Carolina Grasshopper

Description:

All tan and very camouflaged. Yellow stripe on the end of wing tells this grasshopper apart from others. When flying, wings are black and yellow, often mistaken for a butterfly in flight considering it's large size and lazy flight pattern.

Habitat:

Gravel lot with very short grass.

Notes:

There's a photography contest for Pennsylvania, the topic for this contest is camouflage. With that in mind, I set out to find things that you really have to look for. I began heading down the trail leading to an abandoned shed. While walking, I stepped forward and to my surprise a grasshopper jumped from out of the small patch of grass it was concealed in, and of course I followed him. Keeping up with him was a problem. Sometimes I would loose track and almost give up, then I'd step to continue down the trail and he'd come flying out of the grass again. He gave me a fun experience as well as a great photo, and without the contest inspiring me, I would've continued down the trail looking for other things that would catch my eye. I figured this would be a good 100th spotting, as he demonstrates great camouflage.