I started working on a serious post this morning – one I’ve started several times and haven’t yet figured out how to write. I spent nearly an hour fighting with it and then gave up and decided to just do another quiz. Quizzes are definitely a lot more fun for me to write, and probably more interesting to you too.

Question #1. What color are the eyes of this ladybird beetle?

A. White

B. Black

C. Cerulean

D. Chartreaux

E. It’s not a beetle, it’s a bug. LADY BUG. It’s right there in the name

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Question #2. What species of ladybird beetle is shown in the above photo?

A. Five-spotted lady bug

B. Seven-spotted lady bug

C. Thirteen-spotted lady bug

D. I’m pretty sure Chartreaux is a kind of cat, not a color

E. Ok, but seriously, is it a bug or a beetle?

F. It’s a beetle.

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Question #3. When they named the seven-spotted lady bug (shown above) why did they only count the black spots and not the white ones?

A. Because ‘thirteen-spotted lady bug’ is a dumb name

B. Thirteen-lined ground squirrels might disagree

C. At least they didn’t count the black eyes as spots

D. Good point

E. Was it? Or was it just a clumsy way to provide an answer to #1?

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Question #4. What kind of creature is this?

A. Murder mosquito

B. Robber fly

C. Shoplifter wasp

D. Notorious B.U.G.

E. I don’t know, but its legs look an awful lot like centipedes

F. Wow, they really do!

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Question #5. What is the technical term for a robber fly’s ‘moustache’ that helps protect it against dangerous prey?

A. Van Dyke

B. Scapula

C. Mystax

D. Trilby

E. Pro bono

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Question #6. Who said, “Mistakes are part of being human, mystax are part of being robber flies”?

A. Nobody. Nobody has ever said that.

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Question #7. What kind of legal assistance did the lead singer of U2 hope to get?

A. Pro Bono

B. Why are you like this?

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Question #8. Why did Chris include this photo?

A. Because it’s a gorgeous little native bee (NOT a honey bee)

B. Because honey bees get way too much attention and Chris is sick of it

C. Because there are more than 4,000 species of native bees in the U.S. but all you hear about on the news when people talk about threats to bees is honey bees and even if they don’t specifically say honey bees they talk about the importance of honey which is only made by honey bees and not any other bees so they might as well be talking about honey bees which are basically just introduced livestock species that aren’t even all that helpful in prairies and other ecosystems where they actually compete with native bees and other pollinators who don’t really need more challenges in the lives thank you very much.

D. Because Chris needs to lighten up just a little bit

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Question #9. What are the white structures in the above photo?

A. Fruiting bodies of a fungus

B. Flowers of a grass

C. Eggs of a katydid

D. Larva of a wasp

E. Honey bees have humans to manage their populations so they’re not even in real danger of extinction!

F. Yes, we get it. Let it go.

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Question #10. What kind of grass is shown flowering above?

A. Prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata)

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Question #11. What is the best description of the above photo?

A. It’s an unfortunately cropped photo that doesn’t show the tree trunk this hawk collided with and is now embedded in like a dart on a dart board.

B. Chris’ reflexes are not what they once were and he didn’t quite press the shutter button fast enough.

C. He’s not such a talon-ted photographer after all, is he?

D. OMG stop.

I’m presenting an eclectic mix of images this week. Three came from my yard, and two from a burned prairie at the Platte River Prairies. They don’t tell a comprehensive or coherent story; they just represent some stuff that’s happening right now.

The flowers in our prairie garden here at home are blooming well and are attracting insects. Recently-burned patches of prairie at the Platte River Prairies are lush and green and cattle are focusing their grazing in those patches. And there was a random tiger moth that chose to roost overnight on a grass shoot within one of those burned patches. Oh, and it’s been mostly cloudy and damp all week.

That’s pretty much it. Have a great weekend!