I remember September 20, 2011 because of the weather. I came home from school feeling that classes hadn't gone as they should. I had to get outside but it was raining. I could tell that no birds were about and the rain would make all the bugs disappear. The cats felt they had to get out, too. The rain stopped so we went. Desperate, I began taking photographs and found these to shoot. And I found my bug.
I have put my favorite Wet photograph on my Photo a Day blog . . . . here.
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Leaping Oscar
Carolina Grasshopper (Dissosteira carolina)
I ended up spending the summer stalking Oscar as he lept after bugs.
Two-Striped Grasshopper (Melanoplus bivittatus)
Skidding to a dusty stop.
Female Shadow Darner (Aeshna umbrosa)
I managed to rescue the dragonfly above and release it outside. But unfortunately, Oscar often brought in other dragonflies. He ate all but the wings. I never saw which species he would catch.
Oscar, 4 months, relaxing after hopper hunting.
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Yup, that's Oscar, our little yet great grasshopper chomper. Here he is after leaping through the air and catching, in flight, a Carolina Grasshopper (Dissosteira carolina). Those are the big grasshoppers you see during the last half of summer flying with the black wings. We probably all think at one time or another that they are huge butterflies, but they are big, prehistoric grasshoppers. You can view the original photo size here for more detail. After spending the summer learning how to expertly catch these hoppers, Oscar is now the champion mouser of the family!
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This series was taken in July during my grasshopper phase when Buddy was bringing a few a day into the house and the hoppers were all over everywhere. Wingnut would also bring me some and John would call me over for shots of one that he thought particularly interesting.
Because I was so focused on lighting and focusing (and that didn’t really work out in these shots because of the backlight), I never realized what the hopper was doing until I downloaded the photos to the computer. But while I was photographing him, I did have this eerie feeling that he was looking straight at me through the lens . . .
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Buddy had been catching snakes every day all summer. Remember?
One snake finally bit him in the eye and he actually lost sight in the eye. He had a hard time negotiating around outside and finally he stayed in most of the time. It has healed now and he is back outside hunting.
And this is his biggest prey . . . grasshoppers. Everyday he brings home one to three of them. John sees Buddy outside catching and eating them. He ate one in front of my computer desk. The crunch was nauseating!
I find it fascinating that a grasshopper’s camouflage is not only on its skin but in its eyes. Also, they look as if they have human teeth. I wonder if that is a defensive marking to make them look ferocious to predators. Too bad it doesn’t scare Buddy!
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Two-striped Grasshopper (Melanoplus bivittatus)
Buddy & a Common Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis)_/\_/\_
