When the days are cool and the nights are cold, many insects congregate in areas that provide some additional warmth. The west side of the house, warmed by the setting sun, is a great place to find insects. The Boxelder Bug,
Boisea trivittata, is drawn to the warmth absorbed by the brick. If given the opportunity, it will move right on into the house. Boxelder Bugs are not very abundant here and seldom congregate in large numbers.
This midge selected a place on the aluminum downspout. It may be warm while the sun shines, but aluminum gives up heat rapidly and will shortly be a chilly perch. A spot on the brick would have provided a more long term source of warmth.
Scudder’s Short-winged Grasshoppers,
Melanoplus scudderi, were the most numerous species on the wall. I hadn’t realized how many grasshopper species shared this same general appearance, until I went to the keys for an ID. Fortunately, most were not found anywhere near Ohio, so I was able to trim the possibilities down to a handful.
As is implied in the name, this is one of a group of grasshoppers with short wings, not to be confused with the short, stubby wing pads found on immature nymphs of long winged species. From the descriptions it seems that several of these species have short wings UNLESS they are an individual that displays long wings. I’m going to have to do some more research to see what’s up with the long winged short wings.
The Asian Lady Beetle,
Harmonia axyridis, is a common species known to millions of people as that nuisancy bug that invades their home every fall. It’s been several years since I’ve seen these in any great numbers. Typically, the population of an aggressive introduced predator explodes when it first arrives into an area with abundant food. After a few years, the food supply is exhausted and the population declines. Then the food supply comes back and the population again increases. Before it can rebuild to its previous numbers, the food is gone and the population again falls. This cycle continues until a balance is reached, with the new predator claiming a fairly permanent place in the new regime.
This tiny bagworm obviously moves too slowly to have climbed up the wall just to get warm. It may have just chosen this as a good location to anchor down and pupate. It reminds me of climbers who pin their hammocks to vertical rock faces and stretch out to sleep.
This is what I was really out there looking for. I have an immature Anolis lizard that needs to be fed and house flies are just the right size. The drought has really caused the insect numbers to be down this fall. Flies are normal fall visitors to my barn and garage, but this year there have been none.
When the days are cool and the nights are cold, many insects congregate in areas that provide some additional warmth. The west side of the house, warmed by the setting sun, is a great place to find insects. The Boxelder Bug, Boisea trivittata, is drawn to the warmth absorbed by the brick. If given the opportunity, it will move right on into the house. Boxelder Bugs are not very abundant here and seldom congregate in large numbers.
This midge selected a place on the aluminum downspout. It may be warm while the sun shines, but aluminum gives up heat rapidly and will shortly be a chilly perch. A spot on the brick would have provided a more long term source of warmth.
Scudder’s Short-winged Grasshoppers, Melanoplus scudderi, were the most numerous species on the wall. I hadn’t realized how many grasshopper species shared this same general appearance, until I went to the keys for an ID. Fortunately, most were not found anywhere near Ohio, so I was able to trim the possibilities down to a handful. 
As is implied in the name, this is one of a group of grasshoppers with short wings, not to be confused with the short, stubby wing pads found on immature nymphs of long winged species. From the descriptions it seems that several of these species have short wings UNLESS they are an individual that displays long wings. I’m going to have to do some more research to see what’s up with the long winged short wings.
The Asian Lady Beetle, Harmonia axyridis, is a common species known to millions of people as that nuisancy bug that invades their home every fall. It’s been several years since I’ve seen these in any great numbers. Typically, the population of an aggressive introduced predator explodes when it first arrives into an area with abundant food. After a few years, the food supply is exhausted and the population declines. Then the food supply comes back and the population again increases. Before it can rebuild to its previous numbers, the food is gone and the population again falls. This cycle continues until a balance is reached, with the new predator claiming a fairly permanent place in the new regime. 
This tiny bagworm obviously moves too slowly to have climbed up the wall just to get warm. It may have just chosen this as a good location to anchor down and pupate. It reminds me of climbers who pin their hammocks to vertical rock faces and stretch out to sleep.
This is what I was really out there looking for. I have an immature Anolis lizard that needs to be fed and house flies are just the right size. The drought has really caused the insect numbers to be down this fall. Flies are normal fall visitors to my barn and garage, but this year there have been none.
