Porch Light Party

I'm finally getting wise to things, so last night I left the porch light on after midnight and went out to find bugs a while later. Because that's where the bugs are:

 There had to have been at least 100 bugs out there. Most of them were tiny, gnat-like things, a lot of moths, mostly too high up for me to get pictures, but there were some interesting things near the lights.

Like the Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I think this might be a new species for me. It looks like it's probably some kind of sawfly.

 Better look at that cute face (I know it's not really its face, but the top of its head).

 Hanging out near the big beetle, which you saw in yesterday's post, because it was there before AND after midnight. But there were a lot of bugs there after midnight that were not there before.

 Moth

 Moth

 There were a lot of these tiny hoppers. Note there are a few in the first picture I posted.

 I think this is an assassin bug. The porch was a good place to be if you like to eat other bugs.

 Impending beetle battle...

 

 It wasn't much of a battle. One sweep of a rear leg, and...

 I didn't notice this when I took the picture, but there's some weird bumps on the back of this moth...

 Mites? Something that is part of the moth and completely normal, but I have never seen it before?

 There were green lacewings last night...

 And brown lacewings.

 I thought this was a caddisfly, and then I thought it was a moth, and now I just don't know.

 Beetle

 This is a new hopper to me this week, and it has been showing up at the porch light for three evenings, and I have spent three evenings trying to get a decent picture of it. No luck so far.

 Grape leaf roller moth

 Gnat and some kind of Hemiptera

 Another new hopper that I can't get a good shot of.

 See?

 No respect for personal space.

 Beetle

The view from the other side of the storm door when I went inside.

By the way, I didn't bother with the porch light this evening, because after our heat wave the temperature has dropped. The daytime high today was almost 90ºF, but by about 10:00 pm it had dropped into the 50s.

I did go for a bug walk today, after I did my daily exercise of killing gypsy moth caterpillars.

Other bugs:

 Some kind of larva–maybe yet another sawfly?

 Leaf-footed bug

 I think this is a spittle bug. And I think it's head is on the left side of the picture.

 Hoverfly

 Moth?

 Weevil hiding among milkweed buds

 Damselfly

 

 Another hopper nymph

Okay, it's been a few days, so here's the katydid nymph on my favorite flower again. I think it has grown! Funny thing about these, though: I see them as tiny nymphs, and I see mature katydids, but I never see any interim sizes...

 After I did my bug walk I spent some time sitting on the back porch watching butterflies go by, and I heard a weird chirping sound. It sounded like a cricket with a sore throat (yes, I know, crickets don't make their sounds via their throat). I looked around and saw this chipmunk sitting on that rock, staring at me. It sat there, staring and chirping, for several minutes before bounding away. I have no idea what that chirping was supposed to communicate.

 It had something in its mouth.

Arachnid Appreciation:

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