I don't have a Bucket List of places I'd like to go, or experiences I'd like to have in my life, but I do have a wish list of bugs I'd like to find in my yard and get a picture of. A Bug-et list, you might say. It's not really even a list, and it doesn't consist of a lot of bugs - the biggest one I saw this year, the luna moth. I'd like to see a stick bug, now that I know they exist in Connecticut (I thought they were more of a tropical thing). Today's Backyard Bug of the Day was on my Bug-et list - until today, when I was finally able to get pictures of it.
Backyard Bug of the Day:
Hmmm... This might not be a good job for the macro lens - the bug is a big one, but it's about 12 feet up on a tree, and there's about an 8 foot thorny barrier around the tree... Time for the telephoto lens!
Cicada! This is an annual cicada. I hear them in the summer, but this is only the third time I have seen one in the yard in 15 years, and the other two times were only fleeting glimpses. Figures that even today I couldn't get a close up look. So, why is it so hard to catch a glimpse of a bug that is over two inches long? Because cicadas spend most of their lives underground (from one to 17 years, depending on the species), and only come out for a brief time to make noise and mate, and they spend most of that time in trees. I was bummed last year when I found out that we would not have the 17 year cicadas in our area, but at least we get annual cicadas.
Since even the telephoto lens was not powerful to get a good look at this, I have zoomed in a couple of pictures.
If this had been the only bug I saw today I would still have considered it a good bug day.
Backyard Bud of the Day:
Wild lettuce
Backyard Bug Behavior:
Practically the first thing I saw when I went outside today was this landing at my feet. I could see that the wasp was carrying something that was big - as big as the wasp, anyway.
This is what it had. After it landed with this bug, the wasp flew away. I know there are predatory wasps, and parasitic wasps. I don't know what this was.
Here are the moth eggs on the deer netting:
There are (were) three places on the deer netting where there were these eggs, all from different nights. The oldest ones are mostly gone, and the area has slug slime on it, so it looks like maybe a slug ate them. When I was outside this evening there was a slug on the deer netting, so it's definitely possible. For more on what may have happened to the moth eggs, you'll have to wait for Arachnid Appreciation.
Guess who I spotted again today?
It had company, too. There were two more of the same kind of caterpillar on other branches of the tree. They were both smaller and darker colored.
Although this one doesn't look darker in this picture, trust me it was.
The possible checkered prominent was still working on its hazelnut leaf:
I am posting this picture so you can get a better idea of how well it is camouflaged, even though it's easy to find in the picture because it is in focus.
These next two pictures are something of a time lapse...
There's more caterpillar than leaf here!
When it finished that leaf it moved on...
It tried out several leaves before settling on this one.
Moths in the wild:
Finally, someone appreciates the little, pink flowers in the "garden."
Also in bloom: Asters
Random Bugs:
I wish I had seen this bug from the front. I would have liked to see that face.
Here's an extra-zoomed in look at the eye.
A young assassin, blending in.
This leaf hopper looks like it has a parasite.
Sigh.
Snowy tree cricket after dark
Now for the resolution of the moth egg story - Arachnid Appreciation.
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Let's just say I don't think the moth who laid the eggs appreciates arachnids:
This spider was crawling around on the eggs during the day. I didn't see it actually eat any, but...
These next two spiders were on the eggs when I went out at around 11 at night.
It is amazing the number of orb weaver spiders that are building huge webs in the backyard every night. There have been orb weavers in the backyard other summers, but never so many - one or two at any given time at the most. I have lost count of how many are out there now. And the thing that is most amazing to me is that they build their webs in close proximity to each other in some places.
I spotted this one in the afternoon (it's rare to even get this much of a glimpse of one during the day):
It is hiding in its leaf tent. Look closely and you can see that not only does it have a leg on one of the threads of the web, but it is pulling it taut - you can see the slack.
This one was building its web at night in the worst place - across the intersection of two paths. Even if my husband or I don't walk through it, there are other animals that use the paths. A bunny might be small enough not to walk into it, but a deer would definitely break it. It's an impressive web, though - the spiral part is probably almost two feet across, and the anchor threads span over ten feet.
How can anyone not appreciate a pink and yellow spider?
Well, besides the bug it is eating.
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