Leaf and hopper

Spotted in the local wildlife sanctuary. I headed out there yesterday morning hoping to recapture the magic of the deer morning, but to no avail. Oh dear, no deer. So I had to settle for plants and bugs, of which there are plenty.

The grasshoppers are particularly plentiful and particularly skittish. Dozens of them would take cover in each of the plants that line the path, then would abandon each plant as I walked by, scattering simultaneously in all directions in a display that resembled fireworks. I wasn’t able to get close enough to get any photos of them.

This little leafhopper stayed put long enough for me to get a few shots. The sun, which had been hiding behind some clouds, came out for a moment, and bathed the leaf and hopper in a golden morning backlight.

Leaf hoppers are very similar to cicadas in that they have the same sound-producing organs (tymbals) to produce a cicada-like song. They’re so small, however, that the sounds cannot be heard by the human ear.

Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.