Commons

As you know if you commonly read this blog, I am pretty lackadaisical about looking things up. Part of that is because I know how often it is an exercise in futility. Part of it is because I am lazy. And a very tiny part of it is probably because sometimes the answer I find is a tiny bit disappointing. It may seem weird to be disappointed in the result when I find an answer, but for some reason it's really dreary to me to look up an insect, particularly if it is one that I have never seen before, and find out that it's name is common. And I mean that in the sense that it is actually called "common something-or-other." If I have never seen something before, I am usually pretty excited to find it, and then to find out that it is the "common weevil," or the "common ground beetle," or, in the case of today's Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Now, I will admit that there are plenty of these caterpillars to be found, so they are definitely common. I haven't found many yet this year, but most years they are very common, particularly on goldenrod. But with a snazzy pattern like that, it is so prosaic that this is called a common tan wave (if, that is, I am even identifying it correctly. You never know). Now, the name could derive from the moth it will eventually develop into, which is tan (boring brown) and has a wavy pattern on its wings. But it's still a boring name for 2/3 of the three words that comprise it. When I spotted this caterpillar it was in its loop position, but when I got close it went into this position, which is defensive. Not defensive in a bellicose way, but in a camouflage way–it pretends to be a twig.

Other Bugs:

 I saw a lot of sweat bees today.

 Caterpillars spend a lot of time just resting. This one is very sensibly resting on my chaise.

 Fall webworm

 Empty chrysalis case

 Some kind of wasp or sawfly–I still get those confused.

Sometimes I find these dangling over the paths in the woods:

 Striped garden caterpillar. Another descriptive, but disappointingly prosaic name.

 Flower fly

Arachnid Appreciation:

Flower crab spider with fly prey

Today was a day for finding tiny spiders. They were everywhere, and there were several species of them.

All around were small orb webs, some with tiny spiders that were hard to even see.

Orchard spider

Jumping spiders don't use a web to catch prey, but they do sometimes build themselves silk tents.