Studying

Oh boy I had fun watching the ladybugs today!  There are a couple places in the garden where they're very active, and it's easy to just sit there and get lost in another world. I think they can sense when something (like me) is near, even before I start poking my camera too close, because they hightail it out of reach, and they can move really fast when they're motivated. I'm pretty sure we host different kinds of these creatures: the 7-spotted seems the most common, but there is one with ten spots and a different black and white shoulder* pattern in the Extras. I read that they can have as many as 24 spots, and they come in many shades of yellow, red, orange and sometimes black. The more I looked, the more I saw, including some of the instars (stages of development), mating activity, and delirious bodies covered in pollen. I'm clearly not very scientific about any of this, but I do enjoy the heck out of spending some time with these creatures.

*Shoulder? well, I don't know what it's called, that space with white patterns between the head and the spots...