That pool toy pic reminds of these pics of awesome pools for sale on amazon.
A 59" x 12" high dog pool that was something like $35 on sale this spring. And this awesome roomy 10fter currently around $100!

I was trying to get the evening sun through this one's wings, but it the closest I got was about 45 degrees. The tiger swallowtails kept spooking, but this one was pretty steady for pics at least.

2 days back.
This cicada just molted, was sitting on his old shell, when I pointed him out to the dog. After the dog nosed him, he started climbing slowly. Very slowly. Then I realized I should have gotten the camera first... This is not one of the 17 year locusts that hatched out earlier this year. These green ones come out every August. The 17 year ones are orange and have a narrower head.
I'd say these pics are just minutes after the molt.
Here is the old exoskeleton. And the cicada climbing, still soft, after dog nosed him. Eventually I put the camera in front of the climber. The blue is a piece of HDPE from a 55gal drum, that covers a branch cut off. The heartwood was rotted out there and I try to prevent water pouring down by keeping it covered. This pear tree is from the mid 50s and is showing some age. Now he(she?) will be out there making a racket each evening for the next couple weeks. Unless he gets tracked down and caught by one of the cicada killers - big wasps that hatch out of the ground about 25 feet from the pear tree. They'll paralyze these fat buggers and try to fly them back to their burrows, but they can't fly level with all the extra weight, so they climb up whatever they can whilst dragging these things, and then launch off again. At times the wasps fight over a paralyzed cicada near their burrows.

I have, on occasion, joined in and played tug of war with a cicada killer wasp, by grabbing the cicada's wing or wings. The wasp goes in the hole first, backwards, and drags the cicada afterward, so it seems safe enough. I would not want to get stung by one, so usually I give them a few seconds of fight and then lay off. Last year when I was playing like this, a second wasp jumped in on my tug of war. Before I knew it, I felt a hard scratch, jerked my hand back, and just about cried before I realized it didn't sting me LOL.

That looks similar to the cicadas we get, although, yours there has a shade of green that looks different. We don’t have the 17 year type here. Cicadas are a fixture of summer along the Texas Gulf coast. They are everywhere in the trees and sing almost all day long. I like the sounds they make and there’s so many singing at once it’s almost like the wind in the trees.

I haven’t seen very many of the big cicada killer wasps in the last few years. Not sure what happened to them. Never played tug-o-war with one either. They seem non-aggressive for a wasp and never been tagged by one. I get smoked by wasps most summers, hazards of hedge trimming. Trying to escape the wasps is typically more injurious than the actual stings.

Cicadas don’t have it easy. We have these massive spiders that build giant sticky webs in between the trees. Cicadas are often seen thrashing in those webs, the spiders wait it out until the cicadas calm down some before delivering the fatal bite. Barred owls, red shouldered hawks and Mississippi kites all go after the cicadas. But, cicadas love their singing.

[mention]JRinPA[/mention] those are some great shots! Thank you so much for sharing them.

August bounty

What kind of melon is that monster?

Plumeria still blooming.

Anonymous butterfly I thought one of you might tell me what it is. Sorry can't compete with those beauty shots, it wouldn't sit still! But I did catch a wee toad for the photo op. My garden is so full of tiny toads, i thought we were having a grasshopper infestation! Nope. Toads.

That butterfly looks like a cat's face. Awesome Bower! Moth or butterfly, I don't know, but that pattern should've been printed up on those cheap triangle kites we all used to fly as kids. Gayla? You know, before everything had to be high tech.

You are welcome MissS. Here is another of those cicadas. Right above a shell but it was already dried. Dried off but not yet evasive, the camera being about 1-1/2" away on the one shot.

Tiny blooms on a polka dot plant. Coleus in bloom. A compact tropical hibiscus named Cayman Wind. I think my katydid has minuscule differences from JR's in the above post.

Those locust photos are very cool. Great capture!

I have never seen a Polka-Dot plant bloom and didn't know that they ever did. It's so dainty and pretty. Do your hummingbirds use it at all? I know that they enjoy feeding from coleus.

Such brilliant shots, loving this thread !

MissS, I've never seen a polka-dot plant bloom either. I'll let you know if the hummingbirds take an interest in the blossoms. The first hummingbird arrived this morning on their fall migration.

Harvested my oats yesterday, and they were hopping with critters... bugs, it seems.
Just looking on google and at least some of them seem to be damsel bugs - beneficials! They were really surprised to have their home chopped and moved. I had to shake everything out really thoroughly before I brought the oats in to dry.

I don't recognize the oat critter either. I guess the last one is a younger version, with the colors inverted?
Vertical stripes are back in fashion this year in NF, and very slimming!





One swallowtail came just before dark while I was picking tomatoes for sauce. It was tough for the camera on auto as it got dark and the wings never stopped. The flash is sharper, but the middle three are more true to what I was seeing. So, what happens when a butterfly sees that flash in the evening? I never see them fall off the flower or fly into a wall. It never seems to bother them at all.

Spiny-backed orbweaver.
Passiflora lutea, yellow passiflora, flower and green fruit. Fruit turns purple when ripe
Malvaviscus arboreus, Turk’s Cap, another native species. Both are edible, Turk’s cap greens, flowers and fruit are good to eat.

NEVER
EVER
EVER
EVER
GET A NEW PUPPY

Oh AA, for sure they are trouble as my neighbour with a new pup agrees. Doesn't matter the size, they are mischief.