Following a Song

I just uploaded my pictures from today's bug walk, and I was shocked that there were 57 of them. I definitely don't remember taking so many pictures. I didn't see very many bugs. But it turns out that about 20 of them were failed attempts at getting a shot of a HUGE swarm of bugs next to a tree, and the others are just many shots of a few insects. It was a beautiful day out, and it got me to thinking - this is springtime, maybe even early summer weather, and it has been gorgeous like this all week, so every day when I go outside I am expecting to see a lot of bugs because the weather is so nice, but the weather just doesn't have that much to do with it. It's autumn, the latter half of November; the bugs just aren't here.

So, here's what I've got for you:

 Male tree cricket. While I was walking around the backyard I could hear very few crickets, but in one spot I could hear one quite loudly, and could tell it was nearby. The thing about crickets, though, is they tend to stop singing when you get really close, so you can't really find them by sound. But I did find this cricket, and then figured it must be this one that was singing. It stopped before I got close, though - I found it by sight alone.

Arachnid Appreciation:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

 The spider is not alone in this picture. I wondered if the springtail would get close enough to get eaten, and it was tense for a few seconds, but it turned around and went the other way.