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In Oregon the invasive species that costs the most to contain, by a significant margin, is blackberries. They will take over acres of land and are pernicious as hell to get out once established. They do have nice berries, though.
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Aug 4, 2019 06:12
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gently caress. These. Things.  Megacopta cribraria, the kudzu bug. They were introduced into Georgia from China or India about a decade ago and made there way into my neck of the woods in South Carolina in 2011. They are attracted to white paint and clothes and emit fluid that smells like a mixture of stale piss and gasoline that burns and stains your skin orange when you swat or crush them. The lot behind my house is absolutely covered in kudzu so these stinking little fucks were everywhere for a couple summers. As a bonus they'd apparently die en masse every time it rained and the smell would just hang in the air forever. After back to back summers where doing anything in the yard was just horrible, they've steadily decreased in number to the point where I don't think I've seen any this year. I'm not sure what happened but good riddance.
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Aug 4, 2019 06:57
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When european earwigs (iirc the most typically seen type in America) were first introduced they didn't just hang out under logs and stuff, they formed insane gigantic swarms all over the place and wreaked havoc. And then for some reason they just chilled out and don't do that anymore (except around one log cabin in North Carolina). One of life's invasive mysteries.
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Aug 4, 2019 07:51
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Yes, some species acclimatize. The European Hornet is one of those, it's an invasive species that has, more or less, become part of the natural order in places it was introduced to in the US without much fuss. but when something that has zero impetus to calm down(and nothing local can deal with them) and just wants to devour ceaselessly shows up like kudzu or asian longhorns or cane toads, eradicate them.
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Aug 4, 2019 08:14
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I want to eat kudzu and Do My Part against it but am always worried it would have been sprayed with something. Iirc it has starchy tubers too.
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Aug 4, 2019 08:17
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Here in Oregon we had campaigns of aerial spraying in the 1980s to eradicate gypsy moth invaders. Seems to have worked really well. I have vague memories of California doing similar poo poo in the 1970s (maybe early 80s) to deal with the "med fly" (I think it was called that) but it was not my state and I was much younger at the time. Edit: I guess I was off about the medfly, and I guess I was unaware of it being a biological attack. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_California_medfly_attack CaptainSarcastic fucked around with this message at 08:38 on Aug 4, 2019 |
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Aug 4, 2019 08:36
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Wikipedia posted:In December 1989, a two-page letter addressing Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley was sent to the Los Angeles Times and Fresno Bee ostensibly from an "ecoterrorist organization" calling itself "The Breeders".[24][25] The Breeders claimed that it was responsible for the summer release of the medflies as retaliation for the environmental damage caused by the Malathion aerial spraying by the state.[26][27] It also threatened to expand its medfly infestation into the San Joaquin Valley.[28] The letters claimed that officials would have noticed an uptick in medfly numbers around March 1989.[29] The group promised to make the aerial spraying program politically and financially impossible through the coordinated release of thousands of medflies. Holy poo poo. That is some Saturday morning cartoon level villainy and I loving love it. Put me on the watchlist and subscribe me to the newsletter, FBI. I love swarming insects, mostly in the same way I love dark surrealist art. They exist in the purest apocalyptical nightmare hellscape I can imagine. Mormon crickets are the living embodiment of a Beksinski painting, especially when they get caught in the endless "cannibalize roadkill > become roadkill > cannibalize roadkill" cycle that escalates up to people hydroplaning off the highway on a sea of hemolymph.   For comparison:  I've got less depressing bugs too. These fat & happy caterpillars are almost 10cm in length. Hyles lineata chomping on some Epilobium brachycarpum  Another one scaling some massive medusahead rye  This Pontia beckerii let me get right up in his grill for a dozen photos. This was still the best shot I could manage. 
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Aug 4, 2019 11:06
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CaptainSarcastic posted:In Oregon the invasive species that costs the most to contain, by a significant margin, is blackberries. They will take over acres of land and are pernicious as hell to get out once established. They do have nice berries, though. Yeah Himalayan blackberries are terrorizing the whole Pacific Northwest. They're woody brambles so nothing eats the plant, but birds and other animals love the fruits and spread them all over the loving place. They're a menace.
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Aug 4, 2019 18:10
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 These things have been fighting away hummingbirds from the feeder in Maryland. Anyone know what they are?
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Aug 4, 2019 20:56
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dirby posted:
These are bald faced hornets, Dolichovespula maculata. NOTE: not really hornets (they are technically yellow jackets), nor bald faced for that matter.
