Leprechaun Day

Female timema from oak tree, 3/14/15  

Oaks have spring flowers too. Yellow male catkins dangle from the tips of oak branches the better to release their pollen in a breeze. Oak flowers don't have decorative petals because they are wind-pollinated and have no need to attract insects.  While examining the catkins of a coast live oak, a tiny green critter jumped onto my hand.

Dangling male catkins of a coast live oak getting ready to release its pollen to the wind.
Quercus agrifolia, 3/14/15   

I took a few hurried photos of the spring green visitor and then it disappeared.  Fortunately, I met one of these small unusual walking-stick creatures on my porch last summer to know that it was a female timema.

Male dance fly with nuptial gift
Empis sp., 3/14/15   

Later on the same day in a shady forest next to a pond, I saw a small white dot following a jazzy black dot in the air. They landed and turned into a dark fly 0.5 cm long clutching a ball of white foam below its abdomen.

What do you think?
Is that foam package empty or does it contain a bug bon-bon?   

Thanks to ID help of a nerdy Facebook friend, I found out this was a male dancing fly (probably Empis sp.) displaying his nuptial gift. Inside the frothy secretion there may be a captured insect as a gift for the female dancing fly while they mate. Although sometimes the package is empty.

Cicada 2/21/15   

A few weeks ago while I was adjusting a wildlife camera, this bright green cicada landed on my boot. It was slow and delicate and looked freshly hatched. I set it on a branch to enjoy the rest of the spring.

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See Bug Guide for a discussion and Jack Owicki's great macro photograph of a dance fly found at the nearby Monte Bello Open Space Preserve.