As soon as I made a definite decision to put my insect project (see this post for details) on hold for a while, this critter walked across my windowsill.
It's a Western Conifer Seed Bug and has become a common sight in our houses in the wintertime. As its name implies, its home should be in the western US but since the nineties it has been making itself at home in the eastern states, where I live. It is just looking for a warm place to be, as we all are doing, but this is a bug (and he is a true bug) I find very hard to like. Its revenge on anyone trying to crush it--or even move it outside--is an unforgettable smell. And it makes little difference that it didn't make it into the Stink Bug family but is classed with the Coreidae or leaf-footed bugs.
Because insects are few in number in February, I carefully moved this guy into a magnifying jar without setting off a stink bomb and for the first time really looked at it. And there on its back was a beautiful glyph-like marking on its brown wing covers. So I took some time out from my bigger project to capture it in fabric, a simple reminder of the value of looking closely.
And now back to this--
Linked with Off the Wall Fridays!
