Chill

Today was only one degree colder when I went out for my bug walk than it was for yesterday's bug walk, but it felt a lot colder. It probably has to do with the humidity or something, but for whatever reason, today the air had a bite to it that wasn't there yesterday, and that was even when the wind wasn't blowing - which, by the way, it does most of the time these days. Today felt like winter is really going to happen, which I was able to blissfully ignore for several days last week when it was in the 60s and 70s. But today I could feel it. And tonight, when I went out to look at the sky from the back porch, there were no crickets or katydids to be heard. I don't blame them - it was 39ºF. I didn't feel like singing, either.

I sometimes get a sense when I walk out the back door of whether or not I am going to find a lot of bugs that day. Usually I am wrong - or at least, often I am wrong, and my feeling when I walk outside has absolutely no correlation to the general level of buginess of the backyard. But today when I walked out and thought to myself that I wasn't going to find many bugs, I was absolutely right. On the other hand, lately I hardly do find any bugs, even on warm days - why would they suddenly show up when it was so chilly (I am not calling it cold. It's not cold yet. It's chilly).

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Just kidding.

 Here's the other side of the leaf. A hopper

Random Bugs:

 Gnat

 There were still candy striped leaf hoppers on this bush today, but not nearly as many.

 A gelatinous goo of unknown origin

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 Maybe a six-spotted orb weaver?

 Slightly better look?

Unappreciated Arachnid:

I haven't worn my tick repellent pants in a couple of months. I have not seen a tick for an even longer time. Today I stood up from kneeling in the grass for a picture and found this vile creature crawling on my pant leg. I know size is hard to determine with the macro lens, so this is a dog tick, not a deer tick.