Did you know humans aren’t the only species that have farmers? Ants farm too! Instead of keeping dairy cows or goats though, ants maintain aphid farms!

🎶…. Keep them beetles rovin’ 🎶… This funny looking critter in the photos is a Rove Beetle. I don’t know why the Rawhide song popped into my head when I found this guy, maybe just the rhyminess of it (rollin’/rovin’), but now that I’ve associated the two, I’m stuck on it. While many younger generations probably have no idea what in the world I’m talking about, I imagine some of you more experienced folk probably get the reference lol :)

Do you have large patches of your garden plants that mysteriously go missing overnight? Did you check everywhere for caterpillars and frass (caterpillar poopies) to no avail? Can’t find the leaf-chomping culprit anywhere? It might be a grasshopper!

Winged scorpions that can fly you say?! Well, sort of. Don’t worry though - they can’t sting you!

I used to think aphids were super cute with their tear-drop-like shape, tiny beady eyes, bright colors, and silly little butt antennae… Until they got into my indoor plants that is :( Now, despite their cuteness, they are on my squash list.

Outside in the garden, or maybe walking through the weeds? Suddenly in excruciating pain? Think you’ve been stung by a wasp? Think again! You may have been meddling with a nettle 😦

This lovely, large, and often somewhat awkward bee, is the Eastern Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa virginica (Family = Apidae). It gets its name from its excellent ability to excavate and build homes in wood. I say excellent, but X. virginica often gets a bad rap for its carpentry work. This is usually due to miscommunications with its wood suppliers (aka homeowners or other humans). Let’s try to clear up some of these miscommunications, shall we?

As if the floodplain mosquitoes this year weren’t enough – now there’s ginormous mosquitoes that look like they just came out of Jumanji! Ok, ok. Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration… But only slightly. These gals are HUGE!

I’m thinking paper probably isn’t the sturdiest material to build an umbrella out of right? Well, that’s why they so often build their homes in sheltered areas around our human houses! Yes, I’m talking about the Paper Wasp, or Ol’ Dangle-legs as my partner likes to call them :)

Birds may get the attention and notoriety most of the time, but here’s one that’s not just for the birds. Insects have their own birds of prey – hawks! Beautiful, ferocious, and deadly in their own right, the brightly colored Meadowhawks of the insect world put their feathered brethren to shame when it comes to gorgeous colors and mystic. Not that I’m biased or anything…