Beautiful Weeds

I've said many times that if people took the time to look up close at insects they would find them beautiful, fascinating, and amazing. Not all of them, maybe, but so very many of them that I would say upon the whole that is true. There seem to be certain things that we just accept are beautiful, like flowers, and others we just think are ugly or gross without even truly looking at them, like insects. And yet, insects can be beautiful, too. And even in the area of flowers, there are some we all agree are beautiful, like the rose, but there are other flowers that people hate, and consider ugly, probably without ever really looking at one. We call some plants flowers, and other plants, that HAVE flowers on them, weeds. But they are still flowers, and if you look at them for what they are, instead of as some blotch on a perfect lawn, you might see them as beautiful, too. It would be better for the environment, which is to say, the entire world, if you let some weeds grow in your lawn. It would be better for the birds and the bugs, that's for sure. And even better for your lawn–if you let clover grow in your lawn, it fixes nitrogen in the soil, which means you don't have to put chemicals on it to do that. And have you ever really looked at a clover?

 I used to think they were drab little weeds. But when I really looked at one, I was amazed to see how it was structured, and how pretty it is. But the thing is, even if it wasn't beautiful, it would still be valuable as part of a very nicely arranged system. It can thrive in your lawn without chemicals to help it, and help other things to thrive as well. Why not be amazed at its resilience and utility, as well as, or rather, regardless of how pretty it is? Instead of dismissing bugs, or weeds, as ugly, useless, icky, why not really take a good look at them and see what they truly are, and what part they play in this world?

I found an amazing bug today that I have never seen before, and I wasn't able to get a good look at it, because it was very small and didn't want me to get close enough for a good look. So I didn't get good pictures of it, but it was so amazing looking that I had to choose it anyway for Backyard Bug of the Day:

 This thing looked like flying jewels in person. I can't tell if it's a bee or a fly.

 The face looks like a bee, but the wings look like a fly... Anyway, it's a beautiful little thing.

Today the bugs in the backyard were extra uncooperative, while pretending that they were going to be cooperative.

 Like this dragonfly, which pretended it was going to let me get a good picture of it, but then yelled, "Psyche!" and flew off. Just kidding. It didn't yell anything. This particular species of dragonfly is exceptionally difficult to photograph. I don't know why. There are many dragonflies that will sit nicely for photos, but not this one. Never this one.

 I don't know what kind of caterpillar this is (haven't looked it up yet), but in the last week or so I have seen them in various places in the backyard.

 Beetle on milkweed buds

 Fly

I found this curiosity:

 It looks like a cocoon, and there is some silk webbing with frass all over it, so I figured there must be a caterpillar pupating inside, but as I looked at it from this vantage point I could see that it looked open on the end, so I assumed that whatever had been in there had already emerged as an adult (or something had bored into its cocoon and eaten it).

 But when I looked at the open end I could see that there was something moving inside.

 The caterpillar is still in there, being a caterpillar. It poked its head out for a moment. I don't know if it lives in there in general, or if it is building this now to pupate in imminently. I'll keep an eye on it for a few days, to see what happens.

 Lace bug

Why aren't there bees and other bugs all over these flowers?!

 Okay, there's one beetle.

I realized at one point on my bug walk that my camera battery needed to be changed, so I walked back toward the house, and in doing so started up a butterfly, that fluttered away. You know I don't chase butterflies, so I just went on toward the house, and saw the butterfly again... on the back door of the house. Naturally it flew away, so I watched it, and saw where it landed... and then broke my rule by following after it. The good news is, I finally got a picture of a butterfly, for the first time in ages. The bad news is...

 This is the best picture I got.

 I think it's a little wood satyr.

 Katydid nymph

 Beetle

You know who appreciates clover?

 This case bearing caterpillar. It's rare for me to actually see one of these caterpillars, although I see their cases all over the place. Today I got a rare glimpse of this one.

 Magnified view of its face eating the clover

 Photobombed by an ant, which also appreciated the clover.

 This is the larva of a mealy bug destroyer lady beetle.

 Look at that little predatory face!

 Look! So cute, and fluffy, and ferocious!

 Lady beetle

 Back when I used to be creeped out by crane flies because I thought they were huge mosquitoes it never occurred to me that there were multiple species of them. What I have noticed lately is that the different species seem to have seasons of their own. Lately I am suddenly seeing a lot of these orange ones.

This is the level of cooperation I got from the arthropod world today:

Arachnid Appreciation:
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