Wrestling

Today was quite warm for this time of year, and I was thinking about the fact that in September this would have been a little bit chilly, but my reaction when I went outside, in shorts, was, "Wow, it's hot out here." I re-acclimated to the high 60s pretty fast though. Anyway, as I began my bug walk I was expecting to see some hoppers today, because temperatures in the 60s seem to be what bring them out, and lo and behold...

 A leaf hopper! I felt so smart, and sure I was going to find lots of leaf hoppers. Or at least, a few leaf hoppers. And then I didn't find any more after this one.

I think that today's Backyard Bug of the Day is from the same order, Hemiptera, though:

 I don't know what it is, though. It is quite a small bug, but has enormous eyes for its size.

The March flies (I think) were out in force again today, and I saw a lot of tussling, which seems to be all about mating. Sometimes one bug wants to mate and the bug it has chosen as a mate is not interested. So there's a bit of a wrestling match, and they separate. So this little scenario was interesting:

 There are four of those bugs here.

 As it was going on, the encounter was kind of like a ball of bugs tumbling around on this branch.

 This is right before they all fell off, and I lost sight of them in the leaf litter.

Random Bugs:

 Weevil

How many pictures will it take for you to be able to see the bug on this coneflower head?

 Some sort of gnat, I guess. It was small, and I didn't get very close. And I managed to put my face through a spider web trying to get these shots. That was a nice moment in my day.

 Case bearing caterpillar

 Really tiny bug hiding in a crack in tree bark

 Here's the same shot zoomed in.

 Fly

I saw two spiders today, but they were both awesome, so I am going to post a whole slew of pictures in Arachnid Appreciation:
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 When I was looking at this spider through the camera it was obvious to me that it had captured one of those March flies. But now looking at the pictures I can see that it actually has two of them in there.

 Awesome chelicerae. I think from something I saw on The Brain Scoop (a YouTube show about the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago) that this is a male, because the scientist on the program said that male spiders' chelicerae look like boxing gloves.

This is the smallest jumping spider I have ever seen, and therefore adorable. It also had an iridescence to its head, which was also adorable.

 Just before the jump...

 ... and after the jump.

 Bad picture because of the lighting, but check those eyes!

 Zoomed-in version. It is my belief that the colors of the eyes vary based on the direction of the lift, so since each eye is at a slightly different angle here, they look different colors.