Three In A Row

When you see today's Backyard Bug of the Day you are going to get a sense of déjà vu, or think that I am getting forgetful and chose the same insect two days in a row, but that's not the case. Today's Backyard Bug of the Day is a totally different species from yesterday.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Actually, it doesn't look that much like yesterday's caterpillar. I was feeling pretty confident that I knew this one, that it is an American dagger moth caterpillar, but checking the book again I am not so sure. But that might be what it is. It fits the description except the color is off. But maybe there are different shades of yellow?

 I found this before I even went on my bug walk. I went outside to get the mail, and decided to look in on the spider I found yesterday; the spider was gone, but this was crawling up the side of the house. I went back inside and got my camera (before even going down to the mailbox), and was pleased that no matter how my later bug walk turned out, I already have a Backyard Bug of the Day! I think this is three days in a row with caterpillars as Backyard Bug of the Day...

 And speaking of recent caterpillar Backyard Bugs of the Day...

 This one is still in the same general area. It has been feeding on the leaves on a honeysuckle vine that is tangled around a small (about 7 feet tall) oak tree.

 Later on it was still on the vine, but at the top of the tree.

 Later still...

 ... and later still.

 And while we're on the subject of caterpillars that are sticking around, there was a caterpillar that had secreted itself away in silk and leaves at the top of a small sapling (where some other caterpillars had recently devoured the rest of the leaves), and today I found its head sticking out the top.

I couldn't tell if it had grown longer, but it has definitely grown thicker. I guess it must have had something to eat in there.

 Net-winged beetle

 I found this ant carrying what appears to be a spider's leg. I wonder where it found that, and if it was attached to a spider at the time.

 You can just barely see this bug's proboscis stuck in the plant as it sucks the juices out.

  I think this one is feeding on this tree, too.

 I found this bumblebee dangling from a goldenrod plant, and I assumed it was in the grasp of an ambush bug or assassin bug, but no, it was just hanging there in a stupor. It was still alive. I sometimes wonder if bees get drunk.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 Jumping spider

 I finally found a flower crab spider on the goldenrod.

 When I first spotted this I thought that a piece of a leaf had gotten stuck in a spider web. It turns out it is a plant hopper caught in a spider web.

 The plant hopper was still alive, and kept fluttering its elytra, trying to dislodge the spider, I think.

 

 

 This is the bower of the spider that was gone today...

 ... but I found another one elsewhere in the backyard. I went out after dark to try to get a better look at it, and I got a glimpse, but it got spooked and went back up into its bower.