Exploring insect diversity in my backyard

This one is dedicated to all educators and parents out there who are trying their best to educate themselves, their child or student(s) about the environment around them. You may use this blog to understand common critters found in your backyard. I have also provided some tips to kick start your personal journey of discovering the biodiversity around you or to help your kids or students find interesting ways to explore their backyard biodiversity!

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By now you would be wondering about what an outdoor educator was upto during the lockdown and travel restrictions and other restriction around social gatherings, etc. Well, I tried my best to adapt to the online mode of teaching and learning. I was fortunate to work from home and adapt to the new normal. You see being an outdoor educator I would always be out there in a forest, or a farm, or field station with bunch of kids exploring the biodiversity, so I never stayed at home long enough to be able to see what was right under my nose. Since I always had an affinity for insects, I enrolled myself for an online course called Bugs 101 on Coursera based on the recommendation of my good friend, a fellow naturalist Chandhu Bandi. I took this course also because I wanted to up-skill and deepen my knowledge on ecology. This course was super exciting, and gave me the inspiration to start exploring the insects in my own backyard. And by the time I was finishing the course, it was the peak of the monsoons, the time when insect life is thriving around us!! 

Chandhu also introduced me to iNaturalist and though I was initially hesitant to try because I assumed that it would be complicated, I downloaded it on my phone and slowly started exploring it. Soon, I was clicking everything around me, mostly insects and I was trying to find what they are called and reading up everything about them.

More than finding out their names, what I really enjoyed was observing the life of these tiny creatures. There is a joy in watching the lifecycle of a moth from the time of mating to laying eggs to its hatching, watching a carpenter bee build its nest, a potter wasp searching for the right mud to build its nest, and many such delightful moments. I am here to share these little wonders in our backyard with all of you. I hope this will help you learn many interesting things about insects and inspire you to enjoy these tiny creatures around you, and also document them!! 

I love clicking pictures, but there are many ways to document your observations like journaling, creating your own field guides for your backyard, story writing and if you have kids around you involve them as well in these activities! Exploring and learning about what is around them will help kids understand what it is like to share space with other creatures and to learn that insects aren't 'scary' or 'disgusting' or 'pest' as they are often portrayed. Also, I tell myself and my students to learn the local names, and not just the english name or scientific name, because not knowing local names is losing out on the local stories from your grandparents, local knowledge, and other possible conversation you could possibly have with local people, or elders in your family. 

So, here I present to you the insect diversity in my backyard. I hope you will find this useful as a resource and serves the purpose of inspiring you to explore the insects in your backyard.

1. Buzzing bees and colourful wasps

When I started observing bees in my backyard, I did not expect to see the diversity that I encountered. Look at the picture here and you will be amazed! 

The three different species of honey bees that I have observed in my backyard; From the right: Asian honey bee, Giant honey bee, Red dwarf honey bee

Observe the yellow thing bulging out from the legs of this asian honey bee. What do you think this is? This is a pollen basket that the bee uses it to collect pollen from the flowers that serves as source of food for the entire colony. When you notice a honey bee with pollen baskets, most probably you are watching a worker bee collecting pollen and worker bees are hard working females who manage the hive, bring food, and protect all the young ones.

Look at this one carefully, what do you think it is? Well, I was surprised to find that it is a bee, and this is one of the interesting bees I have met. This one is called a cuckoo bee, and it lays eggs in the nests of other bees, reminds you of the cuckoo bird, right? Cuckoo bees do not construct their own nests and rely on other bees to raise it young ones. The females of cuckoo bees do not have pollen baskets, since they do not raise their young ones. 

If you thought all the bees build a hive, wait till you see the carpenter bee. Watch the video to know how it makes it nest.

A carpenter bee makes a nest on this dead wood

I observed this carpenter bee chip tiny pieces of wood to make this nest on a dead wood in my backyard. Even a dead wood plays an important role, right? 

Now lets meet the wasps in my backyard and get to know more about them...

Here is a potter wasp putting in a lot of effort to build its nest, finding the right mud that is moist enough for it to roll, and to bring it to the right spot to build it nest, bit by bit. The wasp was scooping tiny balls of mud and taking it to a scooter nearby to build her nest. Looking at her efforts to make a nest for her baby, would we ever think about destroying its nest? I request you to watch this video till the end and it will blow your mind!

This is nest she build with all the hard work for her young ones!

Wasps are famous for being the 'villain' for its sting, but wasps don't sting unless intimidated. Potter wasps are solitary and just need a tiny place in your backyard to make its nest. And in fact wasps are known to feed on other insects like caterpillars etc. which feed on the plants and increase in their population can effect the plant growth, but wasps keep their population in check. It like a natural 'pest control'. I don't like to use the word 'pest' which originated with monoculture, capitalism and has Eurocentric origins  how the creatures are viewed, but I am using it here in the context of the current society. Well, lets keep this topic for discussion for another day, and get back to the wasps.

