The Firefly Forest

Here in Arizona, Bloody Net-winged Beetles (Lycus sanguineus) can be observed on short flights or perched in vegetation in riparian areas. In April of 2008, I observed this one in Agua Caliente Canyon in Arizona's Santa Rita Mountains. With the sun glowing through its red elytra, the colorful Bloody Net-winged Beetle flew past me and landed in some dead grass along the recently dried stream.

Bloody Net-winged Beetles are soft-bodied and mostly blood-red in color with black-tipped legs, black antennae, black eyes, and black-tipped elytra (modified forewings that serve as wing covers). Like other Lycids or members of the Net-winged Beetle Family (Lycidae), Bloody Net-winged Beetles have a netlike pattern of raised veins on their leathery elytra, a wide, flattened pronotum (the area behind the eyes), elongated mouthparts, and broad, flattened, often saw-toothed antennae.

Net-winged Beetles typically have aposematic (warning) red, orange, or yellow and black coloration meant to warn potential predators like birds that they are noxious or foul-tasting. Bold patterning with bright colors and black are a widely understood warning sign in the animal kingdom that a creature is either inedible and/or dangerous. This Bloody Net-winged Beetle's red color made it very easy for me to spot, and this conspicuous beetle would be in great danger from hungry, sharp-eyed birds if they didn't understand that its colors were a warning to leave it alone.

Pygmy Nuthatches (Sitta pygmaea) are found in pine forests in western North America from Canada down to central Mexico. These small nuthatches are especially fond of Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests, where their high-pitched peeping calls are a common sound. We spotted this Pygmy Nuthatch below and several others in the Ponderosa Pines at the south rim of Arizona's Grand Canyon, where these little birds are quite common.

Both male and female Pygmy Nuthatches are blue-gray above and whitish below with a brownish gray crown bordered by a dark eye-line. The similar Brown-headed Nuthatch (Sitta pusilla) has a brown crown and is only found in the eastern United States.

Pygmy Nuthatches are often observed creeping around in the trees and probing crevices in the bark as they search for insects. Pygmy Nuthatches will also eat seeds, especially in the wintertime when insects are scarce, and these friendly little birds will happily visit bird feeders for both seed and suet.