Above Board

My bug walk today was taken during a brief respite from the rain (which, as usual, started up again when I was in the part of the backyard that is farthest from the house), so I didn't have time to find very much. Given that it was wet and cold, I think the only reason I found anything at all is because I looked for bugs under a couple of pieces of wood in the yard - no, we didn't get around to cleaning up the backyard of such random things this summer. We were doing other things.

No Backyard Bug of the Day, though.

However, I found this, which is kind of interesting:

 No idea what kind of caterpillar, but it is a shed skin of some kind - perhaps as a final molt before making a cocoon? Anyway, I don't know if this is something that has recently been discarded, or if it has been sitting on the leaf litter for ages and I just now noticed it. Actually, it can't have been sitting there too long, because the leaf litter hasn't been there forever.

 Of course, with the damp weather and the coldness, I expected to find springtails on and under the pieces of wood, and I did.

 Taking pictures of things on or near the ground is my least favorite thing...

 I was surprised to find ant on one of the boards and the surrounding leaf litter.

 A sow bug under a board is not a surprising find, however.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 A really tiny mite under a board.

Very fast, too.