By: Bristol
This is about my newfound enjoyment of insects and other bugs.
At a point in my life where work and hobby time was saturated with birds, I decided to switch careers and become a science teacher. Immediately, this decision began to widen my view of the biosphere. I had, to start with, a working proficiency in ornithology and a smattering of ichthyology. However, outdoor education, done well, requires one to achieve a working knowledge of everything.
You could make an argument that the base of that everything is plants, although I disagree and prefer to take it all the way back to plate tectonics. The array of the continents determines wind and water flow, precipitation, soils...all these lead up to the plants that grow in an area. The climate and those plants are some of the most important factors that determine which bugs are around, which determine the birds and small mammals, then the larger mammals, etc. The landscape is a fractal web of interconnected life on every scale.
Currently, I am trying to bridge my proficiency in birds and my novice understanding of plants with an area of study that is impossibly vast and inextricably fascinating. Entomology is the study of insects, and I choose to add slug-type and spider-type things to that pile while I'm at it. There are about one million described insect species in the world (although the true number could range from 2 to 30 million), compared with approximately 10,000 bird species, about 40 big cat species, and 1 species of intelligent, world-altering ape. This could become a life-consuming project for me, and indeed is for many people.
My interest was first sparked a few years ago when I received the best anniversary gift I could ask for: a butterfly net. This simple tool requires delicacy and finesse, and one acquires these skills with practice. For me, this involved a lot of running around frantically after dragonflies and butterflies on a windblown ridge in northern Minnesota.
In the same way that I might steer a beginning birder towards ducks, I would recommend butterflies to an aspiring entomologist. They're colorful, easy to find, and often easy to identify. Their flight patterns are also a great way to get practice using your net, although it might not feel that way at the time. Butterflies, on the whole, are tricky little things that change direction seemingly at random, bouncing around like a marionette while you swing the net where they were just a second ago. My go-to move is sweeping them from the tops of flowers, but even that often fails. More practice is necessary.
Butterfly hunting is also a wonderful way to connect with people. On several occasions I have had the privilege of butterflying with random families on the trail. It is intensely rewarding to see the excitement in small kids when they can catch or hold a butterfly, or even look at one in a jar.
While I continued learning about butterflies, I branched out into those top insect hunters, the dragonflies. I intend to cover the subject more in depth at a later date. Suffice to say I had opportunity in Minnesota to practice flailing my butterfly net at the migrating dragons, and began to appreciate their aerial mastery and stunning coloration.
In coastal Washington, I ended up gravitating towards moths. Two beautiful species of giant silk moths with wingspans that covered my hand initiated the process, and I learned that every porch light draws in intricately beautiful specimens. In my new home in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, I've watched the changing of the guard, as the silver-spotted tigers slowly stopped appearing, and the lovely pale Tolypes show up and then disappear. The hefty Edward's glassywings made their appearance, with translucent wings folded over bright orange abdomens. Finally, the Tetracis pallulata, closely related to the October thorn moth, made their entrance, like elegantly marked dead leaves, just in time for the trees to shed their last leaves. The cold weather seems finally to have arrested their appearances at my door.
Left to right: top-Polyphemus silk moth, Ceanothus silk moth, and Calipeta aqualiaria, the Red girdle moth. Middle-Cascades Panthea, Autographa californica, and Nadata gibbosa, the white-dotted prominent. Bottom- Tetracis pallulata, Tolype disticta, and Tyria jacobaeae, the Cinnabar moth. All were found in the Pacific Northwest region.
Various other insects and spiders have made their short entrances.
A Halloween spider, Argiope aurantia, was discovered on a walk around a wetland in the Willamette Valley, eating a large dragonfly. This particular spider could have spanned my palm with her legs, and was stunningly colored. This picture gives a rough idea of her size-the darner dragonfly is about 6-7 cm long, or roughly 3 inches.
Another character showed up unexpectedly in the summer. I was inspecting the screen door for treble-bar moths when suddenly, a huge insect droned over my head and ricocheted off the wall. My instinctive first thought was: Cicada! They'd just started their calling in the tall, dead grass. But no! Closer inspection revealed that the bomber was a massive beetle! In a mild panic I ran inside to find a jar. The beetle was considerate enough to hang tight until I came to imprison him. And what a stunner he was.
Ten-lined June beetles, in the Scarab family, are large, fairly common beetles that live in Douglas Fir forests. It was my good fortune to be accosted by a male, because they have spectacular antennae that fan out like moose antlers to sniff out pheromones. I was enamored with his compound puppy eyes and beautiful gold coloration. He was dubbed Scooter. The scarab beetle was released, and although I found Scooter on the door the next morning, he was safely returned to the trees and has declined to visit since.
At times, the enormity of the study of insects is daunting. I feel that I have scarcely made a dent in learning my butterflies, not to mention moths. Beetles like Scooter represent another long and detailed study. Dragonflies also require specialized knowledge to tell apart, and the only difference between two species may be the shape of genitalia, only observable in hand. I have not yet begun to delve into true bugs, Hemiptera, nor many, many other insect groups. So very many.
And yet, I've got a lifetime to work on it.
Left to right. Top: Banded alder borer, eight-spotted skimmer, ebony jewelwing. 2nd row: California tortoiseshell, flame skimmer, (possibly) blue-eyed darner. 3rd row: red-shouldered ctenucha moth, Japanese stag beetle, banana slug. 4th row: Virginia tiger moth caterpillar Spilosoma virginica, Elm sawfly caterpillar, (possibly) blue-eyed darner. Bottom row: Silver-spotted tiger moth, white admiral butterfly, woolly bear caterpillar.
Resources I have found helpful:
BOMONA (Butterflies and moths of North America). Excellent information, pictures, range maps, and also involves citizen science!
https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/
Moths of the Pacific Northwest (omitting geometers). They have excellent plates.
http://pnwmoths.biol.wwu.edu/
Odonata Central for dragonflies. This site could be more user-friendly but it generates species lists for your area and has great pictures.
https://www.odonatacentral.org/index.php/PageAction.get/name/HomePage
Caterpillar Identification by Discover Life. A really useful ID tool, similar to Merlin (for birds). Occasionally is missing pictures of caterpillars for moth species but overall very helpful.
https://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?guide=Caterpillars
Dragonflies and Damselflies of the West by Dennis Paulson-lots of detailed information on odonates of the west. There is also one for the eastern US.
Field Guide to Insects of North America by Kaufman-great place to start!
Field Guide to Butterflies of North America by Kaufman-Sparse on info but very useful for the field.
Insects of the Pacific Northwest by Peter and Julie Haggard-Excellent starters guide!
If you have any others, feel free to leave a comment and I'll add it to the list!
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