I Know Nothing

It's kind of amazing the number of things in the backyard that are a complete mystery to me. And I don't mean just the fact that of the thousand species of bugs I have seen (Just a random number - I have not counted them), I can only identify a handful by name. I mean the number of things I look at and can't identify what kind of thing they are at all. Bug? Fungus? Rock? Bird poop? Flower? Tiny alien from space?

Like this thing:

It looks like a tiny insect exoskeleton stuck to... something resembling foam insulation, but I really don't know what it is.

Here's the cutest things I saw in the backyard today:

 A couple of springtails on the garden fence. I saw one of them spring. If only I had clicked the shutter button at the right moment...

It often happens that I spend a long time walking around the backyard finding nothing, nothing, nothing, and then I find a whole bunch of things in the same place. Today's bug hangout was the garden shed:

 Nobody unusual, just a higher concentration of bugs than the rest of the yard (unless you count the springtails that were everywhere because it rained a bit in the morning).

 I don't' know what this is - either part of a dead bug or an old chrysalis of some kind are my guesses.

There were others besides those pictured here, but they were too high up for me to get pictures.

And of course, all these bugs on the garden shed means there was also something for Arachnid Appreciation:
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Loopy

We ate lunch in the arbor in the backyard today. It was only 50ºF, but it felt a lot warmer to me - probably because there was barely a breath of wind. It was wonderful to be out there. We don't have a lot of picnics in December. I tried to take a picture of the most magical thing about the day, but it was not something that photographs well, so I will just tell you what it was. The last couple of days there has been spider silk all over the yard - not webs, but single lines of silk from plant to plant. In areas where there are a lot of tangled vines and bushes there is a lot of it, and when the sun hits the silk, and the tiniest of breezes makes it dance, it looks like a fairy land. It's beautiful. All of the lines seem to go in approximately the same direction, but I don't know if that is true, or if it is just that the only ones visible at any given moment are the ones going in the right direction to be lit up by the sun. Still, it adds to the mystical quality of it.

In spite of the gorgeousness of the day, I didn't see a lot of bugs, but you will be amazed by what I did see:

 What is a looper caterpillar doing out and about at the end of December?

I was disappointed at finding only the caterpillar today (and seeing a few flying bugs), so I turned on the porch light in the evening. It attracted a couple of inconveniently placed moths, and this:

 Arachnid Appreciation:
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I spotted this spider walking around this afternoon. Based on the amount of spider silk coating the yard, I am guessing there are plenty of other spiders active the last few days, too.

Bugs on the Wing

The bugs in the backyard missed out on some beautiful weather today, obviously preferring to remain secreted in whatever nooks and crannies in which they have chosen to pass the winter. Pity. Which is not to say I didn't find any bugs, because I did - there were quite a few flying around...

Like this one:

 It's not that bright spot in the middle, it's the bright spot a little bit off to the right. You can just see its legs if you look closely...

 And here, too...

 Here's one that came in for a landing. I noticed that there were several different sizes (and obviously species) of bugs flying around today.

And one tiny rove beetle.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Backyard!

Today's Christmas miracle was sunshine! It was a nice surprise, because the forecast was for rather a lot of rain. Huzzah! The weather forecast was wrong! Of course, it's not all good - the forecast also said it would be close to 60ºF, but it only reached about 50ºF. Still that's pretty warm, and after yesterday's heavy rain, sunshine was such a blessing. I was surprised (and disappointed) that I didn't find more bugs today, but what I did find was pretty awesome, so...

Christmas Bug of the Day:

 I actually know what this is - a winter firefly. Which is not to say that this is a firefly that lights up the nights in winter. Actually, they lose their bioluminescence after their early adulthood (Which could have something to do with the fact that they are diurnal - active in the daytime). They are called winter fireflies because they overwinter as adults, and though they spend most of the winter hiding out under or in the bark of trees, they sometimes come out on nice days. This is the first time I have seen one in the winter, though, because I never looked for bugs in the winter before. But I have seen them in the early spring when it's still pretty chilly.

 I know I have shown you a lot of springtails lately, but this one has a notable feature - a SHADOW! Because it was sunny this morning!

A couple of random bugs:

 This is not just a picture of an ant...

