Northeastern Hammertail

Isn't that quite a name?  This creature flew past me today when I was out lurking around a big field, searching for bugs - I knew immediately that it was one of the robber flies but wasn't able to nail down the identification until I got home and spent some time online.  Robber flies are amazing little hunters who rely on their appearance to help them evade predation themselves.  Many of them look like wasps or bees, making them less than appealing for birds - at least in theory.  Anyway, they will perch and wait for prey to enter the airspace and then launch, hunting "on the wing".  The skies were heavily overcast so most of the insects were slower than they'd be on a bright, sunny day; probably the only reason I was able to manipulate the big of vegetation to get a better shot of this little hunter.  

I had a most enjoyable time out in the wilds this morning, in spite of the oppressive humidity.  It was good to be out and I found all kinds of interesting things.  My favorite shot is one I will put in Extra as I realize it isn't everyone's cup of tea - it is a predatory stinkbug nymph dining on a caterpillar.  I happened to see the caterpillar dangling below a leaf and when I turned the leaf up, I saw the whole gruesome crime scene!  Okay, not really gruesome...

I want to thank everyone who stopped by to help me celebrate my milestone blip yesterday.  The comments, stars and hearts made me feel very special indeed so thank you.  Jax says thank you for all the birthday wishes, too - woofs!

Hubs and I watched "42" last night, the story of Jackie Robinson, the first black man to play professional baseball in the United States.  He joined the Brooklyn Dodgers post WWII when racial equality was still mostly just a dream.  Anyway, it was well acted and the story was quite inspiring.  And you don't have to like baseball to enjoy it.  We found it on Prime.  It was much better, in my opinion, than "Passion Fish" which we watched the night before and didn't really care for. 

I have been following the election results in the UK on the news today.  I hope that this will bring some positive changes.  It seems like politics everywhere in the world are so sharply divided these days.

I am leaning towards dark with ginger today.

xo
Debbi