Joseph’s Comments (group member since Feb 03, 2015)

Joseph’s comments from the Conversation with Sharman Apt Russell group.

Hi Sharman, What a lovely day we are enjoying here in southwest NM. I will be out in it this afternoon for sure. I have five of your books on my shelf now and hope to add this one next.
I am engaged in tracking and reporting precipitation as part of the CoCoRaHS network at my home since 2008 and this practice has been a great teacher of climate variation. Extremes are the norm at least in southwest NM! Same is true of insect and animal populations. I keep noticing things I have never seen before and that is after living here for over 30 years. Two years ago I noticed an abundance of black beetles, epicauta pennsylvanica, chewing on baby mullein. Digging further into these guys I learn their larva jump onto passing bees and get transported to the hive to feed on eggs and larva. They also search out grasshopper egg pods where they become immobile legless grubs before pupating into adults the following summer. Next I had to learn about our native bees and how sometimes the introduction of european honey bees can have a negative impact on some native bees, particularly bumble bees. As you are probably aware, last summer we had a huge crop of grasshoppers. I got ahold of "A Manual of Grasshoppers of NM" and began scratching the surface of their biology; the wide variety of species, life cycles, population dynamics and distribution. Nothing on culinary uses but that will be fun to explore. My favorite and super abundant last year is the black male or ebony grasshopper, Boopedon nubilum or BOOPIE. It loves blue grama and other grasses but leaves the garden alone. When it flies it clacks and the hind tibia displays a beautiful creamy red color. The female of the species is larger, gray-green in color and doesn't fly. Nature is so fascinating, my apologies for getting carried away!