Elegant Bush Katydid

A female elegant bush katydid on a lantana bush in our yard in Scottsdale, Arizona on November 5, 2022. Original: _ZFC4233.NEF

A few years back I was delighted to find a katydid sampling the wares in our yard. It brought back fond memories of the katydids in Oregon, once I found they loved eating our rose petals it not only changed how I pruned the roses but changed my opinion of roses altogether. This one is an elegant bush katydid, the dramatic white-striping is quite different than the green of the fork-tailed bush katydids in Oregon.

📷: Nikon Z fc | Nikon 105mm macro
🗓️: November 5, 2022

Snout Slurp

An Americna snout eats from a lantana fruit in our backyard in Scottsdale, Arizona on September 5, 2021. Original: _RAC8744.arw

An American snout enjoys the remains of lantana fruit in our backyard. After the monsoons this summer and fall when the flowers were in full bloom I’d close my mouth as I walked past this bush to make sure I didn’t accidentally inhale a butterfly from the mob that flittered about. We recently had landscapers dig up the many bougainvillea plants in the backyard and a couple of palms that had died or were struggling, initially I was unsure on whether to keep the lantana but after seeing how the butterflies loved it I decided to keep them.