northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here's an insect I don't see a lot of [1], a Short-winged Meadow Katydid . You can tell this is a female katydid (perhaps named Katie?) because of her ovipositor , the long, thin appendage at the end that she uses for laying eggs [2]. Males will attempt to woo females with a love song ; the lyrics go something like this: tick ... bzzzz ... tick-tick bzzzz ...tick ... bzzzz ... tick-tick-tick ... bzzzz It might not sound impressive to you, but if any female katydids are reading this, they're swooning right now. The katydids got their name because a different species, the Common True Katydid , sings more of a "kay-tee-did" song. (Apparently you don't have to sing a "katydid" song to be a katydid.) Katydids are usually omnivores, mostly eating vegetation but they'll spice things up once in a while by snacking on little insects like aphids . October 23, 2019 at Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary Photo 55450643, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved ...

Whether it's odonates (e.g. dragonflies and damselflies) or birds, it's sometimes difficult to differentiate immature males from females. But sometimes the difference is obvious, like when I see a female laying eggs. Here's a female Blue Dasher who's doing exactly that. Many dragonfly females will hover over the water, quickly dipping the end of her abdomen (her ovipositor ) down into the water and depositing an egg there.  This is 1 of the 2 main ways that dragonflies lay eggs. Another technique is to cut a slit in a water plant and lay eggs inside the plant; I've never actually witnessed this technique. You might be wondering why a flying insect lays eggs in water. This is because, despite adults being fierce aerial predators, as nymphs (call naiads) they lead totally different lives; they are fierce aquatic predators. 😄 When I say this, they are fierce aquatic predators in the world of the small; they aren't taking down adult turtles, herons, or (most) fis...