Standing Tall

I fought the law of gravity a couple of days ago, and the law won. Consequently, I was a bit sore today, and was extremely grateful that for a change not ALL of the bugs I found to photograph were at or near ground level. Most of the spring ephemerals grow quite low, and they attract the bugs, but now that taller plants, including trees, have leaves and buds on them, I actually get to take some pictures without having to crouch all the way down to the ground. There was still more bending than my sore back wanted, but it's an improvement over having to take all pictures at the level of my ankles.
Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

 Beetle. I couldn't find it in my book, and in fact it looks like a few different genus possibilities, so I have no idea what it is. [Edit: it might be a species of Colorful Foliage Ground Beetle. Possibly Lebia fuscata or Lebia pulchella]

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

 This is possibly a flat bug, by which I mean a bug from the genus Aradidae, aka flat bugs.

Other Bugs:

 Cuddly pair of soldier beetles (possibly two-lined leatherwings, Ancistronycha bilineata). I saw these right at the beginning of my bug walk, and they were still there together at the end of it (an exceptionally long bug walk), but by then they were facing the other end of the leaf.

Another soldier beetle. I sort of relate to this one.

 Ant

 

 Tiny moth

 Tiny leaf hopper

I found the ants massing again:

 

 

 This is about a foot away from where they were massed yesterday. About an hour after I took this they were mostly gone. There was also a long line of them coming and going from this pile of ants. I couldn't tell what, other than grass, they were crowded onto.

I haven't been seeing many butterflies this year, but I spotted a couple today. Here's one of them:

This was the more cooperative of the butterflies I saw.

Red admiral. It flew off before I could get closer, and then I saw it flying off with another of its kind in that loop-around-each-other way that butterflies have.

 Arachnid Appreciation:
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 Remember last week when I took pictures of a female crane fly ovipositing, and was disappointed that I couldn't get a picture of her pointy ovipositor? well, there it is. It's kind of impressive for a small spider to have caught such big prey, but I guess with a web and some venom, size doesn't mean much.

 

Reptile of the Day:

 Garter snake again.

 It is missing some scales on its face, around its mouth. It looks pretty beat up. It was also a little bit aggressive. I don't blame it.