Walking in the Rain

A few months ago I tried to get a rain cover for my camera so that I could take pictures during inclement weather. I was unable to find one that fit the lens/flash combination that I have, so I didn't buy one. Ironically, the reason I wanted it was because I was going on a trip and wanted to be sure that I could still take pictures if it rained, and then there was barely any rain the entire month I was away. That is, there was barely any rain in the places I was traveling. In my backyard there was about 6 inches of rain in that 4 week time span. If I had been at home, I would very much have needed that rain cover, but where I actually was it was unnecessary. And it has been unnecessary since I got home; there has hardly been any rain at all since I got back. Today, however, it rained almost all day, and since I had a butterfly to release that was a bit of a problem. But I managed to release her without getting my camera wet, with a little help from the picnic table umbrella and the shelter of a tree. After the butterfly flew, though, I wanted to keep taking pictures, because I could see that in spite of the rain there were plenty of bugs out and about. I decided to go in and get my umbrella, and do my bug walk that way. I have done that a few times, mainly because it seems possible when you're not actually trying to do it, and for some reason I tend to forget how terribly awkward it really is to juggle a camera on a monopod AND an umbrella at the same time. It's okay while I'm walking around, but it doesn't work very well while taking pictures. I manage by getting a crick in my neck from trying to hold the umbrella that way. Anyway, it wasn't very successful, but eventually toward evening it did stop raining for a while, and I did manage to cobble together something of a bug walk today in spite of the rain. I enjoyed the rain. Having spent a good portion of my summer in the desert, and not had much rain since we got back, I have missed it.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I don't know what this is. It's tiny, and kind of cute.

I hope you are not tired of monarch butterflies. I am not. At any rate, I only have three chrysalides left. Today's butterfly is a female:

 I waited a pretty long time to release her, because I was hoping it would stop raining, and so I thought she would fly right away, but she didn't. She was happy to sit around on my husband's hand...

... and then my hand.

 Eventually I wanted my hand back, though, so I put her on this leaf. It was raining a little bit, sprinkling, so I chose this tree because the lower branches are sheltered a bit from the rain. She rested on this leaf for a minute, flexing her wings, and then apparently she didn't have a good grip on it, because it looked like she slipped off. I reached out my hand to catch her, but that was silly–she can fly! And she did...

 ... to another leaf on the same tree, of her own choosing. She stayed there for a while, and I did not see where she went when she flew away.

Other Bugs:

 Wasp

 Leaf footed bug

 I think this is a tiny crane fly. It was... I guess the best word to describe what it was doing is vibrating. It is on a milkweed seed pod.

 This bumblebee was sheltering from the rain...

 

... but there were plenty of them that were flying around, feeding on the flowers, and not bothered by the rain.

 There were several of these tiny moths on the deer netting.

 Cricket

 Cricket

I saw a variety of leaf hoppers and plant hoppers:

 

 

I'm not sure if this ladybeetle was sheltering from the rain on the underside of this leaf, or looking for a meal:

 

 Or maybe both. Anyway, there was plenty to eat under there; those orange and yellow dots are aphids, which are the diet of ladybeetles.

 Here we have predator and prey. Don't worry about the tiny insect, though; the ladybird was scared away by me and my camera.

I found a couple of clumps of what I think are green lacewing eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves:

 This leaf was curled upward, and the filaments were standing straight out from it. I would love to see the process of how these eggs are laid.

Here's a test of your bug-spotting ability:

 Can you see the tree cricket? It was quite a gloomy day today.

There it is.

There's something amusing about fuzzy caterpillars in the rain. I always wonder how aware they are of the water droplets that get caught in their hairs, and whether it bothers them.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Arrow shaped micrathena (I think) spider, hiding out from the rain:

When the rain ended, the spider came back out to the web:

Common house spider with a daddy-long-legs as prey. If it seems like that's a lot of legs tangled up there that is because its previous meal of a daddy-long-legs is behind them.

Orchard spider

Goldenrod crab spider has caught a hoverfly.