I found this lovely stinkbug on a warmish (60 degrees) early spring day. I was taking a leak, and the commotion in the leaf litter sent it scurrying. It had a very cooperative manner, I think because it was only about 60 degrees ambient. Torpor, maybe. But torpor can be our friend, or it can be our enemy: Sitting on my ass next to this thing, if I look away from the bug for more than 2 or 3 seconds, I can't find it when I look back, the camouflage is that good.

Unless a bug like this moves against its background, you sometimes simply can't see it. It's like those 3D autostereograms, or Single Image Random Dot Stereogram (SIRDS) that so fascinated Mr. Pitt, Elaine's boss on Seinfeld. If you know how to do it, you can pop the image into and out of recognition at will. The same skill applies to being able to see bugs and other well-camouflaged arthropods. You have to have a set eidetic images, or patterns, to ready your brain to respond to; it's kind of like face recognition except you absolutely have to consciously set the patterns according to the expected colors and size of the bug in question. Looking carefully amongst the leaf litter was looking hopeless a few times, but my brain is good at spotting the certain patterns of this bug because I was able to let my eyes really tell my brain what they are seeing; that comes simply from practice.  This bug almost never moved, so I had to look hard and long to find it again, after losing it.

Anyway, this is boring  or you might think me bragging, but those of you who photograph things, especially bugs, will understand.

I finally coaxed it onto a twig and then it took off, climbing.

There are wonders to be found in Mid-late March here, near Chicago. I hear lots of bug people saying there is nothing stirring this time of year; they are probably not looking closely enough or long enough. Sometimes I pick a nice place to sit, and then just scan the ground or nearby plants for 5-10 minutes. Bugs and spiders that might have been warily eyeballing me forget I'm there, and when they start moving, that's when they are easiest to spot. Of course, always be on the lookout for shadows of flying insects. That's one way to have eyes in the back of your head; you can look at the ground but instantly start scanning the heavens when a flitting shadow appears.

I spent about an hour with this gal. I like to think of them as gals. It was fun of the highest order: time stands still when you're concentrating so hard on doing something you absolutely love.

So, I'm sitting on my butt, photographing this lovely brown stinkbug, and suddenly I realize the swamp I'm sitting next to has soaked through the entire ass of my pants, long underwear (don't ask, I'm an old man and I don't like my legs cold) and underwear after that, and then the rest of the day, I have a slowly-drying mud colored buttprint on my ass (and on my knees, of course, always with the knees, mud.) But, as Calvin used to say after thrashing a particularly violent mudhole, "It was worth it!"

Stink bugs get their common name from the foul-smelling fluids they exude when disturbed. Both adults and nymphs have large glands that discharge underneath the body.  I can truthfully say I've never smelled anything while investigating these curious beasts. Stinkbugs are shy, I can tell you - and they will fly off very quickly if you get in their face. Stinkbugs are often also called shield bugs, due to their shield-like shape.

Several species of insects that feed on peaches and other fruits early in the growing season cause a gnarling and distortion of the fruits called catfacing. Plant bugs and stink bugs, called catfacing insects, are largely responsible for this type of injury. They suck the sap from the fruit. If the peaches do not fall as a result of this attack, fruit development is inhibited in the area of the punctures. The surrounding healthy tissue continues to grow thereby causing a defect resembling a cat's face. 

The green stink bug, Acrosternum hilare, and brown stink bug, Euschistus servus are the two catfacing culprits most frequently cited from the Pentatomidae family.