In addition to football, another sign of fall is scattering bugs and seed pods. Seed pods burst open to begin their journey across the landscape while bugs scatter to seek refuge from the impending cold. Above, you see boxelder bugs clustered in these pods, in transition from their habitat in male boxelder, maple, and ash trees. These orange and black beetle specimens are hoping for a warm southern or western exposure window in a house to bask in the sun. Only the mature bugs will survive through the winter. For the most part, they are harmless to plants and people-- except for a little orange stain left behind and their appetite for eating seeds. We found these specimens on Fairmont Street during the Westerwood Art and Sole Walk this past weekend. While harmless and non-toxic, if a colony picks your home as the host house, you will know it as where there is one, likely there are hundreds.
Have you taken a nature walk yet this fall-- one where you take time to stop and look on the ground or on the undersides of plants? Greensboro's greenway and miles and miles of trails are a great place to start. Here is a website we like when planning a nature walk with children..... or grown-ups. Phones, headphones, texting? No thank you. Binoculars, baggies, digital camera, walking stick, yes please! Here is one of our favorite finds from last year.
Just in........ reader C Bond tells us these are actually milkweed bugs. They look so much like boxelders. Glad to have an entomologist in our readership!
Interesting Bugs.. love nature walks! Nice macro..
Posted by: Madge | Tuesday, October 04, 2011 at 01:23 PM
We have Boxelder bugs here too! Hardly anyone knows what they are when they move here,apparently the schools no longer teach about bugs at the elementary level and as busy adults people would rather play with their phones than learn about the natural world around them.Oh no! I am turning into that weird lady on the street who talks about bugs and rainfall tables...no wait I was always that person,everything is fine!
When I was little there was a movie,might have been Disney or Hal Roach studios called "The Ugly Bug Ball" About Hoppy the Grasshopper and his amazing life.It was shown at school break times so I recall it as an Easter movie but there is a Boxelder bug in there as a town father. I used to think they were "Halloween bugs" because we started seeing more of them as the seasons changed and they Wintered here in So Cal.
Thanks for the good press for Boxelders everywhere!
So Cal Janis
Posted by: Janis | Tuesday, October 04, 2011 at 01:30 PM
Dear So. CA Janis and Madge:
Nice to see somebody enjoyed the bug photo. I learned a lot from your comment CA Janis. So. CA and Piedmont NC have more in common than I thought!
NC Janis
Posted by: Janis | Tuesday, October 04, 2011 at 06:58 PM
They will that autumn is here and make their business quickly. I love nature walks!
Posted by: Irina | Wednesday, October 05, 2011 at 08:16 AM
The bugs are actually milkweed bugs, which live and feed on milkweeds. (Like the monarch butterfly caterpillar)
Posted by: CBond | Wednesday, October 05, 2011 at 08:48 PM
Wow! Thanks C Bond. When we searched, these looked like they had a little more orange on them than Boxelders. For archival purposes, we'll go back in and make corrections. Interesting that they are similar in color to the monarch butterflies. Could it be the food source?
Posted by: Janis | Wednesday, October 05, 2011 at 09:40 PM
The orange and black color combo seen in both milkweed bugs and monarch butterflies is a classic example of warning coloration (warning would-be predators that both these insects taste bad, due to poisons injested from the milkweeds.
That both are orange and black and milkweed eaters may well be a coincidence. Perhaps they both like Princeton University !?
Posted by: CBond | Friday, October 07, 2011 at 09:27 PM