An Unexpected Beauty

Today was a day without crickets. It wasn't a particularly cold day, but we had a freeze last night, in the 20s. This doesn't mean they are all gone for good. But it may be the end for nights standing on the porch, listening to the chorus. I can't wait for spring...

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Quite a beauty! And extremely unexpected at this point in the season.

 I tried to look it up, but I couldn't find it in my book. It could be an Ichneumon wasp of some kind, but don't quote me on that.

 Is that an adorable face, or what?

Well, maybe not that adorable...

Random Bugs:

 Moth hiding in tree bark.

 This kind of looks like a woolly aphid, but I have never seen one with wings like that.

 Crane fly

For quite a while during my bug walk today I thought this blog post was going to be nothing but spiders. Arachnid Appreciation:
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 Remember this spider I told you about a while back that is always in just about the same spot on this tree trunk?

 It was not alone today (sorry for the bad picture. The spider on the left is the one we're talking about). They both appear to be females.

Also, the spider did something I have never seen it do before:

 It moved.

 Look, now they are closer! Then I spent about a minute taking pictures of the next spider you are about to see, and when I looked back both of these spiders were gone. I eventually found one of them walking around about a foot away from this spot. The other I didn't see at all.

 Anyway, onto this adorable, tiny spider...

And this one...