Friendly Katydid Katydidn't

I was standing in my kitchen when I looked over and noticed wee little Wednesday staring intently at the floor with her ears swept forward. Sensing she might be up to no good, I leaned forward to see what she was looking at, and lo and behold! I had a very large katydid strolling across my dining room floor!

I quickly scooped her up and took her outside. Insects don't last long in my house - Sneakers usually gets pretty violent with them. While that's great when it comes to the horrifying house centipedes that I have a phobia of (slinky! fast! creepy!) I generally hate that cats kill for the fun of it. For good measure I ushered the male cats inside to give my katydid a fighting chance.

I adore bugs (aside from the aforementioned centipedes), but am not great at identification. I need some good field guides and to really spend some time working on it. Beyond knowing she's a katydid, and that her long ovipositer makes her a female, I can't get more specific. Any bug lovers want to tell me more? She was nearly 4 inches long - big enough that I considered calling her Big Bertha.

She sat on the railing on the back porch for ages and took a bath. I love the shots of her washing her antennae.

I want a macro lens soooo badly. It's on my wish list. I want to get good close-ups of buggy eyes!

5 comments:

sarah August 12, 2012 at 10:22 AM: She looks like a leaf become sentient. Also, since you used the word ovipositor, allow me to introduce you to two of my favorite bloggers simultaneously, in case you don't already know them: murr, and Julie: http://murrbrewster.blogspot.com/2012/08/thats-my-oviposition-and-im-sticking-to.html
biobabbler August 12, 2012 at 12:02 PM: =) your post was charming (I adore katydids) and the post title Sarah shared cracked me up. I get it re: house centipedes. If they were sleepy, ponderous things, I'm sure folks'd be charmed. I DO admire the symmetry of their many legs.

Katydids, on the other hand, I love like a sister. They are beautiful, whimsical, and have friendly faces. I assume you've dug through bugguide.net before? I'm not a bug person, but I've found many an answer (and kind & generous expert) there. (translation, I'm too hot right now to dig through and give you some allegedly good guess) Bug people are fabulous.

I think fewer people would be freaked out by bugs if they noticed how much time they spend grooming. =)

I love how moody the last shot is. Few photographers credit bugs with pathos. =)
Woodswoman Extraordinaire August 12, 2012 at 12:08 PM: Sarah, I LOLed at "Our future froghopper is comfortably ensconced in a protective nest of wet farts." Great post! And Biobabbler, I tend to forget about bugguide.com - I will absolutely start spending more time there!
Maggie August 12, 2012 at 8:52 PM: Holly, you are so talented! How did you learn to take such great photographs - did you teach yourself?
Holly August 12, 2012 at 9:09 PM: Maggie, many years of practice. I did take photography when I was at MPH, but that's the only formal training I've had. I am an artist as well, and took a few art courses in college, but no photography. Just lots of practice over many years. And I LOVE digital photography, because all my many crappy pictures don't cost me anything to develop!