 I have no idea what this is... Spores, or fungus, maybe?

 This bug was not in my backyard, but one I saw when we went for our annual Christmas letterboxing hike at my sister's house (What is letterboxing? Click HERE to find out), and it was so awesome I had to include it as an extra Christmas gift. It's a pretty big bug, some kind of beetle.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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You haven't seen Rain Gauge Spider for a while, but I thought I would show you today the way she has been hiding out lately under this canopy.

Spring...tails

I am tired of talking about the weather. It hasn't done anything that is actually interesting in a while. Like... be sunny for a week. That would be interesting. But I kind of have to talk about it, because it relates to what happens in the backyard. For instance, if it is not terribly cold, like today, and it is terribly wet, like today, the springtails like it very much. Or at least, I assume they like it, because they emerge from wherever it is they are hiding when it is colder, or drier, or both. Today, being warmish (how my standards have fallen...) and wet, there were springtails everywhere.

So many springtails...

 Springtails on the chairs...

 Springtails on the garden fence...

 Springtails on the table thingy on the side of the grill...

 Springtail on my glove...

Springtails attracted by the porch light after dark...

I saw a lot of springtails on trees and rocks, too, I just didn't get pictures of those. If I hadn't seen them, I would have wondered what springtails do when there is no human furniture to hang out on.

Random Bugs:

 Okay, this is not a bug. I think this is cedar apple rust, a fungus. I have never seen one that looks precisely like this, but it seems like one that has not developed its tentacular growths yet (I don't know what those things are called...).

 For today's edition of Wow, I Didn't Expect to See THAT Today, case moth caterpillar. I thought those were all gone by now.

 I looked under a rock and found this lethargic ant.

This one was much more active.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Two really, really tiny ones today:

Lounging on the Lawn Furniture

It's been a few days since I thought it was warm enough for their to be bugs out - meaning, a few days since the temperature has been above 35ºF. I know I have found bugs at 33ºF, but that was over a month ago. Now they don't seem to come out unless it's in the forties, so if they're not coming out, I don't bother, either. But it was solidly in the middle of the forties today, and the sun was shining for a while, at least, so outside I went with my camera... and found something new.

Backyard Bug of the Day

 Needless to say, I don't know what it is. It is pretty small, but not as small as a springtail. It looks like it might be an immature/nymph/larval something, because it has what look to be undeveloped wings.

 Here's some simple animation for you - toggle back and forth between this picture and the previous one to see how it was waggling its abdomen up and down.

 Because it was so small, and at first was between the slats of a lawn chair, it was hard to get a good picture...

I was surprised that it was so hard to find bugs once I went outside, because I saw a lot flying around outside the windows before I went out. Then... nothing, until I checked out the lawn chairs. Then I also checked out the table umbrella on the picnic table (we really should bring that inside...). There were a lot of bugs there, mostly like this one:

If I didn't have furniture outside, I wonder if I would have been able to find bugs at all today.

Another thing I found, which I did not take a picture of, was... evidence, shall we say, that perhaps there was a coyote in the backyard earlier. The evidence looked fresh. Not that I looked very closely at it. And I am no expert on what various animals' scat looks like, but I did see coyote scat on a wildlife documentary once, so that is what I am guessing it was. I have never seen a coyote in my backyard, but I have heard and seen them in the area.

I also discovered the other day that the woolly bear caterpillar is still in the package bin, it is just hiding under the leaves that are in there. And so far it has managed to dodge all of the packages that have been delivered there.

Random Plant Pictures:

This moss is growing in the crack of a big boulder. Some day it is going to be two smaller boulders, and this moss will have played a part in that.

Now if you will indulge me in a little self-promotion before I show you today's beautiful spiders, I have made several bug calendars that are for sale online, if you like looking at bugs, and want to see big, colorful pictures of them every day. Click HERE to see the four calendars, and the other random stuff I have on Zazzle.

Now, Arachnid Appreciation:
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 This little beauty is the only arthropod I found that was not on the lawn furniture.

This one was on the umbrella, and why not? There are lots of bugs to eat there! I think in a more natural setting this spider's body type and way of holding itself probably blends in very well, but not so much on a blue and white umbrella.