Shiny!

Temperature: 79°

Humidity: 17%
Sunny

Every time I walk our Ceder Loop Trail I always see a remarkably shiny beetle. It is the called the Six Spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela sexguttata). The way it glints makes it the most notable ground beetle that there is. Usually it can be found on the forest floor waiting for tasty snacks to wonder into its path. Almost every day I scare one into flight. The best part is that it will fly about three feet down the path that I walk on. So after I take three steps it flies three more feet, and in three more steps, three more feet. Well, you see the pattern. It never fails to amuse me to see how long I can "chase" it down the trail. However, after seeing the closeup of the mandibles of the one above, I may rethink taunting them in the future!

On a bad note, today when I got back from lunch my leg kept itching. After five minutes of me scratching I realized that a bug was in my pants! I went to the bathroom to release the sucker and low and behold it was a tick. Ewwww! For some reason I always feel so violated when that happens. Nasty critters, stay off me! Blechk!

Picture found at: Gerry Lemmo