Leslie Bulion
Children's Book Author

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At the Sea Floor Cafe

HEY THERE, STINK BUG!

Praying mantis posing for the camera.

I surprised this cicada and it surprised me by trrrrr-ing up out of the garden and past my head to rest on this branch.

Band-winged Meadowhawk. See how it holds its wings over its thorax to keep cool?

Probably a yellow bear caterpillar of the Virginia Tiger Moth

Whitemarked Tussock Moth caterpillar on one of the coolers we used during Hurricane Irene's powerout

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This juvenile stink bug's little wings haven't fully developed yet.

Two-spot tree cricket hanging on the screen

Did I mention that moths are hard to identify?

Good morning, arched hooktip moth on my doorframe!

I wonder what kind of moth this is...

Red admiral stopping by our coneflowers

This pearly crescentspot butterfly flew beside me down a dirt road.

A lot of new stink bugs just hatched into the world!

Rough stink bug nosing around in the woods.

Sallow moth

I haven't identified this beauty yet...anybody?

This wild cherry sphinx moth looked like it fought its way out of a spiderweb.

Mayfly, so delicate and beautiful

a coreid leaf-footed bug in West Virginia

ok, I love true bugs, the hemiptera, so I couldn't resist the side view, too!

This long-horned beetle came in for a visit.

This moth is a zale--John Himmelman tells us it's pronounced ZAH-lay--but which ZAH-lay?

A very small jumping spider

Quite a large fishing spider!

Eyes to eyes with the fishing spider

Snout beetle

This six-spotted orb weaver rode ziplines between the leaves of my new arugula plants.

First mayfly of the season!

This red admiral butterfly was very happy in the lilacs

this duskywing skipper butterfly landed right in front of me while I was hiking in the woods.

Hello, first swallowtail of the season!

If you look carefully, you can see where the water strider's legs press down on, but do not break the surface of the stream. But which is the bug, and which is its reflection?

This parasitic wasp's long stinger is actually an ovipositor, built to inject eggs into a non-human host.

Scroll down for more bugs...

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HEY THERE, STINK BUG!
This is
an insect world with humans in it.
We'll seize the day, but they will win it.
You've been forewarned, now let's begin it--
Take a closer look...
at BUGS!

from the jacket:

What makes stink bugs stink? Are lightning bugs flashing in secret code? Find the answers to these questions and discover some of the amazing ways that insects capture their prey, trick predators, and attract the perfect mate in this collection of witty poems and astonishing facts.

A glossary of scientific terms, notes on the different poetic forms used, and resources for mor information on insects will delight larval entomologists and budding poets alike.

2010 Bug Journal!

2009 SUMMER BUG JOURNAL

A Chilean moth from my friend Diego

Hey, a stink bug was in my basil!

This short-horned grasshopper was a surprise wedding guest in CT. Many thanks to my friend Diego Carrasco from Chile for the photo!

Diego also snapped a photo of this garden spider at Dinosaur Park.

squash bug

a very slow-moving, long-legged fly

Most moths, like this pale beauty, have feathery antennae

Is it a twig? Or is it something else?

I am wondering if this is an immature grasshopper

This is an early carpet moth or a variable carpet moth, but according to CT moth man, John Himmelman, it doesn't eat carpets!

pretty big fruit fly landed right on my finger

my dog Rory found this dogday harvestfly--it's a cicada

hello katydid

leaf footed bug - check out the orange-tipped antennae

Soft-winged flower beetle strolling along my flagstones

Hello bumblebee!

2008 SUMMER BUG JOURNAL...

Some insects from my visit to Montana and Wyoming this September

I think this is a question mark butterfly. It was flitting from flower to flower, and held still for a moment on the ground where we were picnicking at Yellowstone National Park.

torymid wasp on the outside of our windshield

bees at work

This seems like a large species of fruit fly

margined burying beetle in Maine--these beetles bury the carcass of a small dead animal (this one was burying a bird). Then they lay eggs there. When the larvae hatch, they'll have a meal.

longhorned beetle

this wasp is a little blurry

ash-winged large caddisfly

This bee is loaded with pollen!

Okay, I am really taken with these long-legged cellar spiders and their tiny vibrating babies

A blinded sphinx moth on my front screen door

Beautiful from the side, too!

We have lots of these adult long-legged cellar spiders in our garage and stairwell, and now we'll have lots more! Check out the hatchlings.

A young grasshopper on my camping lantern in New Hampshire

What is this grub doing? I noticed it pushing the small brown particles out of its crack in a tree trunk.

A robber fly hitched a ride on my car window in New Hampshire

This beauty was in the restroom at our campground in New Hampshire!

Lots of eastern daddy-long-legs liked crawling on the outside of our tent in New Hampshire

This ant was climbing up a tree trunk at the University of New Hampshire

A pretty little moth on my deck railing

This fishfly on my back screen door isn't a fly at all. Do you see that it's missing an antenna?

I found this long-necked seed bug in March

Scroll down for more bugs!

MY 2007 SUMMER BUG JOURNAL...

Bug season is winding down in Connecticut, but I saw this banana spider on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia

termites marching up the wall of an old plantation house in St. Lucia

Carrion beetle on our deck!

This insect that Mia found on our hike looks like a moth, but it's really a net-winged beetle.

Juvenile stink bug found by Zeke!

Eastern daddy longlegs in my front yard

boxwood leaftier moth

Wasp visiting flowers on Block Island

A crane fly on our door frame!

This honeybee has pollen on its back

This sphinx moth was pretty still until it warmed up in the sun. Bye bye!

From far away I thought this was a firefly, then for a minute it looked like it could be a young grasshopper because of the shape of its head. But up close I think it is a boring beetle (boring, as in making a hole in a twig or branch--certainly not uninteresting!)in the long-horned beetle family.