The I20 Amateur Count (Part I, Debi's Bugs)

The hurricane didn't effect us much here in West Texas (although my mom in East Texas has been without electricity for 2 days!). We have had lots of rain, though. We count on the precipitation this time of year to give us the one of our two rainy seasons. We didn't do so good in the spring, but never mind. The rains have caused almost a second spring. Better than the real one, even.

Wildflowers and buzzing are everywhere.

After being inspired and encouraged by Mr. Burr Williams (read yesterday's post here), Donna and I came up with the idea for a little friendly competition. The challenge would be to see who could photograph the most living species in a given area in a given time. The timing of our new game works in perfectly with the unexpected flurry of life right now.

I found a spot off of Interstate 20 in an industrial area. The advantage is it's near to us and doesn't have much human activity on the weekend or evenings. It's about an acre of open field that was just bursting with nodding yellow flower heads that I could see easily from the highway. Donna, Casey, and I made that our challenge spot on 4:30 pm Saturday.

We gave ourselves one hour to photograph as many species of flowers, plants, bugs, or any living thing.

We had a blast and have decided we like this game. Although it's not always conducive to good photography, it does make you appreciate things you've seen a hundred times (they add to your count), and make you look harder for things you haven't cared to look for before.

Like bugs, for example.

So, this post is my first installment of the I20 Amateur Count, I'm calling it. This is a complete inventory of the bugs I saw -- well, saw and was able to get an identifiable picture, that is.

Here are my bugs, 10 of them. Click any to enlarge.

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I can only identify the moth at the end -- it's a Sphinx moth (Hyles lineata, I think). And no wonder I had such a hard time getting its picture: I read where it has been clocked flying at 30 miles per hour! And do click on it so you can see its long tongue, a hollow tube, sucking up nectar.

In another picture you can see the wide hole of an army ant hole which Donna and I had just learned about on Friday from Mr. Williams. Their hole is large to accommodate a special guest, a millipede who keeps their maze of nest clean by munching on the rotting old food and mold. The millipede also helps defend the nest by exuding a noxious chemical. Or at least that's how I understood it.

You can also see a pair of beetles making more beetles. We decided that in our counts to give an extra five points to photos of anything mating. =)

I'll share more of my Saturday's pictures with you in the coming days and then ultimately our living thing tally. I wonder who "won?"