AvianActs: Insects in the 'patch'

It is a delight to see an American Robin with an insect in its beak on the way to its nest. The newly hatched chicks get a variety of insects, perhaps a balanced diet, assuring healthy growth. Swallows catch flying mosquitoes, flies, and other insects. Woodpeckers drill for bugs in dead wood. The diet of most songbirds in my 'patch' includes insects. Yet some insects are harmful and dangerous to humans, and I am forced to take measures to 'evict' them. It is a love-fear relationship.

There is an amazing diversity in the world of insects of which I have extremely limited knowledge. An easy-to-read classic, The Strange Lives of Familiar Insects by Edwin Way Teal, has given me some insight into their complex lives. Many of these insects go through metamorphosis multiple times before reaching the adult stage, drastically changing their appearances. For a novice like me, only the adult stages are familiar.

A garden is not complete without butterflies and bees, pollinators that help maintain the ecosystem. They are also adorned with beautiful and colorful patterns. Monarch butterflies flutter around in the butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) area from July to late October before embarking on a long journey south. Spicebush and eastern tiger swallowtails visit until the end of August, by which time most of their favorite plants cease to bloom.

A section of the planting bed in the backyard with red and purple bee balms (Monarda didyma) beam with butterflies, moths, and bees. Ruby-throated Hummingbird drinks nectar side by side with hummingbird moth, an insect with fast-beating wings that almost looks like a bird. Summersweet clethra (Clethra alnifolia) shrub has a larger variety of insects than any other plant in my garden. It is a late blooming bush, and the insects are eager to get their last dose of summer.

Dragonflies bask on paving stones and rocks in summer. There are common whitetails, blue and green eastern pondhawks and other dainty dragonflies sporting red, green, purple colors. They consume many insects keeping the insect population under control and are reported to be too fast for birds.

From May to late September, the bees and some species of wasps are busy taking nectar from blossoms and in turn playing the role of valuable pollinators. Their high-pitched buzzing sound is made by rapid movements of wing flight muscles warning me to stay away. When threatened they may sting, causing pain and swelling that takes three days to subside. Recently I learned that administering baking soda and ice on the affected area neutralizes the poison injected by the stinger.

Paper wasps make large nests in the trees, and their well architected silver-gray pearl shaped nests can be seen in the winter when the trees are bare. These wasps also like to nest in protected areas such as the space between the walls of a house or an attic. Their colony can have thousands of wasps, and they sting! On several occasions I have had to call a pest control company to remove the nest from my house. It is sad but necessary to destroy such a beautiful home with layered honeycombed sections in perfect symmetry full of eggs yet to be hatched.

I have witnessed a honeybee swarm land on the windows of my house. These were from the beehives of the farmer across the street. It was best to stay indoors until they dispersed. Bumblebees are present in small numbers, but carpenter bees abound, feeding on coneflower, monarda and clethra blossoms. As their name implies, they bore holes in hard wood for nesting, and that wood may be part of a house. So far, they have not caused any damage to my house.

Ant colonies form in channels in the pavement and under stones and rocks. Bricks defining the planting bed borders are another favorite of small ants. If I turn over a brick in the summer, these ants crawl all over me. There are other large ants that nest in the woods and sometimes close to my house that manage to find their way inside. When removed, a new supply of scouts takes their place. The only way to get rid of these ants is to find the nest and use a chemical agent to euthanize the inhabitants.

I am cautious when bees and wasps are present in the area, but there are other unseen stingers that can jab through thick clothing. The swelling and itching caused by their sting is very annoying, and the red blotches on my skin may take a few weeks to heal. Then there are ticks that jump onto clothing and later dig themselves in a soft area of skin. Some tick bites have no long-term effect. However, an infected deer tick can cause Lyme disease which, if untreated, may lead to severe arthritis or even paralysis.

Caterpillars feed on leaves, and these half-eaten leaves fall to the ground in summer. Spongy moth caterpillars can consume all the leaves on trees leaving them bare. Japanese beetles chew on leaves and flowers. These two non-native species have not been a major concern in my 'patch' yet.

In the summer months the insect sounds are just as loud as the bird chorus at sunrise. A mosquito announces its presence by buzzing softly next to my ear. Katydids make loud rasping sounds of two to four notes matching their name "kay-tee" or "kay-tee-did-did". The shrill sounds of the peepers, small frogs that hide in shrubs and trees, add to the background backyard noise from spring to late summer, getting louder after a rainstorm. The loudest of all insects, the cicada, outperforms all others as the day temperatures rise. The male cicada has a membrane called tymbal inside its abdomen, and a sound as loud as a motorcycle passing by is produced by expanding and contracting it.

The largest insect here is the 3-4 inches long Chinese mantis. It eats ants, flies and other insects and is even known to devour hummingbirds. A smaller member of the mantis family, the Carolina mantis, in its green phase is well camouflaged in the foliage as it patiently awaits an unsuspecting prey to come within reach. In its hunting posture, it can also become a victim, as recorded in the nature movie Dance of Life on this website.