I love milkweed!

So says the Small Milkweed Bug, one of several who were tromping around in the mulch today, trying to avoid me and the macro lens.  Don't you love that heart-shaped mark on its back?  This is the quickest and easiest way to identify this little member of the True Bug family, and an easy way to distinguish it from the similar Large Milkweed and Boxelder Bugs.  

I suppose that some might view these little critters as pests, but they are welcome in my garden.  The nymph form (babies) eat the seeds of the milkweed plants, but I always have plenty of seed heads on my plants, so this isn't a problem.  Most birds avoid eating the milkweed bugs because the sap they ingest is toxic to most creatures (monarch butterfly caterpillars and milkweed bugs being notable exceptions.)  On any warm winter day, it's possible to find milkweed bugs if you know where to look.  In my case, no further than my garden where I grow milkweed in the summer.  

Thought this would be a fun entry for this week's TinyTuesday, with big thanks to Wrperry for hosting.

I'm happy to say that yesterday's malaise was nothing more than allergies, so I'm off to have a visit with MIL shortly.  Then, hopefully, a trip to get my hair trimmed as the ends are a hot mess.  After a very long sleep last night, I headed out for a nice walk along a favorite trail - first time I've been on it since fall.  See two waterscape shots starting HERE on Flickr

Thanks for the chippie-love yesterday.  No signs of the little striped rodent today, so I guess he/she is back in the burrow.  The bluebirds, however, were both in the garden this morning for a brief time, inspecting the box again.  Very good sign.

xo
Debbi