Solstice Solace

Ah, what a beautiful first day of astronomical summer! If 6 out of 7 days were just like this, summer might be my favorite season (6 out of 7 because if all the days were like this we would have a drought. So, rain once a week would be good). Perfect for a picnic, and outdoor concert, and watching fireflies (aaaaaand, that's my day. Well, and a bug walk).

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I am pretty sure this is a springtail. It was surprising to see one, because I haven't seen one in ages, I don't usually see one this time of year, and it was a really dry day, and I usually see them when it is damp. But here it is.

Other bugs:

 So many moths around lately. This one is pretty small, about a quarter of an inch.

 Found another of these; still don't know what it is.

 White M hairstreak butterfly

You can get a peek of the dorsal side of its wings in this shot.

 Egg

 Another moth

 Do you see the bee?

 Sweat bee on raspberry flower. This one did not sting me.

 This bug is tiny, maybe an eight of an inch long. Even when I was taking pictures of it, it looked like a wasp, but in the pictures now I can see its proboscis, which is a giveaway that it is a Hemiptera of some kind.

 It looks more like a Hemiptera from the back.

 There was a tiny assassin bug on the same plant (I know this is a terrible picture, I just wanted to show the two tiny bugs together).

 Beetle

 They can fly like this. It's amazing.

 Bee on the first blooms of milkweed

 Fly

 Skipper

 One of those wing-waving flies

 No idea

 GMC getting ready to pupate, It has built a web over itself for protection. I can tell you right now that it did not protect it.

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

Daddy-long-legs covered with mites

I think that is a mite, feeding on a hopper nymph. I didn't know they were insectivorious. When I first spotted these, it just looked like the hopper nymph was hanging onto the vine at a weird angle; the mite was so small I couldn't see what it was and just thought it was part of the vine. Then it started moving, and was dragging the hopper nymph around the vine. We're talking about a mite about a millimeter long.