Things with Wings

One sign of the approach of summer in Gallon Jug has been an increase in rain, which has been a nice break from the heat and humidity that have come back to the jungle after a welcome winter absence.  Accompanying the rain has been a huge increase in insect activity.

Insects are a constant here - from giant grasshoppers to tiny honeybees, that somehow manage to get caught in even my hair - there are no insect free days.  That being said, one day last week we had an early evening plague of winged ant-like things that reached near biblical proportion.   For about an hour the whole of the stable and loft was surrounded with a 10 foot buffer made up of of these winged wonders.  Then a burst of rainfall came that caused them to dissolve, evaporate, or otherwise retreat to where ever they'd come from, not to return again thus far.

In recent weeks beautiful butterflies have returned to the jungle in mass, but have been difficult to photograph.  What was easy to get pictures of was the varied assortment of moths that were outside my room this morning when I got up.

 

 

Garden Update: 

The mahogany trees that the Casey Community School students planted on Earth Day have started to sprout.  Currently about half of our grow bags have small seedlings.

And the Critter of the Week goes to this giant toad.

To give perspective, my sandal is size 13.