Insects 2 - Traditional 

Daddy Longlegs       Damselfly      Dragonfly        Fruit fly     

Grasshopper and Cricket       House fly      Ice Worm       Ladybug (all Beetles)      

Leafhoppers         Mayfly          Midges          Mosquito         Spider         

Tent Caterpillar       Wasp         Water Strider 

Daddy long legs

Damselfly            Common Speadwing

Pale Snaketail Dragonfly

Black Meadowhawk Dragonfly

Fruit Fly

Grasshopper

Can you find the camouflaged green grasshopper in this picture ? 

Another well hidden grasshopper - name unknown. Seen in Fish Creek Park, Calgary, Alberta

Road Duster Grasshopper

Field Cricket  

Field Cricket

House fly                     

Little Alberta Country Fly

Common native fly in Alberta - name unknown. Crawls all over your exposed skin in the hot summer in the countryside. Seems to be more abundant where there is agriculture and cattle  Can be annoying if you haven't learned to just live with them and ignore them. Seems like maybe they are getting some kind of food, or nourishment from your skin, or do they just like the warmth ?   What else are they doing crawling all over you ?   They are attracted to open sores on your skin - for a drink maybe ??. They are fairly quick, and therefore hard to swat and kill. They are smaller than a house fly and a little slower, and there is usually more than one around - crawling all over you - especially over your arms and hands. They seem to like hot sweating hands a lot. They buzz about you, and can be a real annoying little pest, if you haven't learned to get used to them and just live with them. 

Little Alberta fly same as the above (some might say little annoying Alberta country fly) - on one of their favourite places - an exposed arm. 

This fly may or may not be the same species as the one above. I have so many unanswered questions about these little fly's. Where do they lay their eggs - in dung, in dead animals, in rotting vegetation ?  What are their mating rituals ?  How many varieties of this particular fly are there here in Alberta ? How long does it take for the eggs to hatch ? What do the adults like to eat ?  How long do these little guys live ?    How do they over winter ?  Do all the adults die over winter ?  We really know so little about flies you know.  What are they really doing crawling all over my skin - are they attracted to the salt of your sweat - do they just want a drink, do they just want to stay warm, are they eating dead skin, are they looking for some dead meat to lay eggs on, or do they just want to bug you. 

Ladybug (seven-spotted)  

Two-spotted ladybug and larva

Multicoloured Asian Lady Beetle        

Parenthesis Lady Beetle

Beetle from Southern Alberta - name nnknown 

Shining flower beetle

Beetle found in Southern Alberta - not yet identified

Beetle seen near Brooks, Alberta - name unknown. Very colourful. 

Beetle - name unknown - beetle appears dead.

Sidewalk Carabid Beetle

Burying Beetle 

Bug or Beetle from Southern Alberta - name unknown

Box elder bug (bottom picture)- is a bug not a beetle. It is interesting and congregates around man's dwellings when the weather turns cold. We encountered many of them at Dinosaur Provincial Park in Southern Alberta in late fall. They were in the heated washroom at the campground - seemed to want to go someplace for warmth - hey who doesn't want to be warm. They were all over the place - even in the urinals -  in the sink too and in the toilet. In the laundry room too. On the floor. Quizzed on the floor. Seems like they were doing something else besides getting out of the cold - mating. A bug has to stay warm and mate you know. 

Leaf hopper

Mayfly - Banff National Park, Alberta  - species unknown

Mayflies near the shore of Great Slave Lake, North West Territories - species unknown

Mayflies having landed on a shirt sleeve.

Mosquito

Having just come back from a holiday to the North West Territories in the middle of summer, at the peak of the mosquito crop - Ray and the girls got plenty of practice swatting, slapping, crushing, and mashing " skeeters."   It is hard to find anything positive about these little vampires, but  here goes. Swatting them provides a person with exercise - a form of calestetics. Running from a hungry swarm of mosquitoes provides a person with aerobic exercise, and helps burn off calories. The drainage of your blood from these little blood suckers cleanses your body of bad blood, and stimulates it to make good blood. Swatting them with hand or swatter, or catching them in your hand and crushing them improves eye - hand coordination. All this new found activity - finding ways to keep from being eaten alive- stimulates the brain, and improves motor activity, and prevents one from getting lazy.  And oh yes - you come away with a humble attitude - since they seem to be the real rulers of the North in summer. 

Spider

Pictures in our minds  -  There is the old saying, " Don't kill the spider - it will rain if you do. "    Dark corners where the spider lurks. Sticky spider webs getting into your face while walking  in the woods.  Dead bugs stuck on the spider web. A vision of a vicious little creeping, crawling creature.  The silky web.   " Come into my parlour said the spider to the fly. "    Image by Ray W

One of the spiders feasting on midges

Cloud of Midges                                                     

Goldenrod crab spider having just killed a bumblebee

Spider - official name unknown. We saw this one it in the NWT.

Tent Caterpillar Moth  (taxidermy)       No original picture of tent caterpillar yet. 

Wasp - this is a wasp isn't it ? This appears to be a variety of Digger Wasp, or Digger Bee - am leaning more toward Digger Wasp, but it is not yet completely identified. There were quite a few of them. 

They were digging holes in the sand. 

They would go into the holes, and the later on come out, and cover up the holes. 

Were they laying eggs ? 

Thread -Waisted Wasp

Yellow Jacket

Bald-Faced Hornet - it is very difficult to separate hornets from wasps. 

Water Strider the bug that walks on water

Shadows of water striders on the river bed.

Back