thousands of nuisance critters during their lifetime.  Yep, Lady Spider can stay!