Tinkerbells and Copter Ghosts

Ragweed, ironweed and wild white aster had taken over my pastures, so for the last month I have been slowly and carefully driving my tractor and "bushhog" mower in ever decreasing circles around and around 40 acres of open fields.  My constant companions have been insects and barn swallows; the insects because the tractor disturbed them and the barn swallows to feast on the insects.

Praying Mantis from National Geographic site

By far the most prevalent insects have been grasshoppers, many kinds of grasshoppers. They seemed to like the ragweed best. I spotted a few butterflies, mostly the little yellow or white ones, sometimes a swallow tail or monarch. Butterflies were mostly on the red clover. There were also lots of very big bumblebees. Bumblebees preferred the purple flowers of the ironweed.

Every now and then I'd see what looked like golden brown fairies flying out of the grass and into the trees on the pasture's edges. I didn't have a clue what they were so I named them tinkerbells.  They were anywhere from 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches tall and had golden green and brown fluttery wings.

As the unmowed area of the field became smaller and smaller the insects became more concentrated. I was able to see one of the tinkerbells land in the grass and to my surprise it turned out to be a praying mantis.  I had always thought of praying mantis as those green "walking stick" creatures you would occasionally see, if you looked carefully, on a plant in your flower beds. I had no idea they could fly or that I would see hundreds of them flying around a cow pasture. I Googled praying mantis and found out they are voracious killers of grasshopper and other insects. Nationally geographic had a nice article about them and I copied one of their pictures here. The article emphasized what terrible killers they are with amazingly strong front pincher like legs with barbs on their legs for holding prey which they eat alive. Nationally Geographic was glad they are just a small insect and not as large as a cat.

I snapped this picture of a copter ghost on my back porch.

The other insect that intrigued me was one I named copter ghost.  When it flew up out of the grass this bug looked like a fluttery little white helicopter. They were too big for the barn swallows to eat on the wing so they flew around and around the pasture before landing re-landing in the grass and weeds.  Again, as their unmowed territory decreased, I was able to spot a copter ghost in the grass.  It looked like the picture of an insect I had found on one of my back porch posts. I believe it is a katydid.