A Lady By Any Other Name

Coccinellidae

Lady bug lady bug fly away home, your house in on fire, your children's alone.

I think that everyone in the world is familiar with some version of this childhood nursery rhyme. The poem been catalogued in the Roud Folk Song Index, which is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. (source -Wikipedia) There are 5,000 species of Ladybugs thoughout the world with 450 species in North America. That's a lot of spots!

I spent a few hours in the fields of Lenape today, watching the insects hunt for food and noting the flora that has gone to seed. I sat in the tall grasses with a pink paisley bandana over my head, perfectly hidden from anyone's view except for the butterflies and bees that flew in very close to inspect the new large pink flower.

As I watched the ladybug meandering around her thistle, I realized the depths of my love for nature. It has been my refuge, solitude, and a source of wonder ~ a secret magical kingdom ~ since childhood.

In May I blipped a ladybug larvae that was nestled in the petals of my garden peony, although I had no idea what it was until fellow blipper karenanya identified it. If you'd like to see how small it is, please click here.

I hope everyone had a lovely day!