Go Plant Some Flowers.

Sometimes as I walk around my backyard, looking for bugs, I figure out based on what I am seeing and experiencing what I want to talk about in my blog post for the day. Then sometimes I remember what theme I chose when it comes time to write about it. Today fit into the former category, but not the latter. I know there was something I was going to write about today, based on what was going on in the backyard, but... I can't remember what it was. Looking at the pictures has not triggered a memory of it. So... instead you just get this blathering. Here's what I remember about my bug walk: I saw my first hummingbird of the year, a male ruby throat. I saw it zoom away from the bleeding heart plant, where I presume it had been feeding until I walked by. In the first fraction of a second that I saw it I thought it was a butterfly–they are very small birds. It flew by so fast that I could barely react at all, there was no chance of a picture, but the bright flash of its ruby throat was beautiful. I am always telling you to plant flowers in your yard for the bees and myriad other bugs that feed on them, but another reason to do it would be to feed the birds: hummingbirds feed on the nectar, and later on in the summer and fall, and into the winter, birds will feed on the seeds. Flowers are a benefit to all kinds of life, and in exchange for your efforts in planting them, you get to observe the beauty of the flowers and all of the creatures they attract.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Tortoise beetle.

There's a new attraction for bees in bloom:

 I only managed to get one bee in flight in this picture, but the flowers were attracting quite a number of bees.

There are more things blooming now:

 Toad flax

 And a late blossom on the flowering crab apple tree.

The weather took a sudden turn toward hot and muggy (88.4ºF was the highest I saw), and the backyard wasn't very buggy, but I did find a few other bugs:

 Weevil

 Stink bug

 Moth

 The caterpillar seems to have died. The ants have made a move for it.

 There are a variety of moths that look like bird droppings from a distance (like this one, trust me), but they are quite beautiful when you see them up close. I am sure there is some kind of important life lesson in that somewhere, but I don't know what it is.

 Stilt-legged bug

 I think this is a grape leaf roller moth. Terribly uncooperative. It's routine is to land on the underside of leaves so I can't see it very well, much less photograph it, and then fly away before I get close enough to even try.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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My routine when emptying the rain gauge: Check how much rain is inside it, and how many spiders are underneath it:

 Just one today.

It's a rough time of year to be an orb weaver spider. You either get seed fluff stuck in your web, or the whole thing gets covered in pollen.