Bug Day at Wehr Nature Center
Watercolor, pencil and ink, 2014
For the first time, I attended the Wehr Nature Center's annual bug day - a celebration of all things insect. I spent some time looking at odonate nymphs that had been captured to view, outside by the lake. They had also caught a bluish dung beetle, I was told. It was the first time I had seen one. Inside, I was able to make a watercolor study of a giant swallowtail caterpillar in the process of forming a chrysalis. When I returned outside, I found a thistle with a very long legged spider. As I looked closer at the thistle stems, I saw what appeared to be brown thorns. With the magnifier, I discovered they were thorn mimics, a type of treehopper. I have to say, there is something about their short legs and head horn that make them endearing little figures.
For the first time, I attended the Wehr Nature Center's annual bug day - a celebration of all things insect. I spent some time looking at odonate nymphs that had been captured to view, outside by the lake. They had also caught a bluish dung beetle, I was told. It was the first time I had seen one. Inside, I was able to make a watercolor study of a giant swallowtail caterpillar in the process of forming a chrysalis. When I returned outside, I found a thistle with a very long legged spider. As I looked closer at the thistle stems, I saw what appeared to be brown thorns. With the magnifier, I discovered they were thorn mimics, a type of treehopper. I have to say, there is something about their short legs and head horn that make them endearing little figures.