Garden visitor

I went to cut some tarragon for some chicken going into the oven, and this guy popped up and just sat there, unfazed.

Interesting little critter

A bug our dog found in the firewood near the stove. I was able to get it outside before he initiated an asymmetric play session with it.

Wasp nest revealed after leaves have fallen

Busy-ness underfoot

When you slow down and look down, sometimes you find an amazing amount of activity.

Ant chat

A small (0.5 cm) ant pauses to “chat” with an even smaller ant before each continues on its way.

Ants harvesting mushroom

Ants harvesting a mushroom. I have never seen this before.

Tarantula

See also The lucky spider for a tarantula that barely misses being stepped on by an enthusiastic if oblivious dog.

Crazy tiny ants

Very busy tiny red ants we’ve never seen before, on the dog walk today.

The bug

Walking dogs yesterday, we got into a discussion of bugs, as in garden variety. Syd and Gundy had a bunch of green spiders, and he wondered what they were, and whether they would hurt his tomato plants. He also mentioned a long green beetle with long antennae with balls on them. They were all over the blackberries, but apparently not harming anything.

Returning 45 minutes later, within a few meters of his front gate, returning, one landed on his arm, as if to say, “Welcome home!”

Kind of cute. I guess.

Close call for a cutter ant

Leaf cutter ants are annoying. They’re worse than annoying; they’re horrible. They can strip a tree of all its leaves overnight, as I have seen more than once with young trees I have planted in Uruguay.

At the same time, they are rather awesome to watch up close.

We were particularly impressed with a procession of fresh eucalyptus harvest that crossed our path today. Check out the ant with the flower in particular.

And check out how close he came to not making it across the path!