Birthday Butterflies

I'm getting a late start because of internet problems...

I had that one week during which I didn't see any butterflies, but today they graced my backyard in abundance, unless I just saw the same couple of butterflies over and over. Aside from one cabbage white they were all swallowtails, and they mostly did what swallowtails do, zoom across the backyard high in the air and with a visible sense of purpose; it's almost like there is an invisible butterfly super highway that crosses the more open part of the backyard between the two wooded sections. There was one that I think stopped to lay some eggs on the back porch tree, and several times I saw eastern tiger swallowtails come down to feed on honeysuckle plants. I got pictures of two of them, and I know they were different individuals because one had a damaged wing and the other still had both "tails". But there were others that flew by overhead that were either the darker version of eastern tiger swallowtails or were one of the other darker species of swallowtails that look a lot like each other and that I would never be able to identify after just seeing them race past overhead.

Anyway, in honor of my mother's birthday, and to make up for the fact that the BBotD is a caterpillar and she doesn't like caterpillars, here are a couple of eastern tiger swallowtails who were at least a little bit cooperative so I could take their picture:

 Think this one is female.

 

Note the broken wing; but it can still fly.

 This one still has both tails.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I believe this is a Georgian Prominent. Quite a pretty caterpillar, that, as usual, turns into a brown moth. The caterpillar book says it's unusual to see these in caterpillar form (though the moths are often seen around lights), so I feel kind of lucky to have seen this. I guess they spend most of their time up in oak trees, which are their food source.

Other Bugs:

 This looks like maybe one of the mealy bug destroyer larvae has started to pupate?

Beetle larva (same one from last week, I think).

Weevil?

I think this is some kind of huge fly that looks like a bee. There were a lot of thorns between me and it, though, so I couldn't get a closer look.

This cocoon has darkened on one end, so I think it might be getting ready to eclose.

Some kind of plant bug

White marked tussock moth caterpillar. I have seen a lot more of these this year than I usually do, and much earlier–I always thought of these as autumn caterpillars because I usually see them later in the year.

There were two milkweed plants right next to each other with pairs of robber flies propagating their species:

 

 Robber fly with prey. I used to think that robber flies ate their prey in a chew-and-swallow kind of way, but I have been observing them lately and realized that they suck out their (liquefied) innards like a spider or a predatory Hemipteran insect would do.

 I think this might have been Backyard Bug of the Day at some point last week, but it was smaller then. It is still in the nymph stage, but perhaps a later instar. Some kind of leaf hopper.

 I expect a lot of tiny insects here soon...

I have a garden cart that I keep on the back porch because it doesn't fit in the shed, and a carpenter bee appears to have decided to nest in the handle. This is not a good thing, but I don't really see that I can do anything about it. After it's done, though, I am going to plug up that handle.

Tree cricket nymph

Arachnid Appreciation:
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The six-spotted orb weaver has another egg mass.