Missing Out

If you follow social media and popular culture, you've probably heard of FOMO–Fear Of Missing Out, which is what keeps people glued to their various social media accounts. They have to keep checking things obsessively, because, well, they are afraid of missing out. There is a version of this that afflicts photographers, and is why a lot of photographers always have a camera with them, even if it's just in the back seat of their car when they go places. It's why I have had a camera in my purse for over ten years (I don't have a cell phone, but I do have another device with a camera in it, too, that I often have with me). For one of the years I have been doing this blog I used to do my bug walk before I ate breakfast, because before breakfast I would go out and get the newspaper, and if I was going out to get the newspaper I had to bring my camera in case I saw some interesting bug, and so I would end up doing my bug walk, then bringing in the newspaper and THEN having breakfast. It wasn't the greatest way of arranging my time, so now I don't do it, but every time I go outside to get the paper or the mail, I feel like I should bring my camera outside with me. I don't, because it seems silly to bring my camera just to walk to the end of the driveway to find the paper wherever it has been delivered on any given day, but there are definitely days when I wish I had brought it with me. Sometimes whatever interesting thing I see sticks around long enough for me to to in and get the camera and come back out to take pictures. Sometimes it doesn't work out that way. Photographing bugs can be very much about seizing the moment. But today when I went out to get the paper I saw a huge, beautiful spider web on the side of the house, pretty high up, but big enough that I could still have taken a good picture of it, even if the spider would have ended up very small. It was in the sun, so it was well lit for a picture, the spider was sitting right in the middle of the web, the web was intact, though a bit dusty, which just made it more visible. I thought about going in to get my camera to take a picture of it right away, but there didn't seem to be much point–it was a spider web, it wasn't going to go anywhere, it couldn't fly away. So I went inside and ate my breakfast. Well, by the time I went out to do my bug walk, the sun had moved enough that that part of the house was in the shade, which wouldn't have been a deterrent to taking the picture, it just wouldn't have been lit so beautifully well. But the spider web was gone. There was just one tiny corner of it left, and no sign of the spider. I had not seized the moment, and I missed out. I did spot it later, sitting in that little corner of the web, so I'll see tomorrow if it has built a big, beautiful one overnight.

Backyard Bugs of the Day:

 Oleander aphids. I know that most people, particularly gardeners, don't like aphids, but I do. I think they are cute, particularly this species, and they are a pretty important part of the insect diet in my backyard. There are a lot of insects that eat aphids, and ants feed on their excretions of honeydew. There aren't any ants tending to these aphids, but it's a pretty common sight in my backyard to see ants protecting aphids like livestock. They're interesting little creatures. This particular swarm (I don't know what the proper name is a for a group of aphids) is on a milkweed plant. I have found it odd this summer how few insects have been on the milkweed plants, because usually they are a haven for a LOT of different kinds of insects, but this one plant has been host to a pretty huge number of aphids for the last couple of months.

 And speaking of having to hurry to get pictures of things, sometimes it isn't necessary. This cricket was Backyard Bug of the Day a couple of weeks ago, even though I realized at a certain point while taking its picture that it is dead. Well, it's still in the exact same spot.

 Buffalo tree hopper

Stinkbug

Assassin bug

Katydid. I think this is the only live insect I have here today that is not in the order Hemiptera. (It's in the order Orthoptera, in case you're wondering).

Today was not a buggy day in the backyard. Sunny, windy, but not buggy. So that's all I have for you.

Backyard Amphibian That I Almost Ran Over With The Lawnmower of the Day:

 Here is is hiding under the back porch. I really wish the frogs would not wait until the last second to reveal themselves and hop out of the way of the mower, but that is what they always do. Funny thing is, I had probably walked past that frog, stepping within a foot of it, at least 10 times before I got the lawn mower out, and it stayed hidden. It had to wait until the danger arrived.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 Speaking of aphids, on another milkweed plant elsewhere in the backyard, one was captured by this jumping spider.