I am sure at some point in your life, probably when something bad had just happened to you and you just didn't want to hear it, someone has said something to you to the effect of, "We need bad things to happen so we can appreciate the good." I have never found that to be particularly helpful, and I was thinking about it today in relation to springtime.
Here's the good of springtime (well, some of it):
Birds! Okay, there are always birds, and I don't even know if this is a migrating species or not, but there are more birds in the spring, and they are flirting, and building nests, and I spend more time outside so I can hear them singing more. Anyway, this is Backyard Bird of the Day, which I am pretty sure is a phoebe.
Buds! Buds are wonderful.
Green! After months of brown and gray, we get more and more green every day!
Also, pink! It's subtle, but there is a lot of pink around in spring in places other than flowers. And leaves! New leaves in that gorgeous spring color!
Flowers! Yes, this is a poor picture of a flower, but I didn't take any other flower pictures today, so just go with it. Also, Bees!
And beautiful weather! And lengthening days!
So, that's the good. Here's the bad:
A tick. Crawling up my leg, even though I put on my tick repellent pants today! I did not wait to see if it would bite me or not if it got the chance; when it got almost to my shirt I used a stick to remove it, and then it jumped off the stick and I lost it in the grass before I could kill it. It did not seem the least bit repelled by my tick repellent pants, I should say. I am pretty annoyed about that. Anyway, my point is, ticks are bad, and I don't need them to help me appreciate all of the good things about spring. Hmph.
Backyard Bug of the Day:
I almost didn't see this; or rather, I saw it and almost thought it was just part of the bud on this plant. But it's not a bud, it's a bug. And this one really is a bug, as in a True Bug, from the order Hemiptera.
I don't know specifically which bug it is, and my bug books are still put away for the winter, and I am too lazy to go get them, but hey, at least I know what order it's in!
Zoomed-in version of the above picture, to see the great eyes, and a peek at the proboscis that is what makes it a true bug.
Quite handsome, eh?
Random Bugs:
Bee in a daffodil. I think it's a sweat bee.
Beetle hiding in the grass
Ant. A few days ago (last week?) there were a lot of these ants on this tree trunk, but today this was the only one I saw.
There were plenty of ants elsewhere, though. A couple of months ago we (and by we, I mean my husband and a friend of his) had to cut down a tree that was dying, and very close to the house. Also, leaning in the direction of the house. However, today it became obvious that the tree wasn't completely dead because the sap began to flow from the stump.
The sap attracted a lot of ants.
It also attracted flies and gnats...
... and other things.
A lot of those little moths flying around today, and this one landed where I could just barely get its picture.
Oh, speaking of my insect repellent pants (we were earlier, remember?), I picked up something else:
This is how Velcro was invented, you know.
Finally, after a spider drought for the last few days, lots of them were out today. Arachnid Appreciation:
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It was a good day for spiders. Not such a good day for gnats. That this picture is in focus is a miracle - the wind was blowing the whole time I was trying to photograph this, and I must have just gotten lucky with this shot.
I don't know what kind of spider this is, but I have come to think of it as the leaf litter spider.
I know, bad picture - I took a lot of pictures with my camera on the wrong setting today. The light was very changeable. Anyway, more proof that it was a bad day to be a gnat.
Here's the above, zoomed-in.
I found this charming jumping spider:
I know, totally out of focus, but I love this picture...
It crawled around a bit on the branch, and then crawled up to the tip and stuck its back end up in the air.
I don't know how well you can see it in these pictures, but if you compare the... I don't know what they are, but they are sort of graspy things that stick out its back end. It was opening and closing them, and I think what it was doing was shooting silk threads out into the wind to catch on other branches.
You can just barely see in this picture and the next that it is grabbing at the threads.
Another jumping spider. I am beginning to think that this one lives on our recycling bin.
And this one lives on the bedroom window. Yup, a bad day for gnats.
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