Feelings

We don't have a television, because we don't watch tv, but we do have a dvd projector, because we like movies, and so we have a movie screen that the movies are projected onto. When moths manage to sneak into the house they sometimes land on the screen while we are watching movies, because, being moths, they are attracted to the light. This is kind of annoying, but we usually ignore them if they are small and on the edges somewhere. Tonight there was a medium-sized moth that landed in the middle of the screen, which was very annoying, but being too lazy to get up to shoo it away, we just told it to move. It did move - it flew over and landed on me. I shooed it off - it landed on me again. And again, and again, and fluttered around me, and finally, it landed on my wrist and I decided to just take it outside. So, in spite of being lazy I paused the movie and went out on the back porch to set the moth free in the great outdoors where it belongs. I blew on it to get it to fly away, and it did... and then boomeranged back and landed on my wrist again. This moth REALLY liked me. So I blew it away again, and then rushed into the house... and it followed me back inside! Of course, once it was inside again it didn't want to land on me, so I had to catch it and release it out the door again. I generally cannot fathom what is going on inside those tiny insect brains, but this was really silly. I have no idea what it was about me that this moth liked so much, but sorry, moth - I like insects, and I like moths in particular, but I don't feel quite the same level of affection for you.

It was a difficult break-up.

I read an article yesterday that said that this year we are having the worst gypsy moth infestation since 1981. I believe it, though I would also say that, around here at least, this is nowhere near as bad as it was in 1981. That spring was like a horror movie. It was the first spring I lived in Connecticut, and the first (and maybe only, I don't remember) time that I felt that my parents made a mistake in moving us here. I basically decided that spring that I was never going outside ever again (a resolution I obviously did not keep. Not that I could - I had to go outside to go to school every day back then). The other piece of information in the article (which was actually the main gist of it) was that doctors are seeing a huge number of patients with rashes that they are getting from having gypsy moth caterpillars crawling on them. This makes me wonder... how is it that so many people have caterpillars crawling on them? Is this a thing? What are all of these people doing that this is happening to them? Sadly, the article did not illuminate me on this point.

I did my bug walk in the morning today, which is not my usual time, though it was late morning, so it was already quite warm out. I didn't see a lot of bugs, but lately that seems to be the case no matter what the time of day.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 My butterfly book says this is a Little Copper. The picture of the ventral side of the wings in my book is very small, though, so I did a little bit of searching in other books and online, and found identification of American Copper (in Kaufman's Field Guide to the Insects of North America) or Small Copper (various internet sites). It was difficult because most sources, including the books, are more interested in the dorsal view of the wings. However, I never even saw that part - the butterfly went from flower to flower in a patch of daisies, but the flowers are close together, so it walked from each bloom to the next. Then when it flew away, it did so while I was looking at settings on my camera - I didn't see it go, I just saw that it was gone when I attempted to focus on it again. In general I have usually seen American Coppers (or so I think they were) with their wings open, so it seems odd that this one kept its wings up, but it was feeding, not basking. And yet, even when I have seen them feeding, I have seen them keep their wings open. So I am going to assume this is a correct identification, even though the behavior is different from what I have seen before.

 You can just see the proboscis beginning to unfurl.

Random Bugs:

 Hopper

 There are a few grass bugs on these plants, but none of them would cooperate with me for a close-up shot. You can see one in this shot.

 After my bug walk I had brunch in the arbor, and saw this hopper nymph on one of the other chairs. It was not keen on me taking its picture, and turned to keep an eye on me. While I was taking the picture, I saw it shoot a drop of honeydew out... in the direction of our food on the table. I choose to believe it did not land on my food...

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 I have no idea what kind of spider this was. This is all I saw of it.

I am pretty sure this is an orchard spider. I found a couple of them today with some pretty sizeable prey, compared to the size of the spiders.

 I remember going to camp as a kid and all of us campers being pretty freaked out by daddy-long-legs. Of course, we all thought they were spiders, which they aren't, and were therefore afraid of them, in part because they had no compunction over crawling over your face while you were in your sleeping bag, and there were always a lot of them in our tents. And that was even before I ever heard the myth that they are the most venomous spiders, but their fangs are too weak to break your skin. It is a myth because they are not spiders at all, and don't even have venom. Now that I am an adult with an interest in the things living in my backyard, and am mostly not even afraid of spiders anymore, much less non-spiders with no venom, I can see that it's a rough life to be a daddy-long-legs. This one is missing three legs AND has a mite parasite on it. Now I have compassion instead of fear.