Deadly Embrace

On Saturday morning, I went outside my back door and nearly walked face-first into a caterpillar that had spun a silken thread to descend from the canopy of the huge sycamore tree that grows behind the house.  I was in and our of the house several times over the course of a half hour, and the caterpillar was there each time I went in and out.

Then, I saw that a wasp had discovered the caterpillar and was taking advantage of this juicy morsel that was as large as the wasp.  For several minutes, the wasp clung to the caterpillar.  In the image, it looks as if the wasp may have its mandibles around the caterpillar's neck, but I couldn't get a close look because the caterpillar was swaying in the breeze.

Finally, as I watched, the wasp tried to fly away with its prey, but the silken thread held and the duo just swung back and forth in huge arcs, powered by the wasp's wings.  Finally, the wasp gave up and flew away.  The caterpillar was dead, bent in half.  It had disappeared the next time I went outside, perhaps discovered by a more powerful wasp or a bird.

Late Summer, Early Evening

We took a walk in "our" natural area last evening. We hadn't been out for weeks because of the unremittingly high temperatures. But the weather has been cool and cloudy for the last three days, and we took advantage of the break to enjoy the late summer meadows. Another heat wave starts this Sunday.

Dozens of Chimney Swifts (Chaetura pelagica) were wheeling through the skies, but there was no sign of migrating Common Nighthawks (Chordeiles minor), which usually pass through singly during the last week of August. The swifts roost in the evening in a tall chimney at a local college. It's a local birdwatcher's hotspot to set up a lawn chair and watch the birds plunge into the chimney at sunset.

Many bumblebees were already drowsy on the goldenrod (which I think is Wrinkle-leaf Goldenrod [Solidago rugosa]). It never fails to amaze me to see bumblebees in the evening clinging motionless to goldenrod, obviously intent on spending the night there rather than returning to their holes. Some were still foraging actively, though.

Jumpseed (Polygonum virginianum) leaf edges always seem to curl up near the end of the growing season. I don't know if it's lack of soil moisture or whether it's just in their nature. This patch reminded me of variegated poinsettias.
The natural area has an old farm pond where children can angle for sunfish with barbless hooks. I think each one of the sunnies in the pond must have been caught a dozen times.

Wasp and Sky and Bye (for a while)

Does anyone know what kind of wasp this is? Every few weeks, one of these wasps appears inside my house. They're not very active and I can usually scoop them up on a piece of paper and release them outside. They are very robust and at least an inch long--they intimidate me (and my cats!). Sorry about the image quality; the wasp walked for cover as soon as I set it down outside and wouldn't cooperate for a photo op.
Saturday afternoon's (May 8, 2010) forecast called for thunderstorms, which fortunately never materialized. But, by late afternoon, the wind really kicked up and remained strong all day Sunday, too. Heavy clouds blew in with the wind and scudded across the sky. The heavens weren't completely overcast--there were breaks in the clouds that let light and blue sky through. I liked the effect. My yard and driveway are littered with small branches and twigs broken off the trees; they're too small to pick up by hand but too large to leave in place for the lawnmower to find.

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Unless something spectacular happens in my natural world before Friday, this will be my last post until early June. We're off to southern Utah (Capitol Reef National Park and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument) for nine days, then San Diego and environs for another six days starting on Saturday. I hope I return with lots of good images to share.