Poway Wildlife

One of the many reasons we love our new home in Poway is that there is a lot of wildlife. We have lots and lots of birds; some live in our eaves, some live in our trees out front, and some just visit and use our birdbath. We have also been visited by a mother duck and her ducklings, some wild rabbits, and a few butterflies.We have mostly been very happy with our visitors, until this one came along...

Michael and I were enjoying a 4th of July BBQ on our camping stove when we heard a mysterious chirping noise. We turned around to find this giant beetle scurrying towards us. It was terrifying. Luckily Michael was able to put a bucket over it before it could fly towards us and eat us alive.

UPDATE (Michael): After a little research, I found out that this is none other than the infamous Prionus Root Borer (Prionus californicus).  This doesn't look good especially since they love the roots of apricot trees (which we have in our backyard...at first we thought it was a peach tree but found out what it really is by looking out the window and gathering armfuls of popcorn blossoms that smell so sweet).  Sadly the song won't be so cheerful when the root borers sap the life out of it...if only we could train these guys to feast on something else like aloe, eh, come on, no?  Ok, how about palm trees, we've got plenty of palm trees.... fine.