Hazy days of Summer

The bullfrogs have dispersed out of the ditches, and there are very few sightings of them right now.  Other areas of the bosque have lots of toads, but so far there are not many here, other than squashed ones on the road.

There are many more "creepie-crawlies around, such as dobson flies and centipedes. The are usually here when there is more humidity. I noticed a new type of wasp around, after some studying it turned out to be the male velvet ants, which have wings but no stingers, this picture shows the tough wings off very well.

Just under the wing you can see the fuzzy orange of the thorax. There is a fair amount of competition and jostling between these "ants" and the cicada killers.

There was a possible osprey in the bosque, but he was hard to get a picture of. I know of one osprey nest nearby, and the big carp in the ditch should be very visible to these big birds.

The local muskrats might be a little nervous too...