Tomorrow I will lead a bug safari just for adults. This will be a first for me, as my bug hunts have always been for children and families. With all the positive feedback I get from participating parents, I have been wondering for a while if there might be enough interest in having a bug hunt just for grown ups (well, ages 16 and up). Seven people have signed up. We may get a few walk-ins as well.


I took my customary pre-bug hunt, to see what was out there. Lots of bees and butterflies. Lots of small stuff: ladybugs, other small beetles and bugs. Small spiders. A few adult gray bird grasshoppers, but no nymphs yet. I did find this almost microscopic katydid nymph which I think is Phaneroptera nana, a the small sized Mediterranean species that has been increasing in numbers around here in recent years. I don't think I ever posted about how I searched and searched to find the name of these guys, and when I did, I posted it to BugGuide. That was almost 2 years ago, but I digress.



So the bugs will be mostly small, but at least there are plenty of them.

I don't know if my "customers" tomorrow will be parents from previous bug safaris coming back to have a nice little bug hunt without the whining, squabbling young'uns, or maybe older people who want to find out a little bit more about what they're seeing in their own gardens. Maybe I'll even get somebody who's really into bugs, but hasn't been to the arboretum in a while (or at all) and just wants to see what we have here. Either way, it should be fun!