The Bugs in the Backyard: Don't Touch

There are a number of challenges involved in macrophotography of live insects in the wild. One major one that has several factors to it is that the macro lens magnifies everything, including movement. It is really important for everything to be very still in order to get a shot in focus. I can't control the insects and whether or not they move, and I can't help the wind moving whatever the insect is sitting on. I can, however, try very hard to at least keep the camera still. Today was extremely windy, which made my photography frustrating and challenging. But so did the fact that I had hiccups. It's very hard to hold a camera steady when you have hiccups. That was my life lesson of the day, something I would have realized if I had ever bothered to think about it–and why would I?–but it's always useful to have real-life experiences.

It's interesting that lately I have not been finding a lot of bugs, but there have been many days when I have had Co-Bugs of the Day. I am not sure if that is because there have been many cool bugs among the number I have found, or if I am just indecisive.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

Question mark caterpillar. It makes sense that I would find this, because I have seen question mark caterpillars pretty regularly this year. Not that you could tell based on the pictures on the blog, but I have seen a lot more this year than I usually do.

Quite a wild aesthetic. This is a new species for me in caterpillar form–up until now I have only ever seen the adults.

I see a caterpillar like this and make sure not to touch it, but my caterpillar book didn't say it was toxic or venomous. Still, if I see another I am not going to touch it, just in case that is not the kind of thing the book thinks is important to mention.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

Tumbling flower beetle. I have a policy that if I get a decent picture of a tumbling flower beetle it automatically gets chosen as Backyard Bug of the Day, which is why this was chosen today alongside a bug I have not seen before.

Photobombed

I saw a LOT of caterpillars today:

Monarch. First one I have seen in a while. It was about half an inch long, so early-to-mid instar.

I found this bit of flowing blowing around on a silk thread. I think the silk thread started out hanging from a tree, but I soon realized it was hanging off of me instead:

I moved the caterpillar to this leaf. I think it might be an American dagger moth. I have never seen one this small before.

Checking up on the black swallowtails:

One of them has ventured off the flower cluster where they have all been all week, and onto a nearby stem.

Note the color change on this one.

Can you spot the looper caterpillar?

Note the color differences between the two black swallowtails. And can you find another caterpillar?

I did not notice this when I took the picture, but I think that is a camouflage looper, a caterpillar that attaches plant debris to itself to hide from predators.

Brown hooded owlet moth. And speaking of things I did not notice while taking pictures, look in the upper left hand corner of this one...

I did not see the aphid at the time.

I found a couple more of these elsewhere in the backyard. These were about half the size. Also challenging to photograph, because this was the point where I had the hiccups.

This one looks like it is performing interpretive dance.

From the above, and from what will follow, you may get the idea that I mostly saw caterpillars today. And while I did see quite a few caterpillars (I didn't even photograph all of them), I actually saw a lot of bees and flies today. They mostly did not want to be photographed though...