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Aug 4, 2019 21:18
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Mak0rz posted:These are bald faced hornets, Dolichovespula maculata. I grew up having them referred to as black hornets, and occasionally white hornets - I'm not sure why  .They're intense - like yellowjackets on steroids. As a teenager I noticed a half-built nest in an ornamental maple outside our kitchen, and it was like a partially constructed death star. The thing was probably 18 inches top to bottom, and would have been about a foot in diameter if it was completed. I sprayed it with the same insecticide that would drop paper wasps in mid-flight, and it just pissed off the bald-faced hornets. It took over an hour for it to actually kill them off.
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Aug 4, 2019 21:30
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I actually find them to be more docile than their smaller yellow cousins
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Aug 4, 2019 21:37
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Mak0rz posted:I actually find them to be more docile than their smaller yellow cousins No, I agree on that - they don't seem to be absolute dicks like regular yellowjackets are. They are just gently caress-off huge and scary.
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Aug 4, 2019 21:45
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They're very aggressive here in massachusetts, especially if you get within fifty feet of their nest. There was a nest under our driveway and they launched out of the hole at people like they were being shot out of a cannon. Awful, awful little bastards. Yellowjackets are still worse because they're far more prevalent, but BFH are real nasty still
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Aug 4, 2019 21:49
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Captain Invictus posted:They're very aggressive here in massachusetts, especially if you get within fifty feet of their nest. There was a nest under our driveway and they launched out of the hole at people like they were being shot out of a cannon. Awful, awful little bastards. My dad and I were passing a soccer ball when I was a kid and bounced it off a wall right over top of a nest entrance  yellowjackets are more aggrieved ime but hornets can still happily wreck your poo poo
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Aug 4, 2019 22:08
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And don't gently caress with paper wasps either. Ever been stung in the testicle by a wasp? You might be surprised to find out it is literally incapacitating! When I was 10 or so I was playing outside, hopping off the rock wall by my house and happened to land in such a way that two paper wasps that were coming out of a nest inside the rock wall right under where I was jumping went up my shorts leg. One stung my leg and one stung me right in the testicle through my underwear. Dropped me like a sack of potatoes, I had to be carried inside screaming.
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Aug 4, 2019 22:55
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There are always tons of mud daubers around here, they get in the house all the time and it's fine. They are super chill, very forgiving & good pollinators
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Aug 4, 2019 23:01
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So many bumblers around! They seem to like the wildflowers we planted in our front yard. This one was about the size of my thumb.    Lacewing, I believe.  Any ideas on this spider? It was maybe 1 cm long, and I'm in north-central Alberta. I dig that glossy black!
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Aug 5, 2019 02:59
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your spider looks like a Zelotes species to me the shiny black body with the velvety butt always looks real stylish
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Aug 5, 2019 12:18
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well speak of the devil, went to grab a pair of clippers to cut some of the aforementioned oriental bittersweet that had decided to climb up my house's cable line(doing the twisty thing it does to strangle trees on it, natch) and the sucker on the left was in a cobweb between the handles of the clippers. I'm guessing it's a European Hornet Queen, it's the size of a half dollar. The two smaller ones are regular european hornets for reference, they're about an inch long. came home from work last week during the hottest night of the week to my front door coated in critters, including multiple big fellas Katydid that absolutely refused to sit still long enough to get fully in focus  Grapevine Beetle(and friends)    possibly a Blinded Sphinx Moth?  some random shithead moth that immediately flew inside when I opened the door and is probably dead in a spiderweb on the porch now 
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Aug 6, 2019 03:18
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 Spotted tussock moth caterpillar. I love these guys!  Scarlet lily beetles. I should really take some preventative action next year. I was initially puzzled by the brown (slightly out of focus) thing on the leaf to the left of them as it looks like a poop but appears to have a head and legs. Apparently the larvae of this species form a fecal shield for protection, which is kind of neat!
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Aug 6, 2019 15:37
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Hello CQ thread! I work a lot outside at night, and I love seeing all the wildlife that comes out. A few weeks ago, I saw the biggest spider that I've ever seen outside of a zoo. Beautiful bugger was about the size of my palm. (I know, Australians are probably rolling their eyes right now, but give me a break, I don't normally see ones this size.)  I tried to get a shot with my hand close by for size comparison, but I was also getting eaten alive by clouds of mosquitoes.  Any ideas what type of spider I may have here? This is in Toronto, Ontario.
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Aug 9, 2019 03:22
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it's a Fishing Spider.
