They're back. For weeks now you can't walk through a patch of grass or weeds without raising a cloud of tiny grasshoppers. And they grow. I've read accounts of clouds of them appearing on the horizon and all but blotting out the sun. Then, when they pass, like a living tsunami, nothing is left in their wake. They have been the destructive agent of many prairie farms in the past.
This is a big fellow. He measured 3" from feelers to vent.
Posts
5 comments:
I remember hearing about them in the Laura Ingalls Wilder books.
They have a thing for my plum trees and have almost stripped them bare. Yesterday I saw two on one of my peach trees and I tried to eradicate them with extreme predjudice. As they laughed at my attempt (they can laugh, right?) and flew away my resident mockingbird picked one off. It's nice to have allies, although I don't think we could handle the numbers you get up there.
Naw, it's a losing proposition all right. I have a really good bird population, and of course I have "my" turkeys who are a big help. Luckily (knock on wood) they don't seem too interested in my garden. Yet!
We used to get a lot of 'hoppers here where I live, but the last three years I haven't seen even one in my yard. Not sure what it means.
I'd like to see your chikens choke some of those suckers down.
Snoop-Diggity-DANG-Dawg
Post a Comment