It's the Beetles

I took a LOT of pictures today, so let's just get right to the viewing, shall we?

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Click beetle. They were everywhere today.

There were a lot of insects flying low over the leaf litter, most apparently bees, but in one spot in particular there were even more insects zooming around just above the ground, and they appeared to be chasing each other sometimes. I assumed they were bees, but then one landed and I got a look at it and saw it was a click beetle.

 Then a bunch more landed, and they were crawling all around on the leaves and on the moss.

 And then it became obvious what the commotion was all about. It's hard to tell in this picture, but these two are connected. You can see another click beetle on the lower left of the picture...

 ... and another one came along, wanting to cut in on the pair that were connected.

I think there are 5 beetles here?

Others came along, and different pairings were contemplated...

 Basically, it became a scrum.

Beetles, or rather Coleoptera, were rather the Order of the Day today, with many species around:

 Six-spotted tiger beetle

 Winter fireflies, and yet another click beetle

 Still haven't figured out what this one is.

 I think this is some kind of flower beetle.

 Some of them were not at all cooperative.

 I can't remember what this one is called.

 Weevil.

So, what other bugs made an appearance in the backyard today?

 Moth. Some kind of geometer, possibly?

 I can't always tell the difference between bees and flies.

The blue azure butterflies were particularly uncooperative today. Flying past my face, landing right at my feet, and then flying off when I tried to get a picture:

 Blue blur, upper right...

 Blue blur, kind of in the center...

It graciously permitted me a few shots as it rested on the ground. You can see a tiny peek of the blue on the dorsal side of its wings.

 More gypsy moth caterpillars are hatching every day.

Reluctantly I looked inside the garden shed, where there were several egg masses that were erupting with the vile creatures.

 One bee settled on the leaf litter for a picture.

 Hover fly

 Sawfly, I think. Which is not a fly, but a stingless wasp

 Five different kinds of bugs on this leafy spurge. If you can't find them all, look in the upper left, and you can see the back end of a stilt-legged bug.

 Underneath its wings this fly was bright red.

 How are you bug spotting skills? Because this is the best picture I got of the assassin bug nymph here.

 There are quite a number of bees buzzing around the flowering crab apple, but at the moment all of the open flowers are rather too high for me to get close-up shots.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 Very often I am greeted when I walk out the back door by a jumping spider on the grill.

It's pretty much always the same thing for Backyard Reptile of the Day:
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I looked up the difference between garter snakes and ribbon snakes, and this is a garter snake.