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A Grasshopper
Oct 11, 2021 09:09:22   #
dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho
 
I photographed this on the Wyoming prairie but am not positive what it is. Is it a plain ordinary grasshopper, which I thought were green in color?

Dennis


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Oct 11, 2021 10:20:51   #
tinusbum Loc: east texas
 
my grass hoppers are usually grey,brown but we do have green ones too

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Oct 11, 2021 10:24:45   #
dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho
 
tinusbum wrote:
my grass hoppers are usually grey,brown but we do have green ones too


So it is a grasshopper then. Thanks for taking a look.

Dennis

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Oct 11, 2021 18:19:21   #
Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI
 
It is one of the band-winged grasshoppers. When they fly, they show colorful hind wings. This is a classic kind of deception, aimed at telling predators "look at me, I'm brightly colored!" Then when they land, they fold up their wings and are well camouflaged. A predator (like a bird) would look for this brightly colored bug, and not think to look for something that looks like a dead leaf or a twig.

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Oct 11, 2021 20:53:37   #
dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho
 
Mark Sturtevant wrote:
It is one of the band-winged grasshoppers. When they fly, they show colorful hind wings. This is a classic kind of deception, aimed at telling predators "look at me, I'm brightly colored!" Then when they land, they fold up their wings and are well camouflaged. A predator (like a bird) would look for this brightly colored bug, and not think to look for something that looks like a dead leaf or a twig.


Thank you Mark. That would make sense. It did have a brightly colored butt.

Dennis

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Oct 11, 2021 23:41:59   #
Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI
 
You will see a lot of these in that location. When they are induced to fly, many also make a crackling sound.

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Oct 12, 2021 10:39:13   #
sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri
 
Way cool..! We have a similar species here.

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Oct 12, 2021 10:44:08   #
dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho
 
Mark Sturtevant wrote:
You will see a lot of these in that location. When they are induced to fly, many also make a crackling sound.


Interesting you mention the sound they make. I used to hunt with a friend who, unknown to me the first trip we went together, was deathly afraid of grasshoppers because of the sound they make. We were hunting in the area of Convict Lake, North of Bishop, CA one day. While walking into the back country we encountered hundreds of grasshoppers who naturally flew up from under our feet. He was than I might be in HUGELY rattlesnake country. We ended up having to put off the hunt because he did not want to go any farther. No matter how much I explained these were just harmless grasshoppers he refused to go another step into the mountains. Each to our own fears I guess.

Dennis

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Oct 12, 2021 10:45:10   #
dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho
 
sippyjug104 wrote:
Way cool..! We have a similar species here.


Thank you. They were nice to see. I saw this fly up and noticed the bright colored butt. But when I went to search for him, he was as you see in the picture, drab looking and not easy to spot.

Dennis

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