Right Upside the Head

Sometimes I just have to wonder what is going on in those tiny insect brains. Today I was lying on the ground taking some pictures and a moth smacked right against my ear. I don't think it knew what it was thinking, either, because it fluttered frantically against the side of my face for a few seconds–thank goodness it was much too big to fly into my ear. That's a trip to the emergency room I don't want to make. The bugs in the backyard were very up-close-and-personal today, though not in a useful, let-me-take-their-picture way. More in a dragonfly-buzz-past-the-back-of-my-head-and-startle-me way. And it's really not at all helpful for a butterfly to fly in circles around my feet and not land anywhere so I can get a picture.

There was one bug, though, that was more than usually cooperative. I have been trying to get a good picture of this bug for weeks, and most of the time I don't get a picture at all, but today for some reason one finally decided to pose for me. Backyard Bug of the Day:

 This is a robber fly, and obviously one that mimics bees. It is pretty huge, over an inch long, I'd estimate. It looks a bit like a Muppet, too.

I tried to look this up, figuring it was so distinctive that it would be easy to figure out what species it is, but nope. There are quite a few species that look more or less like this.

 I know robber flies are predatory, having frequently seen them catch prey, but even if I didn't know that, I think I would have figured it out from watching its head swivel when another bug flew by. For whatever reason it did not choose to chase after it, though. Before it landed here so I could get pictures I did see it chase another insect for a bit.

Other Bugs:

 This caterpillar was dangling from a tree over the driveway, and climbing back up its thread. It was a loooooooong climb. You can see the bunch of gathered thread it is making as it climbs up.

 So many bees yesterday, but there were no honeybees. I was glad to see one today.

 Possibly a leaf-footed bug nymph

A couple of hopper nymphs:

 

I was walking around my backyard today and happened to think about how I have not seen any viceroy/red-spotted purple caterpillars this year (they look very much the same and I can't tell them apart), when about twenty steps after having this thought I happened to look up and saw this:

 Either a viceroy or red-spotted purple caterpillar! Obviously about to become a pupa–see the silk that is attaching it to the branch.

 Tree cricket nymph

 Sweat bee

 I found a bunch more of these today, bigger and maybe weirder...

 That definitely looks like a sawfly larva, but I have not been able to find anything yet to tell me for sure.

 A strange combination of cute and creepy.

 

 Aphids

Caterpillar close-up

A couple of buffalo tree hoppers

I assume this is a brown hooded owlet moth caterpillar. It only has the yellow and black stripes, not the red and orange, but it's very small, so maybe it gets those in later instars. This is the earliest and smallest I have seen one of these, I think.

Mangled lady beetle:

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Mom was lurking nearby still. I wonder at what point these will all head off on their own, and what they are eating in the meantime.