Here Be Dragonflies

I forgot what I wanted to write about today, so...

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Tree hopper. I tried to look it up, but there are several that look sort of like this. I think this is a new one for me, so that's how it was chosen to be Backyard Bug of the Day.

 This is supposed to be Moth Week, but in my backyard it should probably be Dragonfly Week. Through this whole summer I don't think I got pictures of any dragonflies, and I only saw one or two up until now, but in the last few days I have been able to get pictures of three, and today Dragonflies were definitely the Order of the day, and I mean order in the sense of Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. I saw three different species from the order Odonata (but only got a picture of one).

 My attempt to look it up was inconclusive (I need books with bigger pictures), but I think it is in the skimmer family.

 This was an extremely cooperative insect. Usually when I am taking pictures of a dragonfly, I take as many pictures as I can before it flies away. This one didn't fly away (so I took about 100 pictures). It would temporarily zip away from this perch, but it would come right back. I finally walked away to finish my bug walk, and when I was done, about half an hour later, I went back to look and it was still there. About a second later it finally flew away, though.

 Can you spot the reason it was flying away and then coming back?

 It was catching food.

 I can't tell what kind of insect it is eating here, but it certainly seems like it is enjoying it (Yes, I know, they just look like they are smiling, but I am going to anthropomorphize it all I want).

 

 This butterfly was MUCH less cooperative. I can't remember the name of it, woodland something? Elfin something? I just dropped the books on the floor, and I can't reach them without an effort, so you'll never know unless you look it up yourself. I don't know why I can never remember this one and have to keep looking it up.

Not a bug.

 Skipper

 Ant tending to its herd of aphids

 I think this is an eight-spotted forester moth. They land on the undersides of leaves.

Immature katydid–this might be another intermediate stage of the nymphs I see every year.