All posts in “hiking”

Fountains and bees

Water Fountains and bees

Anytime we think we are safe in the water, wait that was the Shark headline. Honeybees need water just like us and they will take it from anywhere they can find it. Water fountains aren’t the perfect place and neither are swimming pools. Swimming pools can be a sting of a place if you surface and the bee tags along she may decide to sting you and ouch.

This circumstance is difficult to adjust, the bees don’t want to move and generally speaking they won’t. I have tried placing a water dish with stones so they can get a drink, gradually moving it away from the other source.

 

fountains     fountains

Dogs cats pets ticks

dogs cats pets ticks

 

Dogs cats pets versus ticks ohhhh my. So here in Arizona we are somewhat lucky not to be plagued by fleas very often. Our humidity isn’t favorable to their life-cycle. But don’t worry we have a host of other vicious little critters that enjoy bothering our pets and us. In general, ticks are to be found wherever their host species occur. Migrating birds carry ticks with them on their journeys; a study of migratory birds passing throughout the country. Ticks are widely distributed around the world, especially in warm, humid climates, yep that’s us.

That picture above is a fully engorged tick, after feeding on something she will be ready to lay her large mass of eggs -somewhere between 2,000 and 18,000. Ticks can fast for long periods but eventually die if unable to find a host. This behavior evolved approximately 120 million years ago through adaptation to blood-feeding and a female can increase her body size to 600%

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBtPTlrxDbs[/embedyt]
dogs cats pets ticks

dogs cats pets ticks

What do you look at while hiking?

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Some of the coolest and most intriguing stuff out in nature is awfully small and I noticed this small little spider while hiking in New Mexico. I don’t kill everything I see when it comes to bugs, only if they get into your home do I take it personally.

My point is this, while in nature or the great outdoors everything has its place. So take a moment and get into nature and call us 602-249-7378 if you find the creepy crawlies in your home.

A little hiking tour in Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona.

 

I’m a bug guy so hiking with me is an adventure in looking at the little stuff, sometimes we tend to only look ahead but not me. I’m the guy that stops to investigate a lone ant probestpestDSC09679, or maybe something lurking behind a leaf like this Assassin Bug probestpestmanagementDSC09688. I also tend to investigate wood rot and fungus probestpestmanagementDSC09673 or something like this probestpestDSC09676.

So as you are out hiking don’t forget the small stuff.

A few pictures from my readers…

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One of the things I would often mention to my Scouts as we were hiking was to not just look at the ground but to look around and capture the majesty of the world. These pictures are a prime example of that hidden world we often just cruise right on by. The first two pictures I believe are tent caterpillars and the last two pictures are some type of funnel spider from the area of Havasupai Falls in Arizona, located at the Grand Canyon.

So get out and explore the often hidden world of bugs and send me a few pictures, thanks to C. Brannon for these.

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