Simple Pleasures

Once again today as I was in my backyard enjoying the beauties of nature I recalled to myself the Jane Austen quote (from her novel, Emma), "One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other half." I was standing around watching bees and wasps of a variety of species come and go from a patch of blooms; it was something that is impossible to photograph, and even if I could photograph it I don't think a picture could really give the sense of what it is like to be surrounded by all of those industrious insects, feeding and flying, filling the warm summer air... Anyway, I thought about how great it would be if I could share that experience with the world, so they would all know how lovely it is, but then I remembered all the people who hate and fear insects, who would be totally freaked out standing there surrounded by things they thought might sting them at any moment for no reason at all. And that's when I thought of Jane Austen. But really, it was a pleasure. And though I realized that for the bees and the wasps its all about survival, it is very easy to imagine that they were enjoying the summer afternoon, too.

However, I didn't get pictures of the bees and wasps. Like I said, it wasn't something I could photograph. So if all of that does sound wonderful to you, go find a patch of something blooming, and see for yourself.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Some kind of hopper nymph. No idea what kind. This is the smallest hopper nymph I have ever seen, one of those things that is so small when you see it you have to look at it through the macro lens to even be sure it's an insect.

There were two butterflies that eclosed today, as expected. Also as expected, one of them eclosed in the morning (before 9:30, but I don't know what time), and the other one was later, though again I don't know what time because I wasn't home.

 The first one was female, and she was getting pretty antsy in the enclosure by the time I released her.

 She flew pretty much right away.

 The second one was male. The black spots that show that the male is a male are barely visible on this underside of the wings. Just for comparison, here are similar views of the male (this one)...

 ... and the female. Can you see the difference?

I wrote about different animal seasons the other day, and about how some birds have new clutches of young in the late summer... It looks like there may be some recent hatchlings somewhere in the area.

Backyard Amphibian of the Day:

 For all I know this is the same one from 3 days ago.

Other Bugs:

 It was really dewy this morning, as you can see on this Japanese beetle.

 The little viceroy ate a whole leaf in the last two days!

 Another one of these caterpillars that fell prey to some sort of parasite.

 It looks like there's one unhatched egg in the back there.

Okay, so I did get pictures of one bee on the blooming flowers:

 Did I mention it was really windy today? This bee was centered in the picture. I'm amazed it ended up in focus after the wind blew it out of the center.

 Those eyes are incredible!

 

 In the middle, we have an assassin bug. Just behind the assassin is a caterpillar pretending to be a stick. Inside the flower is a primrose moth. Amazingly, the assassin flew away without assassinating any bugs at all.

 Katydid, sans one rear leg.

Here's another insect-spotting eye test for you. It's probably too easy...

 

 Close up of the insect you should have spotted.

 Tent caterpillars... and do you see the stinkbug who is carrying off one of them?

 Tomorrow there will be 3 butterflies eclosing. At the moment I have 6 chrysalides and 4 caterpillars, one of whom is in the J pose and will chrysalize tomorrow. I'll give you one guess which of these two is going to eclose tomorrow.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 For some reason I think it's cool when I can tell what kind of insect a spider has preyed upon. Hoverfly, in case you're wondering.

 Tree cricket and daddy-long-legs