Waiting to Fly

My backyard is lovely, and shady, and green now. It is that lush oasis that I love. Spring really is wonderful. I saw my first eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly of the season, but it was flying among the treetops (as usual), so I don't have a picture to share with you. Today was the first time in a few days that I saw butterflies, and I saw several, but none wanted to pose for pictures.

Backyard Bird of the Day:

 I thought the robins on the front porch were going to fledge today, because when I looked out the two young birds (there seem to be only two now) were sitting together on the edge of the nest, but later they went back into the nest, and stayed there the rest of the day. You can just see the second head peeking out here.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I'm breaking a rule by making this Backyard Bug of the Day even though I don't have very good pictures of it. It was that kind of day. It's some kind of plant bug, order Hemiptera, but I couldn't find the species.

Other Bugs:

 Weevil

 Tiny cocoon

More white marked tussock moth caterpillars hatched today:

 You can see the difference between the ones that have just hatched, and the ones that have been out a while. The new ones have lighter markings, and are a bit smaller.

 They don't appear to be dispersing, so I wonder if they are eating the egg mass as their first meals.

 Weevil

 Female (above) and male crane flies

 Beetle

 Long-legged fly

 Hopper nymph

 This is two days in a row I have seen insects feeding on that squished something on that leaf.

 This is a miraculous photo. It was still blustery today, and somehow I managed to take an in-focus photo of a caterpillar dangling on a thread!

 Hopper nymph

 Photobombed by a springtail

A couple of moths were attracted by the back porch light:

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 Jumping spider

Orchard spider