Grumpy Blogger

Usually if I am in a bad mood, spending some time outside makes me feel better. Not today. I don't want to talk about it.

Today's Backyard Bug of the Day was not found on my bug walk, but while I was on my woods walk, so I didn't have my real camera, so I don't have a good picture of it, even though it was by far the best opportunity I have ever had in my entire life to photograph this particular bug. Normally it flies fast, from flower to flower, hovering, darting, feeding on the wing, zooming around, but today, it landed on a tree branch–not even a leaf, that can toss in the wind, but a nice, sturdy, still branch–and just sat there. For at least a minute. And it didn't fly away the moment I got close to it. And all I had with my was my cellphone camera. It's like even when I get lucky I am unlucky about it. Sometimes I find bugs really annoying, but not at all for the same reason most people do.

Anyway, I'm breaking a rule to post this, because for Backyard Bug of the Day I am only supposed to use good pictures, but this is as good as it gets today. Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Hummingbird clearwing moth. I am pretty sure this is only the second time ever I have seen one of these land and stay still for more than a fraction of a second.

I have just decided that today there will be a Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

I don't know what kind of moth this is. I think it is the first time I have ever seen one, which is why I am making it BCBotD. Also, it was very cooperative, and that is a trait I value in bugs I try to photograph.

Other Bugs:

 I spotted this gathering during my walk in the woods, too: about a dozen or so carrion beetles. I didn't see any remnants of any dead animal (not that I looked hard, it could be under the leaf litter. I didn't actually want to see anything like that), so I am not sure why there were so many of them here, but given that there seemed to be multiple mating pairs, that may have had something to do with it. Note that in the lower center there is a pair, one on top of the other.

 If you're looking for insects it can be helpful to look for leaf damage. Sawfly larvae

 Beetle

 I am so annoyed at this butterfly that I am not even going to look up to see if it is a wood satyr, or an elfin something or other.

Assassin bug nymph:

 

 I think it has recently molted, and that is its exuvia (discarded exoskeleton that it has shed) at the base of the flower cluster.

I found this very contentious group of flower longhorns:

 Just after this, one flew away and the other two fell off the plant together. I assume this was a fight over mating.

'Tis the season for that... not necessarily the fighting part. This tree is often the site of exchanges of genetic material among what I believe are squash bugs, or a kind of leaf-footed bugs:

 Around this time of year I see them crawling all over the trunk and branches.

 And finding mates.

 Looking up the tree trunk, I saw another mating pair and a couple of individuals.

If you want to know why my bug walk made me so crabby, it's because I saw–and even photographed–more bugs that you got to see here today. Most of the pictures look like this:

Arachnid Appreciation:
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