Hi everyone! I hope your summer has been going well so far. June was very busy and very hot month for me. I think I'll be blogging more this month. It feels good to be back!
As it happened, some blog material flew into my life a few minutes ago. I was outside taking photos of flowers when I saw a small insect fly near me. At first, I couldn't even see its wings. It just looked like a bug body hovering in the air. This insect was nice enough to land for a photo shoot. I joke that the bugs around here know they'll be famous on the internet if they'll pose for a photo.
Well, what a surprise I had when I enlarged my photos and saw what this insect really looked like! You can see it's pretty small, in relation to that rose thorn. I actually think this is a scary looking bug. I wondered if it was safe to be near. After posing for a few pics with its hind end straight back, it curled its "tail" (or whatever we should be calling it).
This time I think the bug took on an almost scorpion-like appearance.
Well, of course I headed to google to find out what I saw. I feel pretty certain that I found an answer. I believe this is a Ichneumon Wasp. I'm still not sure if it was any danger to me. It seemed nonaggressive. But I wouldn't feel at all safe around one of these if I were a caterpillar. These wasps are the kind of bugs that insert their eggs inside a host (in this case a caterpillar) so when the babies hatch, a meal is right there. If you get my drift... It's pretty nasty - like a horror story for the bug world.
OK, I just read that these wasps are not at all dangerous to humans. They aren't interested in our blood and that stinger isn't meant for hurting us. I think it's purely for inserting eggs into whatever unlucky insect will be playing host. It's always good to know you don't have to be afraid of a bug, even if it looks menacing.
So have any of you seen one of these wasps before? I have a feeling they go undetected most of the time. They're small and fast moving!
As it happened, some blog material flew into my life a few minutes ago. I was outside taking photos of flowers when I saw a small insect fly near me. At first, I couldn't even see its wings. It just looked like a bug body hovering in the air. This insect was nice enough to land for a photo shoot. I joke that the bugs around here know they'll be famous on the internet if they'll pose for a photo.
Well, of course I headed to google to find out what I saw. I feel pretty certain that I found an answer. I believe this is a Ichneumon Wasp. I'm still not sure if it was any danger to me. It seemed nonaggressive. But I wouldn't feel at all safe around one of these if I were a caterpillar. These wasps are the kind of bugs that insert their eggs inside a host (in this case a caterpillar) so when the babies hatch, a meal is right there. If you get my drift... It's pretty nasty - like a horror story for the bug world.
OK, I just read that these wasps are not at all dangerous to humans. They aren't interested in our blood and that stinger isn't meant for hurting us. I think it's purely for inserting eggs into whatever unlucky insect will be playing host. It's always good to know you don't have to be afraid of a bug, even if it looks menacing.
So have any of you seen one of these wasps before? I have a feeling they go undetected most of the time. They're small and fast moving!
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