I didn't enjoy my bug walk today. It was a gorgeous day, but a house down the street is having a drainage problem fixed, and there was heavy equipment with almost constant back-up beeping, I think new construction has started on the street behind ours, and among all this din a chain saw started up, which is the sound of the death of trees. It was most definitely not a peaceful day to enjoy nature. I just wanted to get through it and go back inside with the windows and doors all shut.
Backyard Bug of the Day:
I think this is a tarnished plant bug.
Caterpillars on a pedestal: banded tussock (below) and spotted apatelodes (above).
I thought this was a bee or wasp, but looking at the eyes and antennae now I think it is a fly.
I only got the one quick photo of the fly before it flew, so I didn't get a chance to notice cool details like these eyes.
Stinkbug nymph
Right now goldenrod is the favored flower–I didn't see a single insect on the autumn joy sedum. It was all bees as wasps, though. Usually goldenrod attracts a much greater variety, including moths, hairstreak butterflies, beetles, and looper caterpillars. And then there would be ambush bugs, assassin bugs, and goldenrod crab spiders. I have not seen most of those at all this year, and today the goldenrod was all bees and wasps:
A confrontation between a wasp and a honeybee. Usually insects tend to ignore each other when they're feeding on the same plants, but these two got into a brief shoving match. The honeybee is the one that yielded.
Bumblebee
Fly
The ants are still tending to their hoppers on this one goldenrod plant, as they have been for weeks:
The hoppers are all adults now.
There are a lot of them. Hundreds, probably.
Huge cricket
Backyard Birds of the Day:
Mourning doves, my least favorite birds. I think these two are juveniles...
... and this is one of the parents.
Arachnid Appreciation:
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The funnel web spider was out in the middle of the web today.
Flower crab spider on purple cone flower
Jumping spider
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