When I saw her for the first time, I was amazed at that needle like structure protruding from her body. I later learnt she is called crown wasp and the long protruding thing is an ovipositor that she uses to lay eggs on wood boring beetle larvae. So when her young ones hatch inside the beetle larvae, they start feeding on it and that is how a crown wasp ensures her young ones have the necessary food to kick start their journey in this world. So, this is another way in which wasps keep a check on the population of other insects that feed on the plants. 

                           

 

Look at this tiny little one that you may pass it off as a fly, but this wasp uses cockroach eggs to deposit her eggs inside that, and when her eggs hatch, they feed on the cockroach eggs. If you see her around in your backyard, she is keeping a check on the cockroach population! She goes by the name ensign wasp.

You might have observed these nests that look like tiny bits of paper hanging from the ceiling in your backyard. Well these amazing nests are build by paper wasps. 

Well the major distinction between bees and wasps are that, bees feed their young ones and themselves with pollen and nectar but wasps feed their young ones with insects, they are fierce hunters, however adult wasps may feed on nectar. So, bodies of the bees and wasps are meant to serve this purpose. If you observe closely, bodies of the bees are plump and they have tiny hairs across their body which help the pollen stick to it and makes it easier to carry it, whereas wasps are slender and not hairy like bees. 

One thing I have learnt from bees and wasps is that they are playing a huge role in the ecosystem: bees as important pollinators and wasps as 'predators' who keep a check on the population of other insects. Next time you see them in your backyard, welcome them, use this as a teaching moment for kids and adults around you, talk to your grandparents or elders about these and have an engaging conversation, learn local names from them, and take forward any interesting stories you might hear from them, but please try your best not to evict them from their home, their presence in your backyard is a good sign of biodiversity thriving around you! 

2. The Monsoons and the Vivid Moths

As soon as the monsoons kick in full swing you will start seeing all of a sudden these hairy little caterpillars crawling on your walls, chewing the leaves on the plants, and crawling on the soil, basically you see them almost all around your backyard. Many of these hairy caterpillar go on to become beautiful moths which also play an important role in the ecosystem as pollinators. Moths can be active in the night or in the morning, many are active in the night however and provide an important source of food for creatures active in the night (commonly called nocturnal creatures) like bats, owls, etc. Here are some common moths you will find in your backyard. 

Meet tussock moth caterpillar, with alternating bristles of hair on its back. These hairs are used for its defence and to keep itself safe. 

You will see them, in different shades and sizes through the monsoons!!

This moth is laying her eggs on the underside of a leaf in my backyard. I often look everywhere for insects and find these amazing sights to cherish. This one is called a sandalwood defoliator, since sandalwood is their host plant, but they are also found on other plants, like the one in the picture here where she is laying eggs on a passion plant.

Ooo.. what are these weird looking things. Who could have put these random pieces of twigs together? So, this one is called a bagworm moth. The caterpillar builds this 'bag' around it for protection, and it stays here, moves around everywhere with this bag, when it senses any threat, it retracts into the bag. They make the bag with materials they find around them like twigs, leaves, shells, dried plant matter, etc. . Only the male moths come out of their bag in their adult stage and fly to mate with a female who is wingless and remain in the case. The male mates with the female and she continues to stay in the bag and lay her eggs in that.  

Watch the lily borer moth munching the leaves of the lily plant in our garden.

Lily plants thrive in the monsoons and so does the lily borer moth. I know you might feel a slight pain watching the moths chew all the leaves, but I have noticed that they always grow back, and it doesn't kill the plant and I have learnt not to disturb them, because they can be food for other insects and they will keep them in check!

Kambalihula is Kannada/Kambilipuchi in Tamil. These hairy caterpillars, are something you will find on your walls, compound, and all around your backyard. They are called footman moth.

Here you notice footman moth in its adult stage. For two days I was hooked on to this moth. The first picture shows the mating which I observed during the early afternoon, and by evening she was laying eggs (second image). In the last picture, which I took the next day, you will notice a fur-ball kind of thing and eggs inside it. She covers her eggs with the hair as a protection against animals that might prey on them.

3. I just tricked you... mimicry in everyday life

This is my favourite part, where the creatures around me have tricked me until I stood there and observed carefully to notice that I have been fooled. Introducing some coolest tricksters in my backyard. You might easily find them around you and keep an eye out for them, take a bow and appreciate their trick! 

Look at me closely, what am I? If you thought I was a weaver ant, then I just tricked you. I am a spider, to be precise weaver ant mimicking spider.

To put things in perspective, here is a picture of a weaver ant on the right and the weaver ant mimicking spider on the left, and you know what a good job it has done in mimicking the ant.

