Fesity

Today was exactly what we were promised, sunny, warm (63ºF was the high), and I enjoyed being in the backyard, but there was something weird about it. I think everyone has heard about how much smells are connected with memories, like the way the smell of bread baking can make you think of your grandmother's kitchen (actually, for my grandmother it would be chocolate chip cookies). Well I had an experience today that was sort of like that, where I connected the sensations of one sense with another. I am not making sense, am I... It was warm today, and it was quiet, and it felt weird to me, because being warm, feeling the warmth of the air on my skin (which included my legs because I wore shorts today. Days like today are why it takes me so long to put away my summer clothes), I realized that I expected to be hearing crickets and katydids. The feeling of summer should have been connected to the sounds of summer, according to my brain. It didn't seem to mind the lack of leaves, and the totally different quality of the sunlight, but the sounds of insects was totally lacking. I was a bit surprised not to hear any - it wasn't so long ago that they were to be heard on nicer days, and they don't die or hibernate for the winter, they go into a state of arrested animation called diapause, which will only happen when it's freezing, and they come out of it when its not. Not that they will sing in the winter, even when it's above freezing. But last year I was hearing at least a solitary cricket down by the rocks into December. I walked down there today, not a cricket to be heard.

However, I did find a fairly good selection of bugs today. Including one that I don't think I have ever seen, which is Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I don't know what it is. I tried to look it up, but I didn't even know where to look. It mostly looks like an ant, but not like any ant in my book. It looks a little bit like a beetle, but not much. It's really small, too.

The great thing about a warm day is that you find more bugs, and different ones than you find when it's colder. The bad thing is, the bugs are more active. It's much easier to take a picture of a sluggish bug. That is not what I found today:

 On the bright side, I did get a shot of a bug about to fly. Sadly, not in focus.

 Ladybug

 Hoppers, of course, because it was in the 60s. Not as many as I expected to see, though.

 I think these are winter craneflies. They were swarming yesterday, but not today.

There were a couple of times today that I saw moths, but what would happen is there would be a moth on a tree or plant and I would not see it until I got close, and then it would fly away, and I wouldn't be able to get its picture. But one of the times this happened, the moth flew down to the ground and landed right in front of me. Here is the good picture of the moth, to be followed by the interesting pictures of the moth:

 This is how I first saw it:

 But what I noticed when I saw it land, is that there was another bug crawling on the ground nearby, which I don't think you can see in this picture, but I saw it while I was standing there. I figured it was an ant, but then I looked closer...

 It was not an ant. Can you see it?

 Here's the same picture, and I've circled the bug.

 It walked very close to the moth...

 The bug is circled here, too...

 So, here's the bug. It was moving fast, so I didn't get a good shot at it...

 Here's the above picture zoomed in. If I'd gotten a good picture it would be BBotD. This might be a new one for me.

Whatever that bug is, it was not the only one around:

A few steps further and the moth went all Taylor Swift on the ant and shook it off. The ant came back a few more times, though, and each time the moth shook it off, and once poked at it with its leg. What surprised me is that it didn't fly away, either because of the ant or because of me.