An Average Day

On an average day in summer I take about 175-200 pictures (today I took 194, though a couple of those were actually of people). Some days I take up to about 350. I post about 10-20 here, and some of those aren't even very good, I just post them because it was the best picture I got of whatever I wanted to show. It takes a LOT of shots to get something good.

I get a lot of pictures like this:

I am stubborn, though, so I keep trying.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 This is another Hemiptera, or true bug, though I don't know the name.

 It's quite a big bug - by Connecticut Backyard standards. I know it's tiny compared to some bugs found in tropical climes. Sometimes I have seen them fly, and they are quite noisy and clumsy in the air.

Backyard Bud of the Day:

Butterflies are so pretty and dainty, but sometimes it looks like they have a hard life:

I frequently see butterflies with tattered wings. Fortunately, they can still fly. Some bugs will be able regenerate things like legs or antennae, but butterflies don't heal or grow, so once their wings get broken like this, that is it, they won't grow back.  When I see them like this I can't help but wonder how far those wings have taken them.

Speaking of bugs having a hard time, remember the possible ladybug transformer?

It appears this tiny bug is sucking from it. At first I thought it was a tick, but when I zoomed in the picture it looks more like some kind of true bug. The ladybug-thing was occasionally twitching into an upright position, but I get the impression that it is immobile in this state. It seems terribly vulnerable. If that bug is sucking from it, I don't know it that is fatal for it or not.

And while we are on the subject of transformations:

 I found these two leaves stuck together, with something protruding from between them... I'll have to keep an eye on this to see what happens.

I found this cool moth that was willing to be photographed:

 When you look at moths up close they look like woven tapestries. With weird faces.

This is a bit of a mystery (like so much else in the backyard):

This is the end of a stick that is stuck in my arbor. In the fall there was a larva of some kind that spent a day digging its way into the stick, right where that black circle is. I assume it was going to overwinter in there, or pupate or something, but ultimately it seemed to have gone away. So there was just a hole there all winter. Now something has filled in the hole. My guess is that something is transforming in there...

Here's a few pretty things:

 The first milkweed bloom -with a bug on it. Now if only some monarch butterflies would appear and lay their eggs there!

 This was yesterday's Bud of the Day.

Clematis after the petals have fallen.

Last night the window in the living room attracted a plethora of bugs:

 A REALLY big beetle.

A firefly. It wasn't lighting up, just crawling around.

Also... (spiders ahead...)
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 Giant spider was back! Along with a lot of moths, and about a million really tiny things, and a fair number of beetles. Only one huge beetle, though (as seen above and in this picture). In case you're wondering why all these bugs are able to sit near the huge spider...

 And even walk right under it...

 It's because it already had prey in its clutches. It was kind of amusing - moths bumping into it, beetles walking under it, one beetle bumped into its leg and the spider kind of kicked it, and the beetle fell of the screen (I don't think the spider actually kicked it off intentionally, but beetles tumble very easily as a defensive thing). All because it already had something to eat.

Now for today's Arachnid Appreciation:

A mite. Not an insect, but an arachnid (see the eight legs?). Sorry it's not clearer, but it wouldn't stop moving. Just in case you thought that spiders were the only arachnids. They are certainly the ones I see the most, though.