Songfest

 Today's bug walk was noteworthy more for what I could hear than what I could see. Specifically, crickets. That's not so unusual, and it didn't even seem like there were huge numbers of crickets calling, just that the ones that were calling were REALLY LOUD. I anthropomorphized them and gave them a motive–they know the season is changing, the weather is turning colder (lower than normal temperatures for the last week or so, day and night), and they know their time is running out, and they are singing as loudly as they can to find a mate before a winter that seems imminent. Having provided that explanation, I acknowledge that I have no idea what was going on, and that maybe it just seemed different to me. And yet, it really did seem different.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

I tried to look up what kind of wasp this is and quickly realized that I was not going to be able to figure it out. So... this is a wasp. Possibly a species of paper wasp, but I really have no idea.

Other Bugs:

The ants are up to some herding. These, on a goldenrod plant, have their planthoppers. If you look at the one on the lower left it looks like one is still a nymph.

And on the back porch tree:

I don't know what that white fluff is. Ants have been herding aphids on this tree for years, but I have never seen this before.

Here you can see the reason that ants herd aphids; that larger aphid has exuded a drop of honeydew, a sugary liquid that ants eat.

I thought this was a dead leaf stuck on a cedar tree, but I looked closer and realized it was a moth. Then I thought it was dead, because it didn't move when I got up close to it, but...

... I noticed there was something else on the cedar branch, and realized it is a chrysalis case. I think this moth had just eclosed, and was resting before its first flight. It was alive, I nudged it and it moved.

I think this is an aphid that has also just reached adulthood. You can see its exuvia on the other side of the twig.

Cricket. Female. I don't know if this is the species I was hearing today, but I think it is only males that sing.

 

Tree cricket. I did hear these today, but rather subdued. Not the noisy songs I heard.

There were more large milkweed bug nymphs in the milkweed patch today.