Grasshopperness

Some scenes of bright green grasshopperness from a myoporum bush nearby:

The grey bird grasshopper ( Schistocerca nitens) is colorful in its youth, often seen in this bright green variation.  This one is close to adulthood.  After the final molt it will take on a mottled grey coloration that blends in pretty well with brown foliage of winter.  These guys overwinter as adults so that strategy serves well to help them avoid being eaten by hungry insect-eating birds.  But meanwhile, this green sub-adult, neon as it is, was a bit harder to pick out among the green foliage of summer.

This is the myoporum . . . do not know the species . . . found at the arboretum one day, purchased, planted not knowing it would become primo grasshopper habitat.  Of course, many plants are since these grey bird grasshoppers are voracious omnivores that pick on the green and juicy.