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Aug 9, 2019 03:35
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Captain Invictus posted:Yes, some species acclimatize. The European Hornet is one of those, it's an invasive species that has, more or less, become part of the natural order in places it was introduced to in the US without much fuss. eh. . . kudzu has a bad rap but its pretty in offensive as far as exotics go. It has a hard time spreading away from humans and big animals eat it happily. It's bad reputation mostly comes from the fact it was intentionally planted a lot along highway margins and other highly visible disturbed habitats. It's not really a problem in wild areas and its actually fairly easy to control if you actually try. You just have to let a few goats run buckwild for a few days and they'll eat it right up
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Aug 9, 2019 03:42
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Squalid posted:eh. . . kudzu has a bad rap but its pretty in offensive as far as exotics go. It has a hard time spreading away from humans and big animals eat it happily. It's bad reputation mostly comes from the fact it was intentionally planted a lot along highway margins and other highly visible disturbed habitats. It's not really a problem in wild areas and its actually fairly easy to control if you actually try. You just have to let a few goats run buckwild for a few days and they'll eat it right up I'm really tempted to get a few goats, or rent some, to deal with the oriental bittersweet, poison ivy, blackberries, and the like that have gotten out of control on my property. I used to deal with them myself but I just don't have the time or energy to do it anymore. The only hazardous plant I've got that I know of to goats is milkweed, and that's easy enough to deal with on my own.
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Aug 9, 2019 04:00
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Squalid posted:eh. . . kudzu has a bad rap but its pretty in offensive as far as exotics go. It has a hard time spreading away from humans and big animals eat it happily. It's bad reputation mostly comes from the fact it was intentionally planted a lot along highway margins and other highly visible disturbed habitats. It's not really a problem in wild areas and its actually fairly easy to control if you actually try. You just have to let a few goats run buckwild for a few days and they'll eat it right up Gilbert Dauterive would disagree. He too, is a creeper, like the kudzu vines slowly bur surely strangling our dixie.
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Aug 9, 2019 16:04
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Ahhh, makes sense. I was right near to a good sized river. Thanks for the quick ID!
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Aug 9, 2019 16:39
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this fly(?) has been hanging around our hydrangea for a few days, I couldn’t get a great pic but he’s very distinctive looking, I especially dig his wings. 
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Aug 11, 2019 03:47
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Nato Geo posted this cool video about Ghost Orchids and moths (with a spoiler title) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9IIrpOLJ14 Pablo Bluth fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Aug 11, 2019 |
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Aug 11, 2019 17:36
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Pablo Bluth posted:Nato Geo posted this cool video about Ghost Orchids and moths (with a spoiler title) Pollinia all over its face, that's the money shot alright.
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Aug 11, 2019 21:28
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 Argiope lobata, impressive-looking spider, as typical has set a wide net between high grass straws. Predictably, in the corner lurks the small male of the species, who needs to tread carefully lest he gets eaten before making his move: 
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Aug 14, 2019 00:21
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There are some Cormorants living at a large pond at La Fontaine Park in Montreal. Pond Cormorant  Pond Cormorant
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Aug 16, 2019 01:57
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Sauer posted:There are some Cormorants living at a large pond at La Fontaine Park in Montreal. I saw a cormorant at a pond in the middle of Arizona and looked up their range - they go way inland apparently.
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Aug 16, 2019 08:25
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There were some juvenile cormorants at my wife's park this spring and, jesus, they have the ugly/cute thing going on extremely hard.
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Aug 16, 2019 18:07
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A digger wasp (Sphecidae) I believe, dragging a bush cricket for provision. Quite a catch! Found it on a mountain hike here in Portugal.
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Aug 17, 2019 02:19
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 Spotted a cicada yesterday, in mid-molt. I think this guy is a late bloomer, since I usually see them cracking open in July. He seemed to be having a bit of trouble squeezing his fat butt out of his husk, so I stuck my finger out by his legs. He grabbed on, and I gently eased him out, and he climbed off onto the tree bark. Good luck buddy! Get laid before some bird or squirrel eats you!
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Aug 17, 2019 17:50
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You should have eaten the cicada
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Aug 17, 2019 19:14
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poverty goat posted:You should have eaten the cicada That's not recommended. https://www.inverse.com/article/57081-cicada-fungus-masspora-cicadina
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Aug 17, 2019 20:29
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It is, though. Cicadas taste like shrimp x peanuts
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Aug 17, 2019 20:35
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CaptainSarcastic posted:That's not recommended. Zombie apocalypse is going to start from people huffing cicada butt spores
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Aug 17, 2019 23:32
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