September 13, 2002

• Bugs 9/2002

  These flowers are called higanbana, and bloom every year on Sept. 22, almost correct to the day!  There are no leaves at first, just the flower that grows up from the bulb.  The grassy leaves come up later.  I had a bit of competition from all the other shutterbugs trying to take a decent picture....   This was probably taken in Jindai Botanical Garden.

  

  

  Here are some more signs of fall....  Hope they don't ruin anyone's dinner.  I have always liked six (or eight) legged critters, except roaches, but I can send pictures of them, too if anybody wants one. Haha!

  

  The spider is called a "Jyorogumo" or um nicely put, courtesan spider.  You know it is fall when they stretch their webs in the low (and high) branches.  This one is small, so you know it is still early in the season.  They are actually quite pretty, and probably eat the small males that you see hanging around their webs.

  

  Next is a doodle bug that Hub found that I thought was pretty.  Hope everyone agrees.  Wonder what it was munching on....  Maybe that purple thing.

  

  The pickled pic is the best way to view this particular flying fauna, because honey, these are really scary.  They are as big as Vienna wieners and sound like small airplanes.  They also pack quite a nasty stinger, and eat other bugs after processing them into insect meatballs.  They get nastier in the fall, because meatball material is not as abundant and this makes 'em testy.  I wonder if they are all males with PMS (Pre Meal Syndrome!).  Heehee!!  I cannot send any other pictures of these, because I do not have any intention of hanging around to photograph one of these unless it is quite dead.  I used to be deathly afraid of all bees until I saw these, but now I might even let cute lil' ol' honey bees crawl on my eyeballs.

  

  The bug is one of my favorites, and is called a "suzume ga" or sparrow moth.  There is a better English name that escapes me at the moment.  Hey, these little grey cells can only remember so much.  It looks quite scary, and at first I did not know whether it was insect or hummingbird, or whether it would sting me or not.  Now that I have become better acquainted with it, I like it very much.  You cannot actually see the wings when thiscritter is in flight, because they move so fast.  The pictures where the wings are visible were taken with a flash.

  

   

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