A matter of time, part 2

Larger, more colorful, and stronger hoppers than earlier,
late-stage Spotted Lanternfly nymphs are nearing adult flight.

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A matter of time

Spotted Lanternfly nymphs, hatched from an overwintered egg mass,
gather upon a black walnut tree branch.

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Native to Asia and reported in growing numbers across southeastern Pennsylvania since 2014, these nymphs are the first I’ve seen on our small patch of Little Crum Creek — first individually in the milkweed garden and grass, and now most frequently together (in the absence of their preferred tree-of-heaven) in this black walnut.

Normally, I’d wait to collect and post images of each life-cycle stage.  But you might be seeing these early nymphs too. If so, posting sooner seems better than later.

The Penn State Extension provides all we might like to know about identification and management of these invasive newcomers.

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less familiar

less familiar than enduring

the impression left by a Great Egret

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Familiar to these seasoned limbs …

a fisher                                            fathoms                                       the creek’s promise

 

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Migrations

lucky glance             where others pass            a palm warbler            under lifted fence

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Again and again ..

casting out from a perch to catch a fly and return — an Eastern Phoebe.

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Early October …

a leaf-footed bug                          each leg let fall                          portending leaves to come

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Ours for …

hours

on the hydrangea –

a common buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia).

 

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busily

     busily                                             bumblebee                                            blue lobelia

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Paper wasps

Paper wasps scour milkweed leaf tops, hungry for aphid “honeydew” frass
(noted in this 2017 post) dropped from leaf bottoms above.

Clockwise from top left:
Guinea wasp (Polistes exclamans),  Northern paper wasp (Polistes fuscatus), Metricus paper wasp (Polistes metricus), European paper wasp (Polistes dominula).

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