Why mimic the weaver ant? Well, weaver ants are avoided by predators because they have a painful bite and 'don't taste good'. So, by mimicking ants they can keep their predators away. Also, by mimicking the ants, they are able to stay close to them, gaining protection from predators. They mimic the odour, the way these ants walk and also wave their legs to mimic the antennas of the ants. 

Now here is a question for you, is spider an insect or not? Well, if you thought that anything that is tiny, crawls on the floor is an insect, then its time to reveal the truth. Well, spiders, earthworms, centipedes, etc. are not insects. Here is a quick criteria to identify something you see is an insect or not:

1. It has six legs.

2. It has wings in the adult stage.

3. The body can be divided into three distinct parts: head, thorax and abdomen.

I chose to describe the ant mimicking spider here since it is trying to mimic an insect. So, technically spiders are not insects!!

 

What do you observe here? An ant? Look closer, and you start to notice its something else, but what is it?

Now, you see that its a mantis. This ant mantis does an excellent job in mimicking because there were other ants roaming around in the plant and it took me a while to notice that 'this ant's' forelegs were folded in a peculiar way and then realised that its a mantis and its called asian ant mantis. 

This one mimics ants because by mimicking an ant, predators will avoid them. Seems like this Asian ant mantis are common in urban gardens. They mimic ants until it's ultimate molt when it becomes green in colour. This is because when they are young they are most vulnerable to predators and by mimicking the ants they get protection. As they grow older they start becoming green, as you notice in the picture below, where the mantis is a little bigger and green shades appears on its legs.

 

Asian ant mantis

When I looked at it first, I was like ' Is this a wasp or a bee?' and then on closer observation, I could identify it as a moth!! This one is a moth that is mimicking a wasp, hence called wasp moth. But why mimic a wasp? The same reason, wasps are known for their painful stings, and hence predators like birds avoids them, and hence by mimicking a wasp, it gains protection.

There is something really cool about observing creatures that mimic. It shows to what extent they can change their appearance that it ceases to look like its own kind. But a closer observation reveals that it has just tricked you. I could identify that its a wasp moth, by looking at its 'feathery' antennae, and also the waist. 

Now here is a test for you, identify which one is a wasp and which one is a moth. 

Well the one on the left is a wasp and the one of the right is a wasp moth. If you observe keenly you will notice the difference in the waist of a wasp and a moth that is mimicking the wasp.

4. When they make associations with other species...

Whenever I observe insects I feel like like these tiny critters live in a parallel world in the same space where we larger humans inhibit and it is so cool to take a peak into their world.

Here is an interesting insect association that I have noticed in my backyard. There was a plant that had white powdery stuff all over it, and I went closer for observation, and noticed that they are actually tiny insects called mealy bugs. And then I noticed ants hovering around these mealy bugs. I wondered what is going on here.

The white small insects that you see on the plant are called mealy bugs and you can notice the ant in close association with the mealy bugs. Looks like mealy bugs poop sugar rich liquid. This candy poop is something which ants relish. The mealy bug in turn gets protection by ants from other predators. It is so interesting to see one species of insects make association with another species of insects!

I haven't noticed other insect associations in my backyard, and I encourage you to look around and tell me if you find something interesting!!

Exploring and learning about insect diversity in my backyard opened up to me the world of these tiny creatures that are too tiny to be noticed, we are either too scared off, or disgusted by, or too busy to be bothered about them. But these creatures whom we share our backyard with, are an important part of our ecosystem. I can't thank enough for the bees (honey bees, and carpenters bees) that pollinate the flowers and give us amazing passion fruits that we cherish, the wasps that keep other insects in check, and so many insects who give you new things to learn about our environment and appreciate the interconnectedness and interdependencies even in an urban, semi-urban landscapes where we are losing that direct connection to the environment around us. 

Here are a few tips that I can leave you with:

1. Start small, take it slow, observe one species at a time.

2. Download Seek by iNaturalist on your phone to record and identify species around you if you want to do it along with your family, or if you are an educator and want kids to engage with this.

3. Use iNaturalist on your phone if you are an educator yourself or anyone trying to learn, record and identify species around you. 

4. If you are an educator or someone looking to up-skill their knowledge on insect identification, etc. I would recommend enrolling for the course Bugs 101 on coursera.

5. Try and learn about the local names if the insects, as I mentioned, not knowing/learning local names is losing out on the local stories, local knowledge connected to these species. Having said that I myself need to learn a lot of the names in my mother tongue. 

6. If you have kids around you, try other extended activities like journaling, drawing, story writing, making infographics, etc. Please try this yourself too if this sounds interesting to you.

7. Lastly spread the joy of exploring your own backyard and teach others to kick start their personal journeys of backyard explorations!

Disclaimer: This is not an exhaustive list of insects found in my backyard, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Note: 

1. I have written this based on my observations, and learnings from the course, iNaturalist community, online resources, and interactions with other naturalists. Please write to me if there is anything that you think can be added or corrected. I am always open to learning!

2. Please use this generously for your class, or for yourself.