The Heart of Things

Lately my bug walks have been getting longer, not in distance, I haven't won the lottery and bought more land to make my backyard bigger, but in time. In fact, I have been losing track of time. It's sometimes been a problem, which I have something else to do, but it's really nice out there, so I like being out there. On day when I can't find bugs, it takes a long time because I have to keep looking, and on days when I can find bugs, well, I am out there for a long time taking pictures and watching bugs. Bugs are very interesting to watch.

Today I thought I hurried, but I was outside for an hour and a half, and then had to rush when I went inside, because I was in a bit of a time crunch then. I am not sure, I'll have to count them when I get them all loaded on here, but I might have found more spiders than insects today. I found two when I went outside to get the mail, and then had to go back in the house, drop the mail, and grab my camera. And then when I went out to do my bug walk, I saw another one as soon as I walked out the back door. I joke in my mind that the reason I am having trouble finding bugs is because the spiders and assassin bugs and ambush bugs are eating them all. That is probably not true; nature finds a way to balance itself, I think. But if there are so many spiders, there must be something for them to eat, right?

If you are an arachnophobe, don't worry, I am still going to put all the spiders at the end. But they were kind of the best part of my bug walk today.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 A fly of some kind. Not in my book. Maybe a fruit fly; it looks similar to some of those.

Speaking of flies...

 I've been seeing crane flies the last couple of days, but for some reason they have been unusually skittish and camera shy. Usually I can get really up close and personal with the camera, but the ones I have been seeing won't let me get within ten feet of them. This one let me get about three feet away.

 Then I saw another later that let me get a little closer. But it still flew away when I tried to get really close.

 I think this might be another White M Hairstreak butterfly, but as you can see its wings are quite beat up, and some of the important identifying marks are gone. Funny that the one I saw the other day was so perfect, and still even had its tails, and this one is so ragged.

 The other side was chomped even worse, but a bit of the blue on the dorsal side of the wing is visible as a result. This was such a bright blue that when it flew, basically what I saw was a bright, blue blur.

 The goldenrod was quite crowded today.

You don't get that view of a butterfly every day.

 I know this is a horrible picture, because the sun was coming and going, and I forgot what my camera setting was, but you can see a bee, a grasshopper, and a butterfly, all on the same plant.

 Better picture, but this was before the bee joined them.

 

 The grasshopper was doing some leg stretches and flexes. Insect yoga. Check out where its rear leg is.

 This bug looks like Kermit the Frog.

 

 Assassin bugs

I would like to point out that aside from the Backyard Bug of the Day and one of the crane flies, all of the pictures so far have been from one patch of goldenrod that is about 5 feet wide and 6 feet long. And heart shaped. I only mention that last bit because it's not a rectangle, so it's not the 30 square feet of a 5X6 rectangle (There were actually a lot more insects there - mainly bees - I just didn't get pictures of them). Let that sink in as you look at the next group of bugs, which represent all of the ones I got pictures of in the entire rest of my backyard today.

 White hickory tussock moth caterpillars

 The white marked tussock moth  was still laying eggs today.

 Two-spotted tree cricket female.

 I still say that tree crickets look like dragons.

Small milkweed bug. On goldenrod (in a different part of the yard than the ones above).

All right, that was 12 species of insects, I think. Now, Arachnid Appreciation:
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Okay, as it turns out there were only five. It seemed like more at the time.

 I almost dropped a box on this one as I brought in the mail.

 The spider with the beautiful orb web, that has been hanging out on the milkweed pod all week, was not there this morning, and nor was its web. But I found it on a goldenrod plant that was one of the anchors for the web last night.

 Later it was back on the milkweed pod. There was a single thread between the two plants, and that was all the web it had today. I even went out late at night and that was all that was there, although it was on that thread then, so maybe it was getting ready to build anew.

 Funnel web. This one has a different look that the other one I have been seeing. I don't know if there are different species, or if this is a male/female difference.

 I was trying to take a picture of just flowers when I realized there was something else there. Flower crab spider.

 I think this is the same species as the one above. I have read that flower crab spiders can change their color based on what color flower they are on.