Grasshopper

by Jacki
(Grand Forks, B.C. Canada)

Grasshoppers are voracious pests of many gardens, appearing the late summer, and particularly bad in years of extreme drought. As if the hot sun parching the plants isn't bad enough, you have to have grasshoppers defoliating them too.

Fortunately, grasshoppers are the favorite food of many other insects, birds and small animals, so the few that survive to breed are only a tiny percentage of the population.

Blister beetles, in one of their rare positive characteristics, prey on grasshoppers by eating their eggs. A few back yard chickens can do a great job of reducing their numbers, as well as entertaining the observer as they jump in the air to catch them in flight.