Impersonation

 Today's Backyard Bug of the Day has something in common with another Backyard Bug of the Day from earlier this week–when I first saw it I thought it was something else, because it is a mimic. Bugs (and other animals) sometimes try to look like something they are not, generally to avoid being seen or noticed, either because they don't want to be eaten, or their ability to capture food depends on prey not seeing them or recognizing what they are. There are benefits, for example, in looking like leaf, either to avoid being eaten by something that doesn't recognize you as food, or to capture unsuspecting insects that come close enough to be captured because they think you are just a leaf. But for insects at least, sometimes that mimicry can be much more visible, like the two Backyard Bugs of the Day in question.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 This is another yellow-jacked mimic, a fly that looks like an aggressive wasp. Pretending to be something that is dangerous, in this case something that stings, is a great way to keep predators large and small from trying to eat you. The bold stripes of known stingers make this fly look like it has a menacing defense system, when in reality it is harmless.

 It is an effective disguise; I approached it warily, thinking it was a big wasp, and knowing it could be aggressive. But this fly, Milesia virginensis  can't sting, and once I realized that, I had no qualms about a close-up.

 

Here you can see how big it is compared to a honeybee. There is an actual wasp in this picture, too.
 

Somewhere in this area there is a bee keeper whose honey is going to be flavored with Japanese knotweed. There were a lot of honeybees on these plants.

Wasp

  The bugs were back on the autumn joy sedum today:

Mostly bumblebees, and a few honeybees, and, as you can see, ants.

The large milkweed bug in the middle appears to have recently molted, and has not developed its colors yet.

 

Ants with aphids on wild lettuce.

Bumblebees on thistle:

 

Can you spot the insect that is hiding among the many spikes of the thistle plant?

It's almost in the middle of the picture...

Tree cricket

Backyard Bird of the Day:

Hummingbird feeding in the vegetable garden. I think it is a female ruby throat.
 

 Today was a wonderfully spidery day, so I found a number of specimens for Arachnid Appreciation:

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Nursery web spiderling
 

Flower crab spider with fly prey on Japanese knotweed. Wherever there are a lot of insects to prey on, there are predators lurking.

A couple of non-spider arachnids:

 

Can you see the mite next to the bee?

 

Harvestman hiding