Seeking

I had a brief discussion today about how I am able to find so many interesting bugs that many people have never seen before. A couple of people reacted to yesterday's Backyard Bug of the Day with surprise, saying they have never seen one like that before, and I was thinking maybe it was because they live in other parts of the country, but then I realized that the first time I ever saw a tortoise beetle was only a few years ago, in my own backyard, which has been my yard for twenty years now. Why had I never seen it before? Well, the reason I see all of the new and interesting things that I have found in my backyard in the seven years I have been studying my backyard bugs is because I am looking for them. I never used to actually LOOK for bugs, in fact, I tended to try to avoid the obvious ones. I used to hate bugs, and think they were gross, and assume that most of them wanted to bite or sting me (because my knowledge of bugs was very centered on things like mosquitoes and bees). Of course I was just walking by these thousands of fascinating little things without noticing them, I wasn't looking for them. Of course, part of looking for them is knowing how and where to look for them, which is something it has taken me a while to learn (and there's probably a lot I don't even know that I don't know). So, here's a perfect illustration of having to look for bugs to find them, and needing to know what you're looking for:

 I spotted these leaves full of holes, and realized that it was due to insect damage, which meant there were probably insects on them creating the damage. Full disclosure, to puncture my hubris: as I was taking this particular picture, of this particular leaf, I did not see the insect that is actually in the picture. I would like to point out, though, that I took this picture AFTER I found the other insects that damaged the other leaves, which I saw first. That was a confusing explanation. Anyway, can YOU see the insect in this picture?

 The first leaf I looked at had this larva on the underside. Several of the other damaged leaves had larva on them, too. I think these are sawfly larvae.

 Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

 Poplar leaf aphids. I think these are fascinating insects, for a number of reasons, including that they are attentive to their young...

 ... and ants are attentive to them, too. The ants like them because they excrete a sugary liquid called honeydew that the ants like to eat.

 Suddenly today I found them on several poplar trees.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

 Newly hatched white marked tussock moth caterpillars. I have had my eye on this egg mass since last fall. The female white marked tussock moth has no wings; she emerges from her cocoon and just sits nearby, waiting for a male to come find her to mate. Then she lays her eggs on her cocoon. I have been checking on this one every day, waiting for the eggs to hatch.

 This will be a much more colorful caterpillar in later intars.

It was ferociously windy today, which made it really hard for me to take pictures of bugs, but here's what I've got:

 I think this is a robber fly.

 Lace bugs

I saw a lot of bees resting on leaves today. I wonder if they didn't want to fly in the high winds and were sitting there for shelter.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Six-spotted orb weaver