Transformation

Ever since the heat wave ended on Friday we have been having some pretty cold nights–it has been in the mid 50s every night since then. I wonder if that is why I didn't find many bugs when I did my bug walk this morning. It had warmed up to the 70s by then (and ended up in the high 80s), but maybe it takes a while for the warmth to reach wherever the bugs sheltered during the cold nights. This month has been full of weird weather extremes so far.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I think this is another species of robber fly. I have seen so many of them in my backyard this year. I didn't realize there were so many variations; I knew there were multiple species, but I thought they all looked kind of the same. Apparently not.

The first thing I did when I went out for my bug walk this morning was to check on this caterpillar to see if it had changed into a chrysalis yet. And there it still was, a caterpillar hanging upside down:

Then we went out for the day, coming home in the early evening. And the first thing I did when we got home, before even going into the house, was to check on the caterpillar again, and tada! Now it's a chrysalis!

 

 It looks very much like bird poop. No doubt that is a protective quality.

 I can't wait to see it in better light during the sunny time of day.

 Last week (or maybe the week before) I thought I saw a wasp with a huge ovipositor go into the bee house, which surprised me because I didn't think that was the kind of was that uses this kind of thing. Today I realized that, having seen that from a distance I did not correctly identify what I was seeing:

 Wasp carrying a bit of grass to fill a nest. It looked in several of the tubes before choosing which one to enter, and then I saw the bit of grass slowly disappear inside.

 Later I managed to catch a glimpse of it (or another one, I don't know) when it came out...

 ... and then it went back in again.

 Dragonfly

This wasp was scraping away the wood, which I presume it will use to make a paper nest.

Arachnid Appreciation:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

You cannot appreciate from this picture how tiny this spider and its prey are. I think it must be a spiderling. A crab spider spiderling.