Nature in the Yard, 11-02-21

My friend Roxanne reminded me, in her recent Facebook posts, that there are possible nature experiences even your own backyard, so even though I’m still in recovery from my surgery, I did a little search before lunchtime this morning.

We’re seeing Mourning Doves, Eurasian Collared Doves, White-Crowned Sparrows, Scrub Jays, House Finches, Black Phoebes and House Sparrows at the birdfeeders in the front yard. Eastern Fox Squirrels and Gray Squirrels are also regular visitors there. [[And there are also a few neighborhood cats that come into the yard to drink water out of birdbath.]]

In the backyard today, I found some Cottony Cushion Scale insects, Icerya purchasi, on the lemon tree including a mama with her attached egg sac and some young ones in various instars. They were all being tended by some ants.

On the mandarin orange tree, I also found some interesting “flat” eggs on one of the leaves. I think they might have been from a kind of scale insect, too, but I’m not certain. I’ll post them to iNaturalist and see if anyone can tell me more about them.

Update, 11-04-21, Eggs Hatched

I checked on the insect eggs I’d found the other day. I thought they were from some kind of scale insect, but today, the eggs hatched… and now I think they might be gnat or midge babies. [Non-Biting Midge: Chironomus sp.]