New Summer

Sorry for the lack of posts for the last two days, but I was away for the weekend, and I can't take pictures of bugs in my backyard from 300 miles away. I got home late in the evening, and turned on the porch light to see if I could attract something to be a Backyard Bug of the Day, but nothing showed up. I was surprised, because it was actually quite a warm evening - it was still in the 60s up until around midnight.

Speaking of which... I looked out the window today and saw that there were a lot of bugs flying around. I could tell that at least some of them were ladybeetles; this time of year there are swarms of ladybeetles that are looking for a place to spend the winter. I figured that I would find a lot of them, and a lot of other bugs, when I went out for my bug walk. It was 78ºF when I went out, which seems like perfect bug weather, but I had a hard time finding any - except for craneflies, and they were mostly flying by. I only saw one ladybeetle. Once again, bugs defy my understanding and expectations.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Stinkbug. Genus Banasa. I don't know the species.

 

 

Random Bugs:

 Crane fly

 I have still not figured out what this is...

Thorn mimic planthopper

 This is when it leaned forward to shoot out a drop of honeydew.

 Fly

 I think this is a winged ant.

 I saw two katydids today, this female, which you can tell by its ovipositor...

... and this male, which doesn't have an ovipositor. I think those things sticking out its back end are for clasping the female during mating.

Rove beetle

Stinkbug

Sweat bee

There were a lot of grasshoppers in the rock garden today, just sitting. Not hopping about, like they usually do.

 Tiny plume moth on the storm door, attracted by the porch light.

Okay, looking at all of this I guess it wasn't that bad of a day for finding bugs... But it was not what I was expecting. And they were hard to find.

 Arachnid Appreciation:
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 This jumping spider was aggressively disinterested in having its picture taken. It jumped onto my hand as a way of avoiding the camera. And yet, this was NOT the most uncooperative jumping spider I saw today. It is the only one I got pictures of, though.