Exploring Bugs during Quarantine

Since I started working remotely in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been staying with my parents on Maryland's Eastern Shore. For one, I didn't want to be alone in my apartment (and once I did find a roommate, I thought being together 24/7 wouldn't be the best way to start a friendship). Also, while I love living in a city, due to the closures, I can't enjoy the things that make a city great: public transportation, a variety of restaurants, venues for seeing concerts/ballets/shows, etc. There's nothing for me in D.C. right now, so I figured I might as well spend time with my family and get out in nature.

Maryland's Eastern Shore is very rural. When I first went to college and I told people I was from Maryland, people always assumed I meant Baltimore. No... I'm from the opposite of Baltimore. Like, cows and corn rural. It was a great place to grow up, and as I've found out, a great place to spend quarantine, too.

The biggest plus to being here is living just 10 minutes away from Adkins Arboretum, a park where I actually worked for a few years in high school. My dad calls it, "the most underutilized park in America." However, it was pretty busy when it was one of the only places people could go! We have been walking there almost every day since I came back. It gives us the chance to take a break from screens, get outside, get some exercise, and discover nature!

I have always enjoyed getting out in nature, whether it's hiking, walking, kayaking... I just love being outside and exploring the life around me. My ID-skills were okay before the pandemic, but I'm getting better because I'm going into the outdoors more (and the power of Google Lens is amazing). Here are some of the bug species I have discovered and feel like I can continue to ID in the future:

Red Milkweed Beetle: This one is very easy to remember once you look it up. I noticed there were red bugs on the milkweed plants, a lo and behold, they were red milkweed beetles! Tada! (PS: If you Google the photos, a lot of them show these bugs mating. Even my own photo above catches them in the act. They are not shy about it!)

Image found here

Dogbane Leaf Beetle: I didn't have my phone with me when I found this bug, but I could easily remember what it looked like because it was so pretty! It's iridescent body seemed unreal; it reminded me of a colorful bead I might have included in a homemade necklace growing up. They are quite tiny, but their colors will certainly stand out, so you can easily see them!

American Carrion Beetle: Unlike the name suggests, I found this bug on a blackberry bush as opposed to a dead animal. Its yellow shoulders and shield-like shape made it memorable, as well as its size (almost the size of two thumb nails).

White Spotted Sawyer*: The antennae on this guy really caught my attention! While the white spot is very small, this bug does indeed have a white spot on it, so that helps me remember the name. As for Sawyer, I somehow tried to like him to Tom Sawyer, the book character. I saw him on a fence, and since early in the book Tom Sawyer is painting a fence...? Anyway, it works for me!

Hawthorne Shield Bug*: I had never seen an insect like this before! It's green color was pretty vibrant (which my photo does not capture), and the design on its shield looks like a goblet or cup. Very random, but it certainly helps distinguish this bug from others!

White Admiral Butterfly*: I was seeing so many of these that I had to find out what they were! The big white stripes on the black wings are very clear, and they make you think of the stripes you might see on an Admiral's uniform.

What nature have you been able to see recently?

*I didn't see these bugs at Adkins Arboretum, but I did see them for the first time during this quarantine period!