Boomer ball Charlie

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Town of Lincoln Lilliputian wildlife

January bee.



( two pictures of lichen )

Movie talk: Wild Parrots.

Usually I friends-lock my movie reviews, but since this is an Urban Nature movie, it belongs with The Urban Pantheist posts.

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365 Urban Species: #013 Western Conifer Seed Bug

Urban species #013: Western Conifer Seed Bug Leptoglossus occidentalis

In the spring, this bug (a "true" bug as the entomologically inclined sometimes say) lays its eggs on the needles of a pine, spruce, or fir tree. The babies feed on the various softer parts of the tree, and when grown feed on the seeds. As summer comes to a close, they look for a warm place to spend the cold months. Houses and other heated buildings are favored winter hiding places.

This, of course, is where they run afoul of humans. The WCSB (not a tv station, but the abbreviation used by the Massachusetts Audubon Society) is a harmless insect, but it can inspire alarm. First of all, it's unfamiliar to many people, especially on the east coast. As its name suggests, it's a western animal, but has been drifting eastward during for the past hundred years or so. "In 1956 the WCSB was reported in Iowa and in 1990 several were found in New York State," according to Mass Audubon's Linda Cocca. By 1985 it was in New England. For another thing, it sounds rather menacing: it buzzes in flight, like a bee or a wasp. And finally, like its relatives the stink bugs, it produces an odor in defense. Personally, I find their smell to be not unpleasant--somewhere between sour apple and pine scent. But the WCSB doesn't bite, eat human food (or anything else inside the house), or bore into wood. If only all insect invaders were so polite.

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