Hatched

I had a bit of a surprise today, one of those surprises that should not be a surprise, but is if you are not paying attention.

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I found a leaf that had blown off of a maple tree during one of our windy storms, and there was a tiny egg on it?

I brought the leaf inside and put it in a plastic bug viewer (a kids' science toy) to contain it until the egg hatched. I would look at it occasionally when I went in or out the back door (it was on a shelf in the back hallway by the door so that I would remember to look at it), but I have been forgetting it lately. And the viewer isn't so great, you get kind of a distorted view of what's inside. So maybe the egg hatched a while ago and I didn't notice (as you can see from the picture, it doesn't look much different). You can guess what I am leading up to...

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Today when I glanced inside the viewer even though the egg at first looked unchanged, I saw a tiny bug on the leaf - an itty, bitty, baby assassin bug! Well, a nymph, to be more scientific. I am not sure if it hatched today or not, but there it is.

Random Bugs:

Moth on the storm door last night

 Tiny bee

 Hopper

 

 I espied a tiny glint of color in the shadow of a tree branch, and when I looked at it through the lens it was this tiny gnat with beautifully iridescent wings.

 Here's what it looks like NOT in the dark.

 Moth spotting test

 Plume moth

 Some kind of immature Hemiptera

 I know it doesn't look like a bug, but it is, some kind of Hemiptera nymph

 Assassin bug on milkweed, waiting for all those bugs that are always attracted to milkweed.

I don't know what they were after, but there was a huge crowd of ants on this leaf.

I have been finding a lot of these attracted to the porch lights lately, but this one was on the porch during the day.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 Jumping spider after a successful pounce