I’ve often wondered what a paper wasp sting feels like and today I found out. I was trying to flick a hose pipe across a correa alba hedge when I felt a sudden sharp pain and saw a pretty little paper wasp looking straight at me. It wasn’t the only sting of the day.
I followed guidelines to wash the site, use a cold compress, swallow an eighteenth month out of date Telfast antihistamine (after checking with my lovely pharmacist) and elevate my hand. And then it was time to get back to work. I thought I’d be nice and pick some soft green grass from my place (there isn’t much) to give to the horse over the fence (where there is none) only to get sting number two on my foot from a bull ant. What are the chances of that! At least I knew exactly where the ice pack was and I was already dosed up with Telfast! I was super careful later in the day when emptying the trailer on the back of the ride-on mower into a space where a spider wasp was methodically searching for a spider. I was not keen to experience a third sting in one day.
My close encounters with invertebrates today made me decide on a theme for this week’s post: birds with bugs. Common Blackbirds are not native and it’s likely that they take the ecological niche of Bassian Thrushes and the like. Their song is beautiful and it’s fascinating to watch them tilt their heads towards the ground as they listen for bugs moving through the soil.
A Rainbow Bee-eater, in the rain, eating a bee – very serendipitous.
When I took this photograph I initially thought it had caught some kind of moth or butterfly but realised when I was processing the image that it looks more like spider’s web that would be used for nest construction. Many smaller birds species use spider webs to help with nest building.
This male Flame Robin and its partner spent a good part of a rainy afternoon feeding on what I believe were mole cricket larvae that were coming to the surface as the soil became waterlogged.
The parent Welcome Swallow were frantically catching bugs to feed their hungry triplets.
Crimson Chats are exquisitely beautiful birds. Use the search box if you’d like to see photographs I’ve shared of the spectacular males.
This fabulous little pipit has caught a very strange looking bug.
I try to keep my garden as bug-friendly as possible. I cringe whenever I see people sharing ways to kill caterpillars, though I do understand how much damage they can do. I couldn’t hurt them, for me it would be like killing a butterfly or moth. Searching the world wide web for ‘insectary’ is a good idea if you’d like to learn more ways to attract beneficial insects to your garden.
Oh, while I was carefully keeping an eye on the spider wasp a blue-banded bee was buzzing around. They are such gorgeous creatures, hopefully one day I’ll get a photograph that is good enough to share.
Happy birding and please don’t get stung, Kim
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Oops! I forgot to add – sorry you were stung – twice! That is the nasty side of Nature, but on the bright side, I think it means your luck is about to change. You know, like when a bird flies over and craps on your head, everyone always says – ‘Time to buy a Tatts ticket!’ It’s meant to be a sign of good luck is on its way – the same mad theory must apply to stings as well, surely?!
And speaking of luck perhaps I should buy a Tatts ticket! We always grew up saying that being pooped on by a bird was good luck, which is pretty strange really isn’t it.
Really lovely photos this week, Kim – I especially love the Flame Robin, the rain almost looks like snow, and would make a brill Xmas card. I must admit to a real fondness for blackbirds – I do love their melodic ‘chup-chup-chup’song – but here in the burbs they seem to have been bullied out by Noisy Miners, who must be predating on their chicks. We hardly see blackbirds anymore, and I miss them.
I know it’s non-native versus native, but I hate the screech of the miners, and they are vicious bullies!
Lucky you to see a Blue Banded Bee! They are so elusive, and so incredibly beautiful, I am emerald green with envy!
I’m glad you like this week’s photographs Deirdre. Noisy Miners are an interesting species for sure, so aggressive towards the smaller birds and arguably worse than Common Mynas in many ways. I’m really hoping to get a good shot of a Blue-banded Bee, I’d love to find them sleeping too but think that would take some extraordinary luck.
Reading your comment made me shiver all over again with the memory of it. But the multiple bee stings you suffered sounds much worse, much much worse – you poor thing. How funny about the birds leaving you some bugs to photograph, that made me smile. I wish I could easily ID all the bugs I find here. I often photograph them with my phone but rarely get the chance to look them up or put them on an ID page.
Oh Kim, I also know what it is like to be stung by a paper wasp. I made the mistake of getting too close to a nest in my son’s garden while trying to take some nice photos of it.
I’ve also had multiple bee stings when I made a mistake approaching a swarm my husband was trying to catch in only a loose t-shirt which would have been fine if he hadn’t upset them so much trying to scoop them out of long grass. We’ve caught several swarms before, being beekeepers, but I learned my lesson well on that occasion.
Invertebrates are my first passion with birds becoming another photography interest later on. That’s the downside of being a keen naturalist and enjoying photography; getting the occasional sting or bite. We sometimes get large sugar ants in the house, and I respect their large pincers as I remove them outside.
I enjoy having Blackbirds hunt in my garden and love their tooting call to each other as they do so. They are such attentive parents and are often hunting into the darkness of the evening to feed their brood.
Between them, the Magpies, Wattlebirds, and Honeyeaters, I think my plants are quite protected from pests but sometimes I wish they’d leave some for me to see and photograph